Explore the Ocean Depths with The Deep
PUBLISHED June 22nd, 2015 04:00 am | UPDATED January 20th, 2016 10:46 am
This June, the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands will be shedding light on one of the world’s most mysterious ecosystems with their new exhibition, The Deep. The first of its kind in Asia, The Deep showcases the rarely seen wonders (as well as bewildering anomalies) that inhabit the waters 4000 metres below sea level, thereby  dispelling the myth that there’s “nothing at the bottom of the ocean”.
Second image of Zone A of the exhibition
Curated by founder and director of BLOOM Association and Claire Nouvain, the author of the book ‘The Deep’, the exhibition is a perfect marriage of art and science. On top of employing the emotional connections so often created by art, the collection also highlights the critical environmental challenges that oceans currently face.
From the very start, The Deep immerses you in a whole other world. Upon entering, you’ll be greeted with one of the exhibition’s highlights, Hidden/Depths, an interactive installation by Australian artists Lynette Wallworth. A graceful union of science and art, Hidden/Depths presents a room filled with majestic water columns housing 7 never-before-seen specimens, as well as a number of mud rock ceramic vases that are reminiscent of dinosaur eggs. Peering into these ceramic vases is like coming face to face with a void – cold and empty and dark – until you shine the light from a UV torch into it, and films of bioluminescent organisms begin to appear in mesmerising shades of blue, green, and red. With an audio file from NASA humming in the background, this installation is bound to evoke a sense of childlike wonder in you, or even fear-tinged awe as you begin to understand the seclusion that comes with living in the abyssal sea.
Dumbo Octopus (Deep 3 / © 1999 MBAR)I
Venture into the rest of the ocean with 6 themed zones, with each one representing a different depth of the sea. You’ll begin in Zone A (150 – 600m), where food is more abundant and deep-sea animals are still able to detect light, before traversing through the rest of the zones to make your way to Zone E (Toxic Oases), a toxic-laden barren seafloor in which the strange process of chemosynthesis takes place. Along the way, you’ll meet some seriously baffling animals that will be sure to shift your perception of the deep sea forever (we sure did!) – such as elusive Scaleless Black Dragonfish, the stomach-less and five-hearted Pacific Hagfish, and our personal favourite, the adorable yet enigmatic Dumbo Octopus.
Our verdict: The Deep is an absolute must-visit if you’re even the least intrigued by the fauna lurking far beneath the ocean’s surface. The Deep will probably be the only time in your life that you’ll come into contact with such a wide array of deep-sea specimens while beefing up your knowledge of our ocean’s oddities, so we highly recommend you check it out.
The Deep Exhibition is currently on display at the ArtScience Museum, and will be until November 2015. Tickets are priced from $8/child and $14/adult.
Header image: Jelly Benthocodon sp. (Deep 4 / © 2002 MBARI)
Thumbnail Image: Threadfin snailfish (Deep 5 / © 2002 MBARI)
