Isn't it always the case that adults remark on how kids are so lucky "nowadays"? It's so predictable, so tiresome when grown-ups make comments like that. Sometimes, grown-ups manage to burst the fun bubble without even realizing it. Of course, as a kid, I would bite back any temptation to try to justify my fun. It would just sound like a pathetic attempt anyway.

I feel better now.

And now I can write it: kids in the Bay Area are super lucky to have a place like Zeum to go to. It's cool. And the kids that go there are cool.

Zeum calls itself a new model arts center for folks between the ages of eight and eighteen. It opened up to the public at the end of October '98 though it's clear that the finishing touches are still being added. Housed inside Yerba Buena, Zeum is in a fabulous location for families on a day's outing together. Not only is it in the downtown area, there's the new ice skating rink a few steps away as well as MOMA, and soon the Sony center will be complete.

New model arts center? It sounds a little bit much, doesn't it? Zeum is a mixture of both production studios and interactive galleries. In the Performing Arts Lab kids get to make their own ornate puppets (they have great supplies from which to choose!), and then... here's where it becomes so today...the kids then get to film their plays using digital video camcorders (thank you, Sony).

Marionette Arcade by Glen Paulsen

Gosh. And to think that I used to get excited to make bubbles bigger than me at the local science museum.

But it gets better. In the Artist's Studio, kids build wire-enforced clay characters. Of course, to animators, they're building 3-D creations. And that's what comes next! Using a painted background against which to set the scene, kids learn how to make a short animation. And they make it seem so easy. Using their clay characters, fishing line and a camcorder that only has "Grab," "Play," and "Save" marked on it, the kids set about making a quicky animation. Suddenly, Dreamworks productions seem doable.

There are HTML classes with titles like "Build a Quick and Dirty Webpage," and a large media gallery with a multi-projection installation that includes the work of eight SF teenagers.

Also very fun, is the carousel outside of Zeum. In fact, I think I had as much fun as anyone between the ages of 8-18. Probably more.

For information on joining Zeum and to find out their hours, check out their website at http://www.zeum.org.

Susan MacTavish Best

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