Spiders

15. July 2016 until 8. January 2017

SPECIAL EXHIBITION at the Senckenberg Natural History Museum Frankfurt, 2nd floor, Wolfgang Steubing Hall and Room 211

They have eight hairy legs, weave deadly webs and wrap their prey in silvery silk – spiders. Senckenberg’s new special exhibition shows that they are highly interesting and aesthetic animals in three different ways. Around 40 different living arachnids await visitors. Safely stored in glass terrariums, they can be admired up close, including the largest spider in the world and the poisonous black widow. Every Thursday at 3 pm, visitors can watch the exciting animals being fed. Photographer Nicky Bay hunts for the spider world of South East Asia with his camera. His macro shots reveal impressive details such as eyes and jaw claws that are barely visible to the naked eye. The internationally renowned artist Tomás Saraceno, on the other hand, brings a completely different, unusual perspective into play by transforming spider webs into art installations. In the dark, he makes the buildings glow and even sound.

The exhibition is part of the Senckenberg Nature Museum’s “Culture meets Nature” program.

Nicky Bay, a photographer from Singapore, has dedicated himself to macro photography of arthropods since 2008. On excursions to the tropical rainforest, but also in the streets of his home city, he is always on the lookout for new motifs. He shares his discoveries with fans all over the world on his blog. With their ARANEUS project, the Poles Sebastian Wadycki and Jacek Pacyna organize exhibitions with living arachnids. Their collection of over 50 species has already been presented in 115 museums throughout Europe. In addition to imparting knowledge, their aim is to take away people’s fear of spiders.
Argentinian Tomás Saraceno studied architecture and art in Buenos Aires, Frankfurt am Main and Venice. In his work, both disciplines merge with science and technology. The resulting sculptures and installations have already been shown in numerous exhibitions around the world, including the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.