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There is a growing commitment within science centres and museums to deploy computer‐based exhibits to enhance participation and engage visitors with socio‐scientific issues. As yet, however, we have little understanding of the interaction and communication that arises with and around these forms of exhibits, and the extent to which they do indeed facilitate engagement. In this paper, we examine the use of novel computer‐based exhibits to explore how people, both alone and with others, interact with and around the installations. The data are drawn from video‐based field studies of the conduct and communication of visitors to the Energy Gallery at London’s Science Museum. The paper explores how visitors transform their activity with and around computer‐based exhibits into performances, and how such performances create shared experiences. It reveals how these performances can attract other people to …