Open Worlds: Science
May 10 — Oct 26, 2025
Explore the world through science and cinema with seven free public events from May–October 2025, With screenings, experiences, and live talks at Museum of the Moving Image, Open Worlds offers hands-on fun, big ideas, and lively parties—free for all!
This is part of Museum of the Moving Image’s Open Worlds initiative, an accessible, 15,500-square-foot, climate-controlled, WiFi-enabled community resource for visitors of all ages looking to convene, find creative inspiration, learn about and experience new media technologies, or participate in many diverse programming selections.
Supported by the Simons Foundation.
Saturday, May 10:
Love Your Mother (Earth) Mushroom Party
FREE, RSVPs encouraged; links to come!
Join MoMI, the New York Mycological Society, and more special guests on Mother’s Day weekend to celebrate Mother Earth and observe the third category of life: fungi.
Schedule of activities:
12:00 p.m.: Meet for the mycological walk in the MoMI Lobby =
12:30–1:30 p.m.: NYMS neighborhood mycological walk from MoMI
2:00-3:00 p.m.: NYMS ID session
2:30-3:15 p.m.: Fungi: Web of Life screening (Dir. Joseph Nizeti. 2023, 40 minutes. Australia. Narrated by Björk)
3:00-4:30 p.m.: guided mushroom drawing with botanical illustrator Caro Arévalo (drop-in)
3:30-4:30 p.m.: Fungal Microscopy demo with scientist-artist Sally Kong
Sunday, June 8:
Creature Feature: The Science of Monster Movies & Community Filmmaking
FREE, RSVPs encouraged; links to come!
Live storytelling presentations about the science of monster movies. A paleontologist contrasts Jurassic Park to their feathered, paleontologically accurate (and much scarier!) real-life counterparts! An entomologist describes how the Alien Xenomorph’s famous chestburster scene owes significant debt to the emergence of parasitoid wasp larvae from a caterpillar (astounding!). More weird and wonderful creatures to be in this can’t-miss program for fans of biology and monster movies.
PLUS! Community Animation Project! Join us for a coloring party on Sunday in the Fox Amphitheater. Materials provided! Color animation cells for a scientifically correct monster movie to be animated into strange and beautiful shorts created by YOU—MoMI’s talented audience! Follow us on socials to catch the release of the completed animations!
1:00–4:00 p.m.: Community Animation: Creatures of MoMI coloring party
3:00 p.m.: Creature Feature talk
4:30 p.m.: Reception
Saturday, July 12:
MoMI in the Garden
FREE, RSVPs encouraged; links to come!
Summer is a time of abundance in the plant world—gardens burst with fruit, vegetables, and flowers. Celebrate the season with a series of short films that transport you to the farm, from the comfort of our air-conditioned theater. Feeling inspired to grow your own? Urban soil expert Dr. Perl Engdorf brings her mobile soil testing lab to MoMI. Bring a sample from your own yard for analysis for heavy metals, pH and soil quality, and receive actionable tools to improve the land, and to acknowledge NYC’s “legacy of lead.” Conversations about composting and the beautification of cities through gardening continue throughout the day, which is followed by a reception in MoMI’s courtyard.
Saturday, August 2:
Magic Hours: Engineering Lighting for Cinema
FREE, RSVPs encouraged; links to come!
Lighting can tell a story, just like the many other visual elements of filmmaking. Explore the science and storytelling of light behind one of the world’s most important inventions, through the lens of cinema. Take a tour spotlighting MoMI’s collections of lights and the work of lighting designers. Guests of all ages can build paper circuits in homage to Lewis Latimer, an African American inventor, Queens resident, and an innovator of the electric lightbulb. Watch a screening of short film Let There Be Light, a Victorian-era love story based on the life of Lewis Latimer. Then, join a conversation about the impact of BIPOC lighting innovation and lighting designers for film and television. Afterwards, experience New York City’s own magic hour—a reception in the courtyard in the moments just before sunset when the light is perfect and beautiful.
Presented in partnership with the Lewis Latimer House museum.
Check back for more details and more exciting events!