Urchins Beware! Urchins Beware! – The Centrostephanus Exhibit

Communicating the impact of the Longspined Sea Urchin on the Tasmanian coastline, associated research, as well as highlighting key control measures is an objective of both the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE) and the Institute for Marine an Antarctic Studies (IMAS). To meet this objective a three-month public exhibition was developed within the IMAS exhibition space (IMAS Salamanca, Tasmania). The exhibition, Urchins Beware!, consisted of an array of mixed-media wall, free standing and floating info-panels intertwining descriptive writing, photography and graphically designed imagery. Two large aquaria depicted the change between healthy reef and urchin barren ecosystems. Physical displays included urchin waste utilisation and research equipment, while videos showed underwater footage of urchin barrens. Content within the exhibit was largely compiled by John Keane and Louise Creely from IMAS, graphic design completed by Kelly Eijdenberg (Poco People) and exhibition printing and installation by Think Big Printing. Urchins Beware! was installed in March 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic prevented its opening to the general public. However, as the glass exhibition space fronted Castray Esplanade, Salamanca, the exhibition was able to be viewed almost in its entirety from the street was seen to be a valuable communication tool to passers-by during a prolonged period of Covid-19 restrictions. Urchins Beware! was first opened to the public for the Beaker Street Sci-Art Crawl (7th August 2021) as part of science week. An official opening occurred on the 8th November 2021 with Guy Barnett (Minister for Primary Industries), Rufus Black (University of Tasmania Vice Chancellor), Ian Dutton (Director Marine Resources - Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, and Dr John Keane (IMAS) giving speeches to over 50 invited delegates. The exhibition remained open to the public until February 2022.