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Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Yesterday, DCist got the chance to preview the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's new Sant Ocean Hall, which opens to the public this Saturday. Our photographer, Meaghan Gay, said "It really is a very cool space. I am kind of a museum freak, and this blows away the Natural History museum in NY, or the one in Vienna for that matter. This is a totally interactive space, with video touch screens all around." The musuem is making a huge effort at interactivity — you can follow them on their web site, on Flickr, on Facebook, on YouTube and even on Twitter.
The intention of this space is to showcase the current understanding we have of the ocean — which covers 71 percent of the planet's surface yet is still largely unknown and unexplored. This represents the largest renovation to the museum since its opening in 1910. It's a truly interactive experience, featuring 674 specimens and models, high definition video screens, one-of-a-kind exhibits and some other cool new technology. Victoria and Roger Sant donated $15 million to endow the new hall, choosing the Smithsonian because of its already incredibly comprehensive collection of specimens (over 80 million!). Take a look at the shots Meaghan took, and don't forget to pay attention to the captions to get a real feel for what she saw there.
A Blue Heron can be seen in the "Shores and Shallows" section, which highlights coastal ecosystems. (Meaghan Gay for DCist)
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That squid picture is perhaps the single most frightening thing I've ever seen.
Are there any living creatures on exhibit or is everyone dead?
I am far from sold on these super-interactive museum displays. You just get hyperactive children slamming the little handles to and fro, or flipping through the captions on a squid anatomy like it was GTA VII: Marianas. Looks great on the grant application, nothing actually communicated to the bused-in mouth-breathers.
The squid is actually "floating" in a new inert solution made by 3M, that keeps the squid from neither sinking to the bottom, nor rising to the top. Pretty cool!
Congrats to everyone involved with this exhibit, it's really amazing!
Also, the museum will be closed tomorrow morning until 11am, as President Bush visits. Apparently he's interested in the "shallows" section, where the rest of the lame ducks reside.
I have to agree with WOV. Parts of that exhibit look very cool, but I freakin' hate the highly interactive bits of the Archive, or the Postal museum. It makes the whole thing really tedious unless you have a first grade reading level or are easily distracted by bright, shiny pictures.
Everyone is dead. It's a museum, not an aquarium or zoo.
So glad the giant squid is back on display! I missed him. (Her?)
Which specimen is labeled "AB Normal"? Because it reminds me of a shelf full of heads in jars. Also a sort of weak takeoff of the blue whale model at the NYC museum.
Oh i thought the picture was taken from Madame Tussaud Wax Museum. My bad.
i'm really glad they restored the original architecture of the hall. interestingly enough it looks a lot like the main hall at the field museum in chicago (minus sue)...
Life is interactive and it is great to see kids using the ability to see what the display will do. When I go there, and I'm old, I hope to push every button that gives me a chance to see all that I can see. Some of the displays are just plain beautiful and not all look like they have buttons. Go and enjoy!
Thanks for the home run photographer!
No, 5momduke, it's not. It's not great to see kids "using the ability to see what the display will do," mindlessly, not absorbing the information or taking a second to contemplate any of the things in the museum or the concepts that could behind them.
And BTW I was making just one specific point, not speaking out against the museum as a whole (which looks lovely,) But that's the kind of discussion that only adults with strong reading comprehension abilities can have with one another. "life is interactive" - yep. It also sometimes takes reading and thinking - skills museums shold encourage, so you don't run the risk of saying something inane and unresponsive like, well, "life is interactive."
Arighteouskoz, there is a 1,500 gallon Indo Pacific coral reef aquarium. Those are the only living species in the exhibit.
Good points, WOV.
Here's my beef with the interactive era of mueseums: multiple TV screens within earshot of each other playing different audio.
Memo to all you DCist-reading curators out there: It should be easier for someone to focus in your mueseum than in the TV wing of a BestBuy.
museum. sorry.
WOV:
whoah there, person. Don't think 5mom was looking to pick a fight on the internets over a museum exhibit. cheeeell...
Anywho, most of the modern interactive exhibits are a great way to engage a person in the "concepts behind them". Try them out, they're not like the weak ass predecessors that featured interactivity as the point, rather than the content.
Mouth-breathers, beware.
WOV- Some kids actually do have attention spans longer than 5 milliseconds. They have to suffer because they happen to go to school with a bunch of idiots? I know I always appreciated interactive museum exhibits so I didn't have to hang out with the Beavises chuckling endlessly about the fact that there was a a display of whale testicles in the corner.
Gear your museum to the lowest common denominators, and you'll produce little else besides.
I just hate the move by museums to use touch-screen computers to relay information. It's slow. Only one person can use it at once. And seriously, I could've just done that at home. I would rather read a block of text printed out on the wall than having to click through a bunch of glorified Encarta-like crap.
too bad it's not open today...this would be perfect weather to check everything out.
Call me when they have sexy docents wrestling with octopi in the hentai pool.
Does anyone know if there will be scallops?