19th St and Ben Franklin Pkwy
Hours: 10-4:30 M-F; 10-5 Sat & Sun
Cost: Adults: $12; Students & Children <13: $10
Our visit to the Academy of Natural Sciences today filled me with awe and wonder. It has been too long, since I was a kid at least, since I've been here and I had totally forgotten about the dioramas. I have to admit when I think about natural science dioramas, what comes to mind are the ones I saw this summer at the visitor centers at the Cape May lighthouse and Peace Valley Park. They mostly just feature local animal life and are limited in scale and detail. I have to say, the dioramas at the Academy were certainly impressive in both their size not to mention breathtakingly beautiful and three-dimensional making you feel as if you were really out in nature with these animals. During our visit, we brought up the question of new media in the museum setting and how in the '30s when many of the diorama were being produced for this museum, this form of viewing exotic animals in their natural habitats WAS new...these days, we have television documentaries that show us the animals eating, sleeping and playing, but is this a better experience? Different, yes, but not better. Perhaps what drew me into the dioramas was the lack of technology - of sounds, lights, electronics - the things that are now the norm everywhere you go. It was the quietness and intimacy of the animals and their lands, how I focused so hard on finding that point where the ground met the painted backdrop and let my eye wander over the intricate details of the scenes. You just cannot get that kind of stillness and focus when the animals are all over the screen of a television, you can't really look at what is there like you can at the museum. Maybe its that my background is art that I'm so appreciative of the skill, precision and care that has gone into every item within these containers, whatever it is, I know that watching TV is nothing like this experience. Not only did we get to look at and talk about the natural history dioramas, but we also got a sneak peek at some elements of a exhibition slated for early 2012, "Shh...Secrets of the Diorama," and it looked really cool, with touchable objects and a cross section of an actual diorama animal - these are all examples of how interactive media can be used in the museum settings without necessarily reverting to flashy electronics - and it looked like it would work really well.
