You can now visit Tralfamadore, the fictional planet created by Indianapolis native and author, Kurt Vonnegut.
The exhibition “Tralfamadore: An Immersive Slaughterhouse-Five Experience” will open at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, as part of “VonnegutFest” at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library at 543 Indiana Ave.
The three-day festival that celebrates Vonnegut’s legacy around his birthday.
Tralfamadore appears in several of Vonnegut’s novels, including his widely acclaimed semi-autobiographical novel, “Slaughterhouse-Five,” which follows Billy Pilgrim, a veteran and prisoner of war from World War ll. Pilgrim is also kidnapped by Tralfamadorians.
At the exhibition, event goers can explore a walk-through experience designed in collaboration with students from Purdue University’s engineering program, EPICS. The students created animatronics and other elements to get a deeper insight into Vonnegut’s concepts of time, memory and moral imagination.
EPICS student Bora Kalayci, 20, worked on the animatronics and coding elements for the exhibition for three semesters. “Bringing a character to life from one of the greatest authors to walk the Earth is both a technical challenge and a huge responsibility,” he said.
According to Julia Withead, founder and CEO of the KVML, the museum and library worked with undergraduates from West Lafayette and Indianapolis for about two years. The students read and studied Kurt Vonnegut and learned about professional museum-visitor experience in preparation for the exhibit.
In April, the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library announced Purdue University purchased the building housing the museum and library
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Amira Alquraishy is a Mirror Indy freelance contributor. You can reach her at alquraishyamira@gmail.com.
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