The Exhibition, which will be held from September 19, 2011 to January 5, 2012 at Qasr al Hosn Exhibition Center in Abu Dhabi, sheds light on the challenges faced by people for the sustainable management of this vital, but limited, resource and its uses.
ADACH aims to disseminate this message clearly and works hard to have an impact on people’s culture to promote the preservation of natural resources.
His Excellency Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Advisor for Culture and Heritage in the Court of His Highness the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and Director General of ADACH, said that “ADACH is engaged in researching and promoting Abu Dhabi cultural and heritage issues at the highest level locally, regionally and internationally and a partnership with the American Museum of Natural History enables ADACH to raise awareness to a wider audience.”
“We are doing this by using state-of-the art interactive technologies in order to engage our audiences, especially younger generations, and educate them on how proper water usage can positively affect their future,” His Excellency emphasized.
The detailed models and sculptures at the exhibition will address water issues that face communities and ecosystems around the world. They also highlight the importance of this limited and precious resource.
Dr. Sami el-Masri, Deputy Director General for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Director of Strategic Planning & Development stated, “This exhibition brings to light the importance of preserving water since Abu Dhabi city has one the highest rates of personal consumption in the world.”
He added, “Water has always played a significant role in the emergence and prosperity of civilizations in the region. Through the Water exhibition, ADACH aims to highlight the traditions and customs that Water brought about to the local community.”
The Exhibition consists of several sections which are: Life in Water, Blue Planet, Water Works, Water Everywhere, And Not a Drop, Healthy Water Healthy -Lives, Restoring Ecosystems and Local Stories of people who have pledged themselves to protect and preserve water resources in inspiring ways.
“It presents the theme of water in its local context as central to the evolution of a desert settlement. This theme underpins the inscription of Al Ain cultural sites on the World Heritage list of UNESCO,” elaborated Dr. Masri.
Exhibition Highlights
• A fog screen and water drops falling into a lighted pool greet visitors as they enter the exhibition, symbolizing not only the beauty and universality of water, but also its scarcity and fragility
• Extensive interactive stations including one where visitors can examine the many microorganisms that live in a drop of water
• Science on a Sphere, a 68-inch globe illuminated with maps and satellite images of Earth, dramatically illustrating how water is distributed and used around the world
• Touchable sculpture of water in all its three states
• Video touch screens quiz visitors on what they can do to conserve water
Exhibition sections
Life in Water
Visitors enter the exhibition through a shimmering fog screen, and water drops falling into a lighted pool emphasize the beauty and universality, as well as the scarcity and fragility, of water. Over the ages, plants and animals have evolved in incredible ways to cope with water scarcity or abundance, to extremes of temperature, or to life in fresh or salt water. Live fish and mudskippers illustrate a few of the ways living creatures overcome the challenges presented by spending life in or out of water.
Human life, too, is examined, with exhibits that describe our own body-water content and daily water needs.
Blue Planet
A dramatic 68-inch globe that displays maps and satellite images of Earth and a towering walkthrough reconstruction of a water-carved slot canyon give visitors an appreciation of water’s ability to physically sculpt our surroundings.
Geological specimens help present the story of water’s origin and age on Earth, while a touchable sculpture displays one of water’s many extraordinary properties: existing in all three physical states at room temperature.
Water Works
Panels, interactives, and artifacts, including a 1,500-year-old section of water pipe from Oaxaca, Mexico, follow the history of irrigation, damming, and irrigated agriculture, as well as the widespread environmental impact of putting water to work for us. A game-show-style quiz allows families to test their knowledge about the amount of water used to produce everyday products such as T-shirts or hamburgers, and illustrate the environmental consequences of our water use.
Water Everywhere
An engaging interactive in Water Everywhere challenges younger visitors to arrange picture blocks into stories describing life for polar bears and people on the ice, and an elaborate diorama re-creates life on Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, a freshwater lake whose remarkable ecosystem and culture are governed by the seasonal pulse of monsoon floods.
.. And Not a Drop
In Not a Drop, visitors lift a jug full of water — something that millions of women and young girls in arid countries do every day. Displays of ancient and modern water vessels show the role water has played in art and culture, as well as its unique ability to enrich our human experience.
Healthy Water
A video microscope reveals a few of the many microorganisms that can inhabit a single drop of water. Other interactives, including a three-dimensional video, illustrate the impact of human populations on groundwater supplies and how seemingly solid rock can store water. A detailed diorama of a Great Lakes wetland highlights the important role that wetlands play as nature’s water purifiers.
Restoring Ecosystems
Re-creations of Mono Lake tufa towers form a stunning sculptural display illustrating the regeneration of an ecosystem, reversing the effects of water overconsumption. Artifacts, including a 5,000-year-old Sumerian water jug, remind us that many of the world’s oldest human civilizations owe their existence to the life-giving waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Local Story
Portraits of local individuals who have made the commitment to protect and conserve water resources in inspiring ways and an enlightening interactive quiz suggest ways to save water in our daily lives, reinforcing the message that we are all stewards of our watery planet and individual action can make a difference.
