Titanic will go on

State of the Art

by Jumana Farouky

Despite the countless books, numerous fictionalized movies, and documentaries, the public begs for still more. The World Trade Center and the Museum of Science have come to their rescue. Working together, the two institutions hope to satiate Titanic junkies by bringing the ship (or small parts of it, at least) right into their back yards.

One man responsible for bringing the Titanic to the Northeast for the first time is George Tulloch, president of RMS Titanic, Inc., the guardian organization of the ship's wreck site. According to Tulloch it took more than 80 years for Titanic artifacts to surface because "it's easier to get to [the top of] Everest or the moon than to get to the bottom of the ocean in a functional way." Set up at the World Trade Center, "Titanic -- The Artifact Exhibition" consists mainly of old objects that had been wet for a long time but are now dry and in glass cases. The WTC's own men in black stand around protecting things like pieces of portholes, a rich man's fountain pen, and an unopened jar of olives. There are detailed before-and-after models of the ship; there's a wall of ice representing the killer iceberg that exhibitgoers are free to touch (some have been carving obscenities into it). Quotes taken from survivors and victims of the Titanic cover the walls in an attempt to portray this as more than just a collection of stuff -- to make it about people instead of mere objects.

If the two-hour tour of ship bits at the World Trade Center isn't enough, you can catch the Titanica movie at the Museum of Science's Mugar Omni Theater, which offers a discount with a WTC ticket stub. The 45-minute show follows two Russian expedition crews as they perform a high-risk survey of the ship's wreck site. Thanks to the overwhelming cinematic experience that is IMAX, the same types of ship bits that populate the WTC exhibit -- shoes, briefcases, pottery shards -- are enlarged to the size of a city bus. Interspersed with eerie underwater shots of the wreckage and its resident marine life are black-and-white photos of the Titanic being built, along with family photos provided by Eva Hart, a survivor who fills out the story with accounts of her own experience on the ship. Together, the WTC exhibit and this Omni show offer the Titanic-hungry a closer look at the legend. So close it's almost like being there yourself, only safer.

"Titanic -- The Artifact Exhibition" at the World Trade Center runs through November 1. For tickets call (888) 744-7998. Titanica will show daily at the Omni Theater through September 7 at 1, 5, and 9 p.m. Tickets are $7.50 for adults, $5.50 for children and seniors; call (617) 723-2500.