The Blue Planet
Copenhagen, Denmark
The Blue Planet is Northern Europe’s largest and most state-of-the-art aquarium, situated in Denmark. It recently opened a special exhibition named Once Upon a Sea giving visitors a glimpse into times long before humans roamed the Earth when the ocean was teeming with life; from giant sea lizards to bizarre creatures that look nothing like the animals we know today.
The ancient oceans tell an exciting story about the origins of life, and of the time where our ancestors crawled onto the land. The ocean’s history is not only your history, but a tale of the drastic changes in the climate and the environment, and what that means for the survival of a species.
Welcome to the ocean, as you’ve never seen it before.
Photos: Den Blå Planet
Gagarin developed eight installations both immersive and informative that take the visitor back in time, from the spark of life until the first creatures crawled up on land. As a varied exhibition, the stories told are turned into fantastical and thought-provoking representations although remaining scientifically sound.
The visitor gets a feeling of discovery while learning of the impact human presence has on the sea. Before leaving, visitors get to leave their mark or make a pledge on what they want to do to impact ocean biodiversity positively and leave it in the way it once was given to us by our ocean ancestors. All this through an interactive, participatory and engaging way.
Gagarin was responsible for all graphic design and illustrations.
An unusual look at the family tree showing how all life on Earth is connected
A representation of the shared origin we have with the ancient creatures is visualized in a dynamic and unusual way as a Tree of Life.
The visitor’s journey starts with an animation showing how the sparking of life, which occurred billions of years ago, started in the seas.
The ancient oceans tell an exciting story about the origins of life, and of the time where our ancestors crawled from the oceans and unto the land.
A large immersive interactive experience, encompassing six large interactive digital aquariums in the center of The Blue Planet Museum, makes our monstrous forefathers come alive in an explorative yet playful way.
An animation where the visitor can see the evolution in seconds from the first celled organism via the first being who crawled up on land and all the way to today's humans. The story is complemented with graphics that explain the development from fins to fingers.
Digital installations and graphic design: Gagarín
Exhibition designer: Lars Holm
Hardware provider: Atendi
Special thanks to Stouenborg ApS
Den Blå Planet