The ocean, though magnificently beautiful, can be a scary thing. It is deep, dark, and limitless. Therein lies a thousand creatures yet to be discovered, and in the words of deep-sea biologist Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover, “More men have walked on the moon than have dived to the deepest part of our oceans.”
So what have we discovered? In 2011, then wildlife and scientific film director Claire Nouvian visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, watched a film about deep-sea creatures, and was fascinated by this new world. Soon after, she collaborated with some of the world’s most respected researchers to create an extensive and unprecedented archive of abyssal images and specimens, many of which had never been seen by the public.
On 6 June 2014, the ArtScience Museum is opening its doors to The Deep, an exhibition of over 40 deep sea living up to 4,000 metres beneath the surface. The Deep, which is also the name of Claire Nouvian’s visual encyclopedia of the abyss, first premiered at Paris’ Natural History Museum in 2007, and features 67 images of captivating sea fauna and ethereal bioluminescent creatures – some photographed for the very first time.
The Deep will be presented in a unique, pitch-black environment, virtually immersing visitors into the realm of the deep sea. It is organised into eight zones, each revealing the different depths of the sea, from life in the mid-water (up to 4000 metres beyond the surface) and on the ocean floor.T he specimens presented in The Deep are extremely rare, with very few existing in good condition elsewhere.
The Deep will run for a limited season at ArtScience Museum. Tickets will go on sale from 11 May 2015 onwards. For more updates, visit the ArtScience Museum Facebook.
