Late autumn is approaching, summer worms are silent, have you ever seen the microscopic world of worms up close?
The Shanghai Museum of Natural History is exhibiting "Listening to Insects at Night", which not only has pictures of small bugs magnified by 100 times, but also hears the chirping of each kind of insects. Who is the "King of Worms"? "Surging News Art Review" takes you into the three-in-one popular science exhibition of pictures, texts and sounds.
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Insect Chorus Audio source: Shanghai World Expo Museum Yuan Ji
The two most recent "immersive" exhibitions in Shanghai have a very different look and feel.
teamLab's "Boundless Art Museum" in Shanghai will officially open on November 5 in Huangpu Binjiang.
Japan's teamLab has brought the "Boundless Art Museum" from Tokyo to Shanghai, with more than 50 works, and technology can simulate everything natural. Although the technology is gorgeous, it is difficult to beat the real one, and the electric light effect that tries to achieve the ultimate has become the "boundary" of teamLab. The biggest problem with this artificial beauty is that there is less free breathing. Therefore, while watching the exhibition, I wanted to run back to nature and see the real scenery that did not have such a high saturation.
With a word, in the exhibition hall of the Boundless Art Museum, a very limited number of exit indicators are almost drowned into the colorful. Asked two or three staff, but also can not say the direction of the exit, so go around, but also look at the small exhibition halls. I can't help but worry that in the event of an accident, such as a fire hazard, will the audience be able to leave the venue quickly and safely?
Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, in the reeds of the Bund Old Pier Riverside Trail, I occasionally heard a bug chirping, clear and clear. Unfortunately, the night was too dark and the worms were too small to see. Get closer and scare away.
A few days ago, I learned that the Shanghai Museum of Natural History had opened a temporary exhibition, "Night Listening to Insects", saying that "the songbirds that sing in the grass in summer are gradually disappearing from this world." Maybe all summer went by and you didn't pay attention to them. ”
No, noticed, just haven't known about them all the time. So I decided to take my curiosity with me and walk into the "Night Listening to Worms".
Poster of the exhibition "Listening to the Worms at Night"
Small and beautiful, it is the first impression of the exhibition hall. On the dozen or so panels, crickets, crickets and cicadas are magnified 100 times. Sweep the two-dimensional code of the exhibition board, and each corresponding insect will sing and whisper in the ear.
The sound of pear crickets is gentle, and these insects that inhabit the trees sound like "Qu - Qu Qu Qu, Qu Qu
Pear slice cricket
Drum winged ant, commonly known as "sister", "Jill", the body is beautiful, the whole body is green, although it can not fly, but the foot is strong and strong, can jump, often stay on the tall grass stem, crawling day and night, the higher the temperature, the more cheerful it is.
Drum-winged ants
Japanese bell cricket
Among the various "insect sounds", the song of the double-banded golden cricket is particularly pleasant, and it is no wonder that scientists praise it as "a beloved songbird". The double-banded golden cricket is a typical small cricket with a yellow body color, and the male has a pronounced pronouncement.
Double banded golden cricket
Biologists divide the "ease of sound collection in the wild" of different insects into 1 star to 5 stars. Think back to the little guy in the reeds by the Pu River who doesn't know what it looks like, and like the double-banded golden cricket, it is a very easy 1 star. However, from ear to ear, thanks to this popular science exhibition.
Exhibition site
In a "little black room", 3D spatial audio technology and 40 speakers recreate the world of song bugs hidden in the city at night. Close your eyes, sit or stand, and you can feel the drizzle falling overhead and the crickets jumping from your left to your right.
These voices come from all over the country, Shanghai, Yunnan, Wuhan, Nanchang, Huangshan, Nanjing, Wuxi, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Hong Kong... Little bugs from different regions gather in a different way in "8 p.m. for Mr. Cricket.".
8 p.m. for Mr. Cricket, 3D immersive sound theater
Inside the 3D immersive sound theater
On the outer wall of the "Little Black House", there is the "family tree" of "Mr. Dou Cricket": Japanese Textile Lady, Narrow-winged Textile Lady, Japanese Stripe Ant, Sickletail Dew Ant, Yueming Grass Ant, Chinese Grass Ant, etc., and pictures are accompanied one by one. Stepping out of the "little black room" is still evocative.
Photography by Yuan Ji (Shanghai World Expo Museum Innovation Studio); Specimen Author: Yu Zhizhou (Zhizhou Yingyu Studio)
Photographing these little guys is not easy. First, for each bug in the portrait, the specimen maker spends 3-4 hours removing soft tissue from the body, smoothing the hairs on the antennae, cleaning the dust on the wings, and so on. For the next 4-5 days, it is repeated to revise its posture until the shape is fixed.
In the second step, using the technique of collecting the panoramic deep billion pixel collection, they were obtained as "portraits", and each shot experienced hundreds of shutters for a total of 13 days.
The photography method of the "Night Listening to Insects" work is "Panoramic Deep Micro photography", which is the technical means used by the Innovation Studio of the Shanghai World Expo Museum for the collection of digital images of miniature collections. This technology is particularly suitable for the digital acquisition of over 100 million pixels of miniature and small photographs (collections, miniature sculptures, insects, amber, etc.).
Detailed view of bugs under panoramic deep micrography
Compared with various large-scale exhibitions, "Night Listening to Insects" can be described as small and exquisite, and more than 20 minutes are enough to watch carefully. On a message wall at the end of the exhibition, there is a note that may say to many viewers - "I love little bugs".
Listen to the insects groan at night
Venue: Shanghai Museum of Natural History B1 Pro Exhibition Hall
Duration: October 18 – November 10 (closed on Mondays)
(Source of the exhibition "Listening to insects at night": Shanghai Museum of Natural History and Shanghai World Expo Museum Innovation Studio)