Report for partners
Strange Creatures: The Art of Unknown Animals
Strange Creatures ran from 16th March - 27th June 2015 at the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL.
Exhibition overview
By examining the world of animal representations, Strange Creatures explored how imagery has been used to bring
newly discovered animals into the public eye. From the earliest days of exploration, visual depictions in artworks,
books, the media and even toys have been essential in representing exotic creatures that are alien to people at
home.
Many of the exhibition’s displays were developed by palaeontologists and by historians of science, exploration and
art from UCL. They investigated the theme of animal representation from the perspective of their own disciplines.
These researchers’ stories included medieval accounts of exotic creatures, art from the ages of exploration and
empire, sailors who faked “dragon” specimens by manipulating dried fish, contemporary knitted craft taxidermy and
twenty-first century reconstructions of dinosaurs based on cutting-edge engineering principles. Together they
explored how unknown animals are communicated to the wider public. The exhibition included a number of animal
artworks created by people who had never seen the creature in the flesh.
Strange Creatures centred upon George Stubbs’ painting of a kangaroo, loaned from the National Maritime Museum
as part of the Travellers’ Tales project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund.
Key Performance Indicators
“Normal” visitors during
9570
standard opening hours
Total educational visitors to
5243
Museum during exhibition
Of which: 3095 were in public events
directly linked to Strange
Creatures (in 27 events)
1375 were in public events not
directly linked to Strange
Creatures
527 were school visits
(in 19 classes)
150 were formal HE teaching
(in 7 classes)
96 were formal FE classes (in 4
classes)
TOTAL NUMBER OF VISITORS
14813
TO EXHIBITION
Compared to 5806 for same
period in 2013/14 (up 65%)
Compared to 4669 for same
period in 2013/14 (up 12%)
Events
The Museum already has a reputation for a high quality, innovative public engagement programme, and is one of the
primary providers of informal adult life science events in London. The programme of events around Strange
Creatures gave us the chance to experiment with new formats and content areas, and to explore artistic events more
thoroughly.
There were 27 events in the Strange Creatures programme This included week-long specimen-based activities
around our Australian animal collection; art/making events for adults exploring making animal representations
based on written and oral descriptions and partial specimens; and a 12-hour knit-a-thon (inspired by the knitted
thylacine pelt installation in the exhibition). The Strange Creatures Late included live taxidermy and making activities.
Animal Show Off was an event where experts from across the disciplines each performed a nine minute set
enthusing about an animal of their choice (including the kangaroo). Our lunchtime Show ‘N’ Tell series gave some of
the exhibitions academic co-curators the chance to explore their exhibition content more deeply.
Knitted thylacine pelt - an example of cratftivism -- (C) Ruth Marshall
Media
A Storify of the exhibition’s life on Twitter can be found here:
https://storify.com/JackDAshby/strange-creatures-at-the-grant-museum
Strange Creatures generated a lot press, being featured across many outlets (beyond listings). A selection is below:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2970751/The-art-unknown-kangaroos-elephant-busesexhibition-shows-artists-impressions-mysterious-mammals.html
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/05/strange-creatures-art-kongourou-other-animals
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/visualarts/article4376277.ece
Full page TimeOut feature 10/03/2015
http://www.artfund.org/what-to-see/exhibitions/2015/03/16/strange-creatures-the-art-of-unknown-animalsexhibition
http://londonist.com/2015/03/how-would-you-describe-a-kangaroo.php?showpage=6#gallery-1
April: Included in TimeOut’s Top Ten museum exhibitions
http://hyperallergic.com/187566/painting-a-kangaroo-when-youve-never-seen-one/?wt=2
http://blogs.rmg.co.uk/collections/2015/06/01/strange-creatures-the-art-of-unknown-animals-at-the-grantmuseum/
The Strange Creatures team
Strange Creatures was curated by Jack Ashby (Grant Museum) with co-curators Chiara Ambrosio, Joe Cain and Simon
Werrett (all UCL Science and Technology Studies); Andrew Cuff and Anjali Goswami (both UCL Genetics, Evolution
and Environment); Bob Mills and Sarah Wade (both UCL History of Art); Misha Ewen and Margot Finn (both UCL
History); and Andrea Fredericksen (UCL Art Museum).
A team of 12 volunteers (largely recruited from the UCL student body) worked with the public during opening hours,
engaging them in art activities inspired by Stubbs’ methods, and conducting evaluation (a full report from which will
be available shortly on request). Together they contributed over 400 hours of volunteering time.
Loaned objects
The exhibition featured objects loaned from a number of institutions as well as specimens from the Grant Museum’s
own collection. The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, loaned The Kongouro from New Holland a 1772
painting by George Stubbs. UCL Art Museum loaned five works on paper, including a 1558 copy of Dürer’s famous
rhinoceros. UCL Library Special Collections loaned an original manuscript by Captain Cook. UCL Ethnography
Collections loaned two Australian Aboriginal hunting clubs. The artist Ruth Marshall loaned her 2015 work of a
knitted thylacine pelt. Mark Carnall loaned a number of model dinosaurs and dinosaur memorabilia.
Acknowledgements
We would very much like to thank all those involved – the co-curators, lenders and volunteers made this project the
success it was. We are also grateful to the Travellers’ Tales team at the National Maritime Museum and the project
partners, as well as those at UCL who contributed to the exhibition. Many thanks to the Art Fund and Heritage
Lottery Fund for their support.
Jack Ashby
Grant Museum Manager, and overall curator of the Strange Creatures exhibition
July 2015