For Ben Franklin’s birthday, Franklin Institute to unveil ‘immersive multimedia show’ as part of America’s 250th celebration

America’s favorite multitalented Founding Father is celebrating his — checks parchment — 320th birthday Saturday, and the Franklin Institute wants everyone to join the party.

On Saturday the science museum will debut a new “immersive multimedia show,” about Franklin, according to Franklin Institute President and CEO Larry Dubinski. The massive audiovisual display will kick off a day of family-friendly learning activities centered on science and creativity.

The new installation is called “Franklin’s Spark,” Dubinski said, and the theme is curiosity — the kind that led Franklin to fly a kite to learn that lightning is electricity, invent everything from bifocal glasses to a more efficient cast-iron heating stove, and help establish the nation’s first postal system and lending library.

“The message is: curiosity drives progress,“ Dubinski said. ”Benjamin Franklin showed how important it is to ask questions, try things, learn, fail, and learn from those failures. It’s what drives society."

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Dubinski declined to say what the project cost, but noted that it was made possible by a donation from entrepreneur Ed Satell and the Satell Family Foundation.

Friday the Franklin Institute provided a preview of the four-minute presentation at the already impressive Franklin National Memorial, where a 30-ton, 20-foot statue of the former statesman resides under an 82-foot-high domed ceiling.

Seven high-resolution Panasonic projectors lit up the dome with animations and images detailing Franklin’s life and times.

“We think he would have liked it a lot,” said Brad Baer, whose design studio, Crafted Action, produced the display. “He was a tinkerer. He was an experimenter.”

To make it work, the Philly-based company had to conduct some experiments of its own. It created Franklin’s silhouette by combining photography with “AI-style transfer techniques,” he said. It developed a 3D rendering of the 1,600-ton dome, and some of the dome’s many square “coffers” were incorporated into the visual display.

“We wanted to create something that’s equal parts experience and education,” Baer said. “It’s kind of a little gift to the city.”

Saturday at 11 a.m., the installation will commence “Ben’s Bash,” a birthday celebration tailored toward learning and fun. The event is open to anyone who has purchased a general admission ticket to the museum.

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Other events include demonstrations on a replica of Franklin’s “glass armonica” musical instrument, a museumwide scavenger hunt with prizes, a lesson on electricity, a birthday card-making activity using a printing press, games, and a dance party.

Dubinski said he’s excited that the new installation will be in place as Philadelphia celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which, of course, Franklin signed.

“Philadelphia is the place," he said. “All these institutions are coming together to say, ‘Philadelphia is an amazing city.’”