Who among us hasn’t longed to have a conversation with a microbe?
Starting Dec. 15 at The Peale Museum, we’ll have our chance!
The Peale will present “Chamber of Wonders,” a multi-media exhibition created by an artist and marine biologist, who collaborated to create galleries displaying a series of hands-on installations telling the invisible stories of living microbes under the surface of the Chesapeake Bay.
“The artworks explore the social and poetic relationship between humans and non-humans, especially invisible critters affecting our everyday lives,” read the press release announcing the exhibit. “Photography, drawings, and objects with hand-made assemblages are integrated in experimental multi-media forms of live microbes, augmented reality [AR] and animation that’s informed live conditions streaming in from the nearby Chesapeake Bay water.”
Thanks to artist Lisa Moren and marine biologist Dr. Tsvetan Bachvaroff, attendees will be able to see animated Chesapeake Bay microbes, talk to real bioluminescent ones, and experience for themselves how artists utilize data from live Bay conditions to tell stories about the Bay and how it works. “Projects include ‘Under the Bay’ presented for the first time as a mixed reality project and ‘What is the Shape of Water?’ where viewers are invited to talk to ancient microbes or ask questions such as ‘what is the shape of water?’ and the excited critters will answer in turbulent shapes of blue light!”
There will also be screenings of short films and a documentary by the artist and scientists on the topic. Over the course of the exhibit there will be events including a panel, musical sessions, and meditation events.
“Chamber of Wonders: Emerging Strategies Under the Bay in AR\XR” will be a panel discussion taking place on Jan. 18 from 5-8 p.m. Topics will cover art, philosophy, and science. Panelists will include artist and moderator Moren, biologist Bachvaroff, philosopher Dr. Jane Bennett (Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University), and artist Lee Boot, Director of the Imaging Research Center, UMBC.
A “Music and Meditation” event will take place on Jan. 14 at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. It’s described as “a meditation session and musical event with vocalist, Bonnie Landers, will surprise and delight how a talented singer will improvise and react to the light emanating from the bioluminescent microbes. The dinoflagellate microbes in turn react to her voice.”
Dinoflagellate are micro-organisms in the Chesapeake Bay (and around the world) that produce both bioluminescent light and oxygen. When Landers vocalizes, they react to her voice.
After the performance, the audience is invited to stay for a guided meditation and conversations. Late entry is not permitted, but there is the second performance-meditation scheduled soon after the first. “This intimate event will include a pitch-black room during the performance and silence during the meditation and is therefore not suitable for most children under 12 years old,” reads the description of the event.
The exhibit is free to the public, and runs from Dec. 15, 2023 through Feb. 4, 2024, with an opening reception on Thursday, Dec. 14 from 5-8 p.m.
Hours are as follows:
Thursday – Friday: 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday – Sunday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Closed: Dec. 24 – 31
For more information on the exhibit, please click this link.
