Melbourne Museum welcomes Te Papa’s blockbuster exhibition Bug Lab

26 June 2017

Melbourne Museum is feeling the buzz as it opens the doors to Te Papa exhibition Bug Lab – the blockbuster science exhibition created by Te Papa and Weta Workshop.

This is the first international showing of the exhibition since it closed its doors in Wellington in April.

Te Papa CEO, Geraint Martin, says Australian audiences are in for a treat.

“This is an exhibition experience that will have a huge wow factor for visitors to Melbourne Museum,” says Martin. “We know how important science and technology education is for the future, and Bug Lab will get people excited about these subjects.”

The high impact, hands-on experience gives visitors the chance to learn from the genius of bugs. Visitors enter a colourful, magical space, marvel at large-scale bug models, and explore hands-on science.

Lynley Marshall, CEO, Museums Victoria said that Melbourne Museum was looking forward to revealing Bug Lab to visitors.

“Museums Victoria is delighted to be hosting the Australian premiere of Bug Lab at Melbourne Museum. Combining cutting-edge science and technology with fantastic design and craftsmanship, this is an exhibition which goes far beyond the realm of a regular natural history exhibition and is sure to be an engaging and interactive experience for all museum visitors.”

Featuring six large-scale bugs – Orchid Mantis, Bombardier Beetle, Jewel Wasp, Dragonfly, Japanese Honeybees and Katipō – Bug Lab lifts the lid on the genius of bugs, which over millions of years have evolved to have superpower-like abilities, including camouflage, mind control, super speed, swarm intelligence and deadly venom.

Richard Taylor, Creative Director at Weta Workshop said Bug Lab was inspired by the bugs themselves:

“Weta Workshop is traditionally called upon to imagine fantastical beings from imaginative worlds – but Bug Lab gave us the chance to channel our creativity into the creatures of science fiction and fantasy that exist in our own backyards! We had a fantastic time collaborating with Te Papa to bring the incredible stories of bugs to life in magnificent scale.”

Bug Lab also highlights how bugs are inspiring cutting-edge technologies such as fly-like collision-tolerant drones, nanotechnology based on butterfly wings and 3D printed objects created from silk.

The exhibition will run at Melbourne Museum from 23 June until 15 October 2017.