Some of the video inspirations for the immersive theater space:
BES wall of monitors
Interactive video display created by wall of monitors.
Hong Kong streets.
Large scale, multiple projectors, repeated footage.
Overlapping projectors
Abstract, immersive projections in someone's living room.
Urban screen
Projections playing off of building architecture.
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Module 13: New discoveries
The message
New discoveries advance our understanding of biodiversity in a region—and life on our planet.
The experience
A modular space provides display cases for specimens, hook-ups for live web-cams, monitors for videos, and optional seating for visitors. Some components in the gallery would be semi-permanent, while other features might rotate in on a monthly basis. In live or pre-recorded videos, scientists show visitors how they conduct research revolving around new discoveries or retell their “A-Ha!” moment of discovery.
Permanent displays feature instruments used by science staff, as well as the wide variety of specimen types held in the collection—skins, skeletons, spirit jars, stomach samples, DNA samples, herbarium sheets, and more. Museum publications describing new species might be included in hard copy, to show their sheer volume, or digitized for visitors to browse. The space is framed by a photo mural with images or field illustrations of every new species identified by Museum scientists over the institution’s history.
One semi-permanent display might include a kipunji skull, part of the voucher specimen collected by Bill Stanley and his team in Tanzania. Another semi-permanent station could feature tiny liverworts from Matt Von Konrat’s work in the South Pacific. Visitors view the nearly identical specimens under a microscope and sample each one’s distinctive smell.
The story
Visitors should leave the exhibition with a new awareness of the Field as an active, vital hub of conservation research. New discoveries are one area where content should be updated regularly to maintain the institution’s “pulse.” New discoveries can demonstrate how conservation efforts are embedded in the research of all divisions.
Bill Stanley’s research on the kipunji involves DNA analysis to track this new species’ evolution and solve a mating mystery: How could kipunji on one mountain range show signs of mating with baboons, while kipunji on another mountain range—but of the same species—not have this link to baboon DNA? This story connects to conservation stories about endemism and habitat loss, but also connects to the broader evolution narratives presented elsewhere in the Museum.
Matt Von Konrat’s work involves the Prizker Lab and research labs in Japan. The distinctive smell of seemingly commonplace liverwort species was the first clue that they might have unique active compounds. These are now being analyzed as cancer-fighting agents.
New specimens in these displays would need to be accessible to research staff; removal signage could highlight active research happening in the building.
New discoveries advance our understanding of biodiversity in a region—and life on our planet.
The experience
A modular space provides display cases for specimens, hook-ups for live web-cams, monitors for videos, and optional seating for visitors. Some components in the gallery would be semi-permanent, while other features might rotate in on a monthly basis. In live or pre-recorded videos, scientists show visitors how they conduct research revolving around new discoveries or retell their “A-Ha!” moment of discovery.
Permanent displays feature instruments used by science staff, as well as the wide variety of specimen types held in the collection—skins, skeletons, spirit jars, stomach samples, DNA samples, herbarium sheets, and more. Museum publications describing new species might be included in hard copy, to show their sheer volume, or digitized for visitors to browse. The space is framed by a photo mural with images or field illustrations of every new species identified by Museum scientists over the institution’s history.
One semi-permanent display might include a kipunji skull, part of the voucher specimen collected by Bill Stanley and his team in Tanzania. Another semi-permanent station could feature tiny liverworts from Matt Von Konrat’s work in the South Pacific. Visitors view the nearly identical specimens under a microscope and sample each one’s distinctive smell.
The story
Visitors should leave the exhibition with a new awareness of the Field as an active, vital hub of conservation research. New discoveries are one area where content should be updated regularly to maintain the institution’s “pulse.” New discoveries can demonstrate how conservation efforts are embedded in the research of all divisions.
Bill Stanley’s research on the kipunji involves DNA analysis to track this new species’ evolution and solve a mating mystery: How could kipunji on one mountain range show signs of mating with baboons, while kipunji on another mountain range—but of the same species—not have this link to baboon DNA? This story connects to conservation stories about endemism and habitat loss, but also connects to the broader evolution narratives presented elsewhere in the Museum.
Matt Von Konrat’s work involves the Prizker Lab and research labs in Japan. The distinctive smell of seemingly commonplace liverwort species was the first clue that they might have unique active compounds. These are now being analyzed as cancer-fighting agents.
New specimens in these displays would need to be accessible to research staff; removal signage could highlight active research happening in the building.
Module 11: Effects on species over time
The message
Conservation requires an understanding of how changes to ecosystems affect species over time. Museum collections provide this data.
The experience
A peregrine falcon grasps a rock with its curved talons, a delicate plastic band clasped to its leg. Nearby, a live webcam provides a peek into a peregrine nest perched on the roof of Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. Mounds of newspaper clippings, articles, and copies of Silent Spring surround a delicate cluster of peregrine eggshells.
The story
The peregrine falcon is a local conservation success story. The story begins in the Museum’s collections, where historic samples of peregrine eggs helped demonstrate the damaging effects of DDT. Today, falcons are making a Chicago comeback and Museum researchers, such as Mary Hennen, continue to monitor their progress through banding programs. Citizens play a special role, too: When fledglings fall from the nest, the research team gets hundreds of calls from people watching the nest cam.
Conservation requires an understanding of how changes to ecosystems affect species over time. Museum collections provide this data.
The experience
A peregrine falcon grasps a rock with its curved talons, a delicate plastic band clasped to its leg. Nearby, a live webcam provides a peek into a peregrine nest perched on the roof of Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. Mounds of newspaper clippings, articles, and copies of Silent Spring surround a delicate cluster of peregrine eggshells.
The story
The peregrine falcon is a local conservation success story. The story begins in the Museum’s collections, where historic samples of peregrine eggs helped demonstrate the damaging effects of DDT. Today, falcons are making a Chicago comeback and Museum researchers, such as Mary Hennen, continue to monitor their progress through banding programs. Citizens play a special role, too: When fledglings fall from the nest, the research team gets hundreds of calls from people watching the nest cam.
Module 9: Human stewardship & biodiversity
The message
Human stewardship has shaped biodiversity for millennia and continues to do so.
The experience
A backlit case contains a geometric mosaic of colors and textures. On closer examination, the mosaic is composed of seeds from Chicago area prairies. Handheld magnifying glasses let visitors explore the wide range of forms, including dense spikes, delicate fluff, slender gold grains, and blood-red pearls.
Opposite this display is an unlikely set of conservation tools: A drip-can, lighter, flame-retardant jumpsuit, face shield, and heavy, insulated gloves. The installation might permit visitors to try on a piece of burn gear. Dramatic footage of a prairie burn accompanies these objects.
The display illustrates the aspects of prairie plants that make them so well-suited to fire—unlike their invasive neighbors. This includes a low growth point, deep root systems, dry leaves that act as accelerant, and seedpods that respond to fire.
The story
The native people of what is today Chicago originally burned prairies to create more robust ecosystems. There is a complex relationship between the shaping of this landscape by both lightening and man-made fires, and the evolution of prairie plants. Their contemporary structure is suited to and in some cases dependent on fire. Ongoing human stewardship helps these species maintain their habitat against encroaching invasive plants and fragmentation.
Few Chicagoans realize their region includes rare ecosystems. Seed processing efforts include a strong citizen science component, providing an opportunity for local visitors to move from awareness to action.
Human stewardship has shaped biodiversity for millennia and continues to do so.
The experience
A backlit case contains a geometric mosaic of colors and textures. On closer examination, the mosaic is composed of seeds from Chicago area prairies. Handheld magnifying glasses let visitors explore the wide range of forms, including dense spikes, delicate fluff, slender gold grains, and blood-red pearls.
Opposite this display is an unlikely set of conservation tools: A drip-can, lighter, flame-retardant jumpsuit, face shield, and heavy, insulated gloves. The installation might permit visitors to try on a piece of burn gear. Dramatic footage of a prairie burn accompanies these objects.
The display illustrates the aspects of prairie plants that make them so well-suited to fire—unlike their invasive neighbors. This includes a low growth point, deep root systems, dry leaves that act as accelerant, and seedpods that respond to fire.
The story
The native people of what is today Chicago originally burned prairies to create more robust ecosystems. There is a complex relationship between the shaping of this landscape by both lightening and man-made fires, and the evolution of prairie plants. Their contemporary structure is suited to and in some cases dependent on fire. Ongoing human stewardship helps these species maintain their habitat against encroaching invasive plants and fragmentation.
Few Chicagoans realize their region includes rare ecosystems. Seed processing efforts include a strong citizen science component, providing an opportunity for local visitors to move from awareness to action.
Module 6: Cultural identity & local landscapes
The message
Cultural identity is often rooted in the local landscape. A community’s ability to continue making choices about that landscape is essential to preserving quality of life.
The experience
Visitors enter an intimate, enclosed space. At first, the space is filled with the bright, geometric patterns of Shipibo embroidery. The lights dim and a projected image wraps around the interior, creating the illusion of standing inside a forest clearing in the Shipibo territory in Cordillera Azul National Park. Within the 360° scene, a group of Shipibo teens pose on one wall while water laps at a canoe at the edge of a river on the opposite wall. A Shipbo narrator begins to describe the decision to form Cordillera Azul and the community’s hopes for the land.
As this vignette fades, close-up images of flowers from gardens in Pullman and Calumet region prairies fill the space. A new scene wraps around the interior, this time showing Hazel and Cheryl Johnson in a green lot in Pullman. Narration from the mother and daughter describes their efforts to mobilize the community and reclaim the health of their neighborhood after the collapse of heavy industry.
The story
Alaka Wali and her team identify the intertwined nature of place, culture, and identity as a major asset towards conservation. ECCo examines the choices communities make as they balance concerns about meeting basic needs and desires to have more with the value they place on maintaining the natural landscape. For the Shipibo, this may mean balancing the desire to make money from cattle ranching against the fear of losing local forests. In the Calumet region, this might be rejecting a new factory that could mean jobs in favor of more sustainable development to ensure clean air and clean water. By alternating between stories from Cordillera Azul and Calumet, the common concerns of communities can be highlighted.
To further illustrate this theme, a display could features objects from these communities (and perhaps others) that demonstrate material links to the land: Shipibo embroidery, Cofan headdresses made from feathers, or sculptures made from industrial scrap metal from the Calumet region.
Cultural identity is often rooted in the local landscape. A community’s ability to continue making choices about that landscape is essential to preserving quality of life.
The experience
Visitors enter an intimate, enclosed space. At first, the space is filled with the bright, geometric patterns of Shipibo embroidery. The lights dim and a projected image wraps around the interior, creating the illusion of standing inside a forest clearing in the Shipibo territory in Cordillera Azul National Park. Within the 360° scene, a group of Shipibo teens pose on one wall while water laps at a canoe at the edge of a river on the opposite wall. A Shipbo narrator begins to describe the decision to form Cordillera Azul and the community’s hopes for the land.
As this vignette fades, close-up images of flowers from gardens in Pullman and Calumet region prairies fill the space. A new scene wraps around the interior, this time showing Hazel and Cheryl Johnson in a green lot in Pullman. Narration from the mother and daughter describes their efforts to mobilize the community and reclaim the health of their neighborhood after the collapse of heavy industry.
The story
Alaka Wali and her team identify the intertwined nature of place, culture, and identity as a major asset towards conservation. ECCo examines the choices communities make as they balance concerns about meeting basic needs and desires to have more with the value they place on maintaining the natural landscape. For the Shipibo, this may mean balancing the desire to make money from cattle ranching against the fear of losing local forests. In the Calumet region, this might be rejecting a new factory that could mean jobs in favor of more sustainable development to ensure clean air and clean water. By alternating between stories from Cordillera Azul and Calumet, the common concerns of communities can be highlighted.
To further illustrate this theme, a display could features objects from these communities (and perhaps others) that demonstrate material links to the land: Shipibo embroidery, Cofan headdresses made from feathers, or sculptures made from industrial scrap metal from the Calumet region.
Module 4: Interconnectedness of living things
The message
Communities of living things are interconnected and interdependent—including humans.
The experience
A sculptural representation of an aguajé palm, perhaps made from recycled materials, extends the full height of the gallery. It is both a symbolic and literal “Tree of Life.” Suspended among its branches and nestled among its roots are taxidermy mounts or video monitors showing the diverse creatures whose lives revolve around the aguajé—from large mammals like tapirs and peccaries and brilliant scarlet macaws, to tiny insect pollinators and bats. Clues of human presence are also included—such as a foot band for climbing, packaging for the many products made from aguajé fruit, or video monitors of people climbing and cutting aguajés. Graphics reveal the aguaje fruits’ scaly texture and nearly iridescent sheen.
The story
The aguajé (Mauritia flexuosa) beautifully demonstrates the interconnectedness of species in a community—including humans. The “Tree of Life,” as the first European visitors dubbed it, is an essential food source for large mammals, primates, fish, rodents, and birds. It is a primary nesting site for macaws and provides a home for countless other species, including its tiny insects pollinators. Aguajé is also an important resource for humans. Many rural communities depend on urban sales of products made from the fruit.
Bil Alverson and Robin Foster follow the increasing demand for aguajé in Peru with concern. Its 100-foot height and slippery trunk make cutting down trees the easiest method for harvesting fruit. The Maijuna’s decision to harvest by climbing, instead of cutting trees, points to the importance of local stewardship.
Communities of living things are interconnected and interdependent—including humans.
The experience
A sculptural representation of an aguajé palm, perhaps made from recycled materials, extends the full height of the gallery. It is both a symbolic and literal “Tree of Life.” Suspended among its branches and nestled among its roots are taxidermy mounts or video monitors showing the diverse creatures whose lives revolve around the aguajé—from large mammals like tapirs and peccaries and brilliant scarlet macaws, to tiny insect pollinators and bats. Clues of human presence are also included—such as a foot band for climbing, packaging for the many products made from aguajé fruit, or video monitors of people climbing and cutting aguajés. Graphics reveal the aguaje fruits’ scaly texture and nearly iridescent sheen.
The story
The aguajé (Mauritia flexuosa) beautifully demonstrates the interconnectedness of species in a community—including humans. The “Tree of Life,” as the first European visitors dubbed it, is an essential food source for large mammals, primates, fish, rodents, and birds. It is a primary nesting site for macaws and provides a home for countless other species, including its tiny insects pollinators. Aguajé is also an important resource for humans. Many rural communities depend on urban sales of products made from the fruit.
Bil Alverson and Robin Foster follow the increasing demand for aguajé in Peru with concern. Its 100-foot height and slippery trunk make cutting down trees the easiest method for harvesting fruit. The Maijuna’s decision to harvest by climbing, instead of cutting trees, points to the importance of local stewardship.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)