So I attended a wedding
Well, it was more a marriage than anything- bringing together what seem like polar opposites: music and the ecosystem.
The California Science Center hosts several exhibits, each focused on a particular field of science. One exhibit in particular captured my attention, however, far above the space shuttle and life science exhibits: Earth in Concert.
The entrance (pictured above) immediately caught my eye because it focused on people. The rest of the museum I had walked through showcased machines, trees, fish, and other non-human objects, so the vertical posters of musicians and songwriters intrigued me. The portraits are arranged so that you can hear what’s going on inside the square exhibit, but cannot properly see into it. It drew me in and ushered me into a large “starting room.”
Here, a large, three-panel display played looped concert videos of some of the featured individuals who are public advocates of environmental conservation. From here, the exhibit allows you to wander, and as a student of the natural sciences and the musical experience, I did.
Above are two display which appear directly across each other. On the left, videos and artifact displays introduce two marine biologists and explain some of the tools that they use to conduct their research (most prominently is the set of Eppendorf pipettes). On the right, a collection of memorabilia from musicians I’ve never heard of.
This bizarre mash-up continued throughout the exhibit. But some of the technology-focused displays were, for lack of a better term, very cool. There were exhibits where patrons could listen to songs written for the earth and write a chorus themselves, immerse themselves in the sounds of different ecosystems and animals, and, falling in line with the social media “share everything” generation, a place to take a photo with significant, earth-friendly song quotes.
But perhaps my favorite display was the largest, most interesting one: an interactive sound chamber.
Large enough to fit two SUVs, the chamber allows patrons to press different buttons to activate sounds of different animals. Interestingly, though, there were a few buttons which would affect the animal noises in different ways.
Red buttons, like “unsustainable development” and “oil spills” would silence the animals and being a cacophony of horrible industrial noises. The blue buttons would benefit the audio ecosystem and bring the animal noises back. These included actions like cleaning up the beach and recycling.
I initially entered the exhibit without a very strong opinion about world ecosystems, and I felt that my lack of an opinion hasn’t changed since visiting the exhibit. This was my main issue with the exhibit- it felt scattered and random. While every set of displays (arranged like floating islands) had a particular theme, I felt that they weren’t arranged in any meaningful way. Combined with the lack of a statement of purpose, I didn’t feel like I learned anything new. Perhaps it is because I come from a science background, so scientific instruments and techniques have been normalized for me.
All in all, I appreciated the exhibit, and I think that anyone who wants to have a lot of fun should check it out. But I don’t think you’ll learn much from it, unless you have very little background in the natural sciences.
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