Wherefore Art Thou the First Animals: We Are At the First Animals and the Origin of Oceanic Eco-systems: July 12: 2019-February 2020

 

|| Tuesday: May 28: 2019 || ά. It is claimed to be a ‘fascinating, new exhibition at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, First Animals and the Origin of Oceanic Eco-systems, that aims to challenge its visitors to question the very definition of an animal: ‘What is an animal?’ is a very good question. However, in order to understand giant systems, one, must, begin at the nano-seismic level, which is where is nanocromised the entire giant of a system. Therefore, to change giant systems for the better we must begin at that nanoseismic level; to begin with a nano structure and initiate a nano-change and, that will, with the progression of time, continue building upwards so that, one day, that change shall impact and appear onto the atomic level, that will re-architecture the molecular level and, there, things shall begin to be recrafted and that will bring about changes, fundamental, monumental, seismic and paradigm-shifting, that can now be seen in the reality, that is outside the observer.

A pin-scratch happens at an iron pillar of a giant of a building and no one has come to notice it for along passage of time. But that nano-scratch kept on building up and the weather, the environmental factors, the light, the heat, the cold, the moisture, the rain and the entire other range of variables kept on working at that nano-scratch and that began to grow upward, downward, depth-ward and all-ward and one day that rusting spread in all other structures and, one day, people hear on the news that, that giant building on that Windpipe Street, you know the windpipe, that plays music when the wind arrives, had collapsed! Or, that stranger at the Café, who said, ‘’This entire thing is a system of punishment.’’ No one registered what the stranger looked like or what he said but one lone listener, looked up, registered and noticed and wrote it down in her notebook with a great deal of profound thoughts and ideas, that were generated from the stranger’s strange summary of something.

That notebook got sold in an old scrap-shop and the new person, the buyer of that notebook had read those notes and what that listener wrote. That person writes a piece on it as he was an author and he published it somewhere. Many people read it and spoke about it to other people, who spoke about it to many others and another author, at another corner of the earth finds it and reads it and decides to write a book on that whole presentation, that had arisen out of that stranger saying, ‘This entire thing is system of punishment’ and what intelligent remarks the young woman had added to it and then how all that got presented with elaborate building up of the whole range of issues. He wrote this book and it came to be published, which then got translated into hundreds of world languages and the entire humanity hears about these issues. Now, this book goes back to that listening soul, that began the first archival work of that stranger’s saying and all she wrote about that. By than she had become a successful film director and she makes a film of that book and the story goes on and, then, in hundreds of thousands of theatres across the earth that story gets into as a play: Eventually, that comes to begin something so large following the successful building up of this process, the world became a different world. This is why we, must, keep on working to raise questions and challenge existing and, often, outdated, false or deceptive assumptions to bring about change: fundamental, monumental, seismic and paradigm-shifting change for the world and its desperate humanity are gasping in a state of desperation, that can not go on as this.

The organisers of this Exhibition, might not, have thought of this as they set about organising the event but we present this news to our readers with the invite do so: to think and ask and raise questions to challenge, that what are dying but what are, at the same time, strangling and killing the very human existence on earth. The visitors of this Exhibition are to join a journey by travelling back in time, 600 million years, to when the very origins of all animals, including, humans, began to develop in the world’s oceans. This Exhibition opens on July 12 this year and shall have been going on till February 24, 2020. Make a note of these dates, dear reader and begin something today, at that nano-seismic level and initiate a nano-change and mark that nano-change and let it build up and visit it next year on February 24 and see what it looked like than. Were you a Neurologist, decide to pick up and study Seismology; if, you are an Economist, decide to study, Anthropology, if, you were a Social Worker, decide to study Microbiology or, if, a student of Medicine, decide to study, Political Philosophy, if, you play violin, decide to pick up the Balalaika or an Ocarina or a Recorder. Than, write to The Humanion and tell us all about it.

In an extraordinary evolutionary event, which has never been repeated since, the Earth then experienced a huge increase in new life forms, many of which laid the foundations for the body plans of all subsequent animal life. This occurrence, termed as the Cambrian Explosion, took place over a period of just 20 million years, a mere blink of the eye in geological terms and First Animals will show how amazing fossil evidence from this epoch is being uncovered and investigated to shed new light on our earliest beginnings.

The exhibition will tell this story like never before. For the first time ever, over 60 incredibly well-preserved specimens, each hundreds of millions of years old, will travel to Oxford from sites across the globe. This includes a significant loan of 55 fossils from Yunnan University in Chengjiang, China, along with other evidence from Burgess Shale, Canada and Sirius Passet, Greenland.

One of the highlights of First Animals will certainly be the museum’s interactive Cambrian Diver installation, which will allow users to explore a 360-degree ocean in a virtual submersible craft. On the dive they will learn more about some of the key animals in the exhibition and how they existed as part of the very first animal ecosystems.

Digital reconstructions will, also, bring these enigmatic creatures to life, with the animations helping visitors to visualise what they, may, have looked like, how they moved and to understand their roles within an ecosystem. At selected times, visitors will, also, be able to immerse themselves in a Cambrian ocean virtual reality experience, First Life VR, complete with narration by natural history legend Sir David Attenborough.

By presenting the unique Chengjiang fossils alongside more than 70 specimens from the Museum’s collection, visitors will be able to see how the body plans, which evolved in the very earliest creatures can still be found in all the major animal groups today. The Chengjiang fossils are the star loans of First Animals. Their significance can not be overstated, as they represent a uniquely complete snapshot of the diversity of animals appearing during the Cambrian Explosion. Older than other well-preserved fossils from this era, the range and preservation of the Chengjiang fossils make them one of the most informative and, therefore, important, Cambrian fossil deposits in the world, providing an insight into the very first animals that we would recognise today.

The 55 specimens on loan represent 11 of the major groups of animal life, as well as, a number of enigmatic and starkly different forms, including, tiny worms, large predatory arthropods, invertebrate animals, such as, insects, arachnids and crustaceans and the early ancestors of vertebrates.
“After billions of years, in which bacteria were the only lifeforms, a combination of local and global environmental changes kick-started the evolution of animal life on Earth. First Animals shows how new techniques, analysis and fossil evidence are opening up new understanding of the origins of animal life, now dated to almost 600 million years ago.” says Professor Paul Smith, the Director of Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

“Visitors to the exhibition will encounter strange, enigmatic creatures and ancient eco-systems. They will be able to contemplate their earliest animal ancestor, a hypothetical first animal and, through digital reconstructions, will come face to face with creatures, that changed the planet forever: the first predators and the first prey.”

The loan of the Chengjiang fossils is made possible by the generosity of Yunnan University and the partnership between Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology. First Animals will, also, include an artistic perspective on the earliest animal life through the Museum’s collaboration with the Oxford Printmakers Co-operative. Twenty-two members of the group are working closely with Museum research scientists to create individual prints, that respond to fossils on display in the exhibition.

This large body of works will be presented in the First Impressions trail around the Museum, allowing art lovers and fossil enthusiasts alike to discover original artwork amongst the Museum’s fossil collections.
First Animals is free to visit. For more information, swim over to the Museum website.

About Oxford University Museum of Natural History: Founded in 1860 as the centre for scientific study at the University of Oxford, the Museum now holds the University’s internationally significant collections of entomological, geological and zoological specimens. Housed in a stunning Pre-Raphaelite-inspired example of neo-Gothic architecture, the Museum’s growing collections underpin a broad programme of natural environment research, teaching and public engagement. In 2015, the Museum was a Finalist in the Art Fund Prize for ‘Museum of the Year’. In 2016, it won the top accolade, ‘Best of the Best’, in the Museums and Heritage Awards.

About Oxford Printmakers Co-operative: Oxford Printmakers Co-operative has been running for over forty years as a non-profit making organisation, offering a high standard of professional printmaking facilities for a hundred members in their East Oxford workshop. The group will be displaying further work inspired by the First Animals exhibition at the North Wall Arts Centre in Oxford, July 09-August 10, 2019.

Caption: Images: Oxford University Museum of Natural History:::ω.
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