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The dizzying Crazy Kitchen is here to stay at museum

Ottawa South News
August 22, 2017

The vertigo-inducing Crazy Kitchen at the Canada Science and Technology Museum has a new façade, but nothing else has changed about the popular feature despite the museum’s $80.5 million overhaul.

Mayor Jim Watson was one of the first non-staff members of the museum to go through the kitchen, renamed the Crazy Kitchen +. The 50-year-old exhibit is an optical illusion that confuses the eyes with titled floors and wonky proportions.

“The whole concept of the Crazy Kitchen is an argument in your brain,” said Fern Proulx, interim president of the museum.

The plus sign was added to the name because the outside of the kitchen will be beefed up with more illusions and exhibits.

When surveyed, the public said it loves the Crazy Kitchen, and didn’t want anything to change during the museum overhaul.

Instead of changing it, the new experiences will be added outside the kitchen to create an entire exhibit.

“I’ve gone through maybe 500 times and I still get that dizzying feeling,” Proulx said.

The Crazy Kitchen and the locomotives are both staying, while other new exhibits are well underway and nearing completion for the museum’s Nov. 17, 2017 opening.

The museum closed suddenly in September 2014 after mould was found. The three-year renovation has been used to develop new exhibits, which are all starting to come together.

“There’s a huge amount of change,” said Christina Tessier, the museum’s director general.

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