Big Idea: “Animated Video Installation in a Shark Tank”

Exhibit Name: Where the Water Meets the Woods

Client: Belle Isle Aquarium

Date: 2018

Location: Detroit, Michigan

Where the Water Meets the Woods is an animated video installation housed in the historic Belle Isle Aquarium. The exhibit lives in what used to be a shark tank.

Belle Isle is home to a rare forest ecosystem called the wet-mesic flatwoods. The client’s goal in the creation of this animated video installation was to highlight the efforts that are underway to preserve this unique forest system, and to bring community awareness to how special it is.

For this project, we created an exhibit that was a playful take on how the flora and fauna of the wet-mesic forest interact and change through the seasons. The animation style was based on Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but incorporated real images of animals. This choice was an intentional break away from Carle’s style. We wanted to inspire visitors to encounter these creatures in the Isle’s flatwoods after they leave the exhibit; for that reason, we felt cartoon lookalikes would not have the same effect. 

The vinyl labels adhered to the front of the tank present visitors with a scavenger hunt; can you find the spicebush swallowtail caterpillar? When do the vernal ponds decrease?

Click on the video above to experience where the water meets the woods! Check out Pendulee’s portfolio for more video installations.