Why U2 is like a group of Lemurs...

After my advisor and her husband saw U2 3D in Boston, she asked “What is it about that experience that translates to exhibit design?”

As I have stated before, U2 3D is an IMAX film that transports audience members to a concert in South America. During the show, you feel that Bono is within arms reach, the “crowd” is standing in your way, and the music is pumping through your blood. The band seems so incredibly accessible. The design of the real-life stage set already puts them into the crowd, but even in a theater thousands of miles away, the 3D effects and glorious surround sound give you an experience that is as close to being there as possible. In a sense, I could say that the film brought the band to me – placing them in my city, in my time – allowing me to experience something that I might not otherwise be able to experience.

...almost like taking a wild animal from Africa and placing it in a realistic environment, just a Plexiglas window away from me.

That’s right. I just compared U2 on a stage to animals in a cage. Seeing a concert (even a 3D film version), is kinda like seeing an animal at a zoo… or a jellyfish in a tank at an aquarium… or a taxidermy mammal at the Smithsonian. Not to objectify these handsome band mates, but Bono, Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen really are like the foreign, real-but-out-of-reach flora and fauna at living museums we hold so dear.

U2 on screen at Indy IMAX vs. Lemurs at Indianapolis Zoo

So, why does U2 3D work, if you think of it as an exhibit? Well, the use of a screen that stretches into your peripheral vision… of sound effects… and the cunning use of darkness in the room and on the screen allow you to feel encompassed by the concert environs. (It's really hard to tell where the screen ends and the room begins - an excellent illusion created by design.)

It’s the same effect that an animal scene at Animal Kingdom provides – like you are in a rainforest WITH the animals, not just “around” the animals. To get this feeling, zoos and aquariums have implemented spectacular exhibit designs – like underwater dolphin domes, massive jellyfish tanks, and pools where you can swim up to Polar Bears who are just beyond the heavy glass partition.

There is a reason for having such designs – the realness of it has a lasting effect on people. There is no denying how a change of perspective – even artificially – can change YOUR perspective.



Photo Credits:
http://www.indyzoo.com/pdf/RingtailedLemurs.jpg
www.timeout.com/img/38685/w513/image.jpg