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SUBNATURE explores the use of fish bones and their imagery to evolve alternate visuals, looking at reproducing nature through sculpture and technology.The fantastical works by emerging artist Lan Lan (UCL Slade School of Fine Art), take the form of cosmic bodies through the manipulation of original fish bone sculptures, with some installations imagining a fictional future where energy plants rely on the phantom creatures.Set amongst the Museum’s historic collections of skeletons, skulls and specimens in jars, the exhibition establishes a dialogue between natural history and its contemporary interventions – intertwining a Victorian collection with 21st Century digital techniques.SUBNATURE begins with ALTED – Hydrozoa, a set of  photographs of sea bass bone sculptures (Mod Fish) digitally altered into fantasised creations that appear to be both cosmic forms and marine animals.Composing the figurative relationship between consumerist technology and sublime landscapes, The Lava Project @ Olympic Highway imagines a fictional solar energy plant that uses images of virtual creatures. Aftermath simulates a film set narrated as a spin-off from The Lava Project. It produces a panoramic view of a landscape in destruction by collaging macro-shots of partially melted polystyrene balls in nail polish. Hybrids, Us Don’t Matter and Mercury, Black explore the appropriation of materials from manufactured nature, while HoloStack X-Capture turns 3D scans of a bone sculpture into holographic skeletons. In .RAW thumbnail fragments of scans seek shelter at the Micrarium as they were decrypted by the scanning software which rewrites the anatomical structures in its own language. 

The Micrarium is a place for tiny things - somewhere to come and explore the microscopic specimens at the Grant Museum of Zoology.It’s often said that 95% of known animal species are smaller than your thumb, but have you noticed how most museums fill their displays with big animals? The Micrarium is a new permenant display that intends to right this wrong. Converting an old office/storeroom into a beautiful back-lit cave, The Micrarium allows the Museum to display some of the tiniest specimens in the collection, on wall-to-wall microscope slides.YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/Oehn9xD672ENatural history museums often have large collections of microscope slides but are often overlooked due to their difficulty to display and are no longer used in teaching. The Micrarium shines a light on these collections and is an experiment with aesthetically displaying these historic objects.   Over 2000 slides are on display in The Micrarium, lining the walls from floor to ceiling and set against light boxes. The specimens include:”Legs of fleas showing muscles”, strangely arranged on the slide to be reminiscent of the Isle of Man coat of arms.Whole squid, just a couple of millimetres longBeetles which have been sliced along their entire length, through the antennae, head, legs and body. 1/10th of a millimetre thick.Scattered amongst the miniature creatures are a handful of tiny pieces of giant animals on microscope slides, including whales, mammoths and giraffes.The Micrarium was part of a development project funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund.

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These animals are rarely represented in natural history museum displays. They are not special enough. People would rather see dinosaurs, dodos and giant whales.However, The Museum of Ordinary Animals puts these everyday species front and centre. It investigates some of the profound impacts they have had on humanity and the natural world, where they came from, and the extraordinary things we have learned from them. We have invited them into our homes as pets; their role in our diets has changed us biologically; they are critical to modern medicine and they hold huge symbolic value in many cultures. The success or failure of civilisations has depended on their Ordinary Animals.The Museum of Ordinary Animals gives these commonplace creatures a chance to tell their stories. It begins by asking where ordinary animals came from, followed by the exploration of the themes of Ordinary Animals in culture, in science and in the environment.Ordinary Animals are everywhere, and these topics are endless. With objects from the world of archaeology, art, zoology and the history of science, the exhibition features stories from cutting-edge research taking place at University College London in order to investigate these themes. Exhibits include a wall of 4000 mice skeletons, Egyptian cat mummies, and what may be the world’s oldest veterinary text.EventsWhat does our relationship with Ordinary Animals tell us about ourselves? Through discussions, a late opening, a comedy night and offsite events The Museum of Ordinary Animals events programme looked at how boring beasts shape our relationship with the natural world.Let’s Talk About….Discussion'Ordinary Animals' are rarely talked about. However, the species we encounter every day on our plates, on our laps and on our streets have profound stories to tell. The human and natural worlds have been dramatically changed by these animals. For millennia, the human story has been intertwined with their stories.Join us for a series of talks, each focusing on a different 'Ordinary Animal'.  Share your own experiences of these boring beasts and hear from people who study, care for and work with 'Ordinary Animals'.DogsWednesday 18 October, 1.30-2.30pmJoin us for as we focus on an Ordinary Animal that has been part of the human story for 32,000 years, dogs. We’ll be discussing the origin of our relationship with dogs, the role of dogs in our contemporary society and how dogs are helping in cancer detection. RatsWednesday 22 November, 1.30-2.30pmJoin us for as we focus on an Ordinary Animal that has something of a reputational issue, rats. We’ll be hearing from one of the 2.5 million rat owners in the UK, looking at what happened when we took rats across the globe and attempting to understand why rats are so disliked. SheepWednesday 6 December, 1.30-2.30pmJoin us for as we focus on an Ordinary Animal that is ubiquitous across Welsh landscape, sheep. We’ll be hearing from a sheep farmer, a performing arts company and a researcher who is investigating how sheep acquire new knowledge and what that means for their welfare. (Ordinary) Animal ShowoffComedy Thursday 26 October, 6.30-9pmForget the leviathans hanging from ceilings or the long extinct dinosaurs or the gargantuan crabs for one night only we are celebrating the over-looked, the underwhelming, the animals you don't come to natural history museums to see.Join us to find the funny side of the boring beasts that changed our world with (Ordinary) Animal Showoff. With Steve Cross as your host we've invited animal fans to take to share their love of mundane animals. Is it OK to be a Cat Guy?DiscussionThursday 16 November, 7-9pmThroughout history, have some species been more associated with manliness or femininity? Cats had particularly been linked with women, while more “outdoor” animals like dogs were the pet of choice for men. However, as more men are increasingly flaunting their affinity for kitties, how does our relationship with pets relate to our gender identity and gender stereotypes? Join us as we ask is it ok to be a cat guy?Caring for Ordinary AnimalsOffsite visitWednesday 8 November, 12-4pmHaving created Ordinary Animals we were charged with looking after them. Join us as we go behind the scenes of the world's longest established vet school, the Royal Veterinary College (RVC).  We'll have the chance to meet clinicans at Europe's largest small animal hospital, the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals, and discover more about the work of their Farm Animal Clinical Facilities caring for Ordinary Animals.Cats Broke the InternetLate openingFriday 1 December, 6.30-9pmOne Ordinary Animal more than any other reigns supreme on the World Wide Web: cats. Small cats, big cats, grumpy cats, LOLcats. With the two million cat videos on YouTube being viewed a staggering 26 billion times, cats own the internet. Join us for a feline-themed late opening with cat-inspired audio cinema, discussions investigating how cats became so influential and special cat video screenings. People behind The Museum of Ordinary AnimalsThe exhibition was curated by Jack Ashby (Grant Museum of Zoology, part of UCL Culture)Graphic design by Boyle&Perks Contributing researchers:Alan Bates (UCL Pathology)Dr Wendy Birch and Laurence Clarke (UCL Anatomy Lab)Professor Tim Blackburn, Professor Steve Jones, Liisa Loog,Professor Judith Mank and Professor Mark Thomas (UCL Genetics, Evolution and Environment)  Dr Brendan Clarke (UCL Science and Technology Studies)Subhadra Das (UCL Science Collections)Dr Lazaros Foukas (UCL Institute of Healthy Aging)Katrina Holland (UCL Anthropology)Dr Matilda Holmes, Dr Louise Martin Professor Stephen Shennan (UCL Institute of Archaeology)Professor Michael J. Reiss (UCL Institute of Education)George Richards (UCL Art Museum)Dr Kathleen Walker-Meikle (UCL History)