Bishop Museum Announces New, Original Exhibition, Taxonomy: Our Lives Depend On It

# Bishop Museum Announces New, Original Exhibition, Taxonomy: Our Lives Depend On It

Interactive, multimedia exhibition explores the importance of taxonomy — the identification and naming of plants and animals — and the important role it plays in our everyday lives.

*Honolulu, Hawaiʻi — Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum announces a new, original exhibition, Taxonomy: Our Lives Depend On It*, opening in the Museum's J. M. Long Gallery on Saturday, July 23, 2022.

The exhibition will use a variety of media including images, video, and interactives to tell stories of taxonomy and the people who do taxonomic work. Taxonomy will also showcase one of the largest displays of plants and animals representative of Bishop Museum's natural sciences collection of more than 20 million specimens, much of which is normally not accessible to the public.

"As humans, we name things to communicate to others what they are," said Richard Pyle, Ph.D., Taxonomy co-curator, Bishop Museum senior curator of Ichthyology and director of XCoRE. "Biologists use taxonomy and its Latin scientific names as a universal tool of communication worldwide. Although many may not have heard of it, the science of taxonomy is essential to conservation, agriculture, medicine and veterinary medicine, and many other aspects of our lives. This exhibition will highlight Bishop Museum's more than 125-year history of discovering and naming more than 10,000 new species, by staff considered the world leaders in their respective sciences."

"Bishop Museum strives to bring forth the ʻike kupuna, or ancestral knowledge and wisdom of Native Hawaiian understandings and practices, through our researchers' and scientists' work," said Brandon Bunag, Ed.D., Bishop Museum vice president of public programs and interim director of education. "Through Taxonomy, we learn that our islands' Indigenous people inherently understood the importance of naming the natural environment around them, as they had names for every plant and animal they were aware of. This exhibition also includes examples of these cultural connections to modern science."

Highlights of Taxonomy: Our Lives Depend On It will include:

WOW! Wall

A 30-foot wall filling an entire side of the exhibition space, displaying an incredible array of different plants and animals from Bishop Museum's natural science collections and their amazing diversity.

Timeline of Taxonomic History

Guests will walk through a brief history of taxonomy, from early explorations and the use of crude instruments, to later DNA analysis and even the tricorders from "Star Trek," showing the improvements scientists have made (and may soon make) to identify new species and explore remote and challenging environments.

Interviews with Bishop Museum Taxonomists

Short video interviews of Bishop Museum scientists sharing what inspired them to become taxonomists, and the interesting stories around the new species they have discovered over the years.

Names Wall

The names of the more than 10,000 new species that Bishop Museum has discovered thus far will be displayed on an 8' x 10' panel.

Cultural Connections

Guests will explore some of the ways in which Indigenous names for native plants and animals in Hawaiʻi are, at their core, tied to relationships between each other, their observable characteristics, and deep connections to Native Hawaiian people; how both older cultural names can be revived and new culturally founded names can still be adopted; and how these names and practices help to preserve the knowledge of Hawaiʻi's biodiversity.

Taxonomic Impacts

Guests will learn how taxonomy helped to conserve a rare coral, and how the work of Bishop Museum taxonomists helped conserve a culturally and biologically significant area in Papua New Guinea.

Bishop Museum invites members of the news media to an exclusive pre-opening, closed-door Media Preview of Taxonomy: Our Lives Depend On It.

• Thursday, July 21, 2022
• 1-4 p.m.
• J. M. Long Gallery
• Please RSVP with Lance Aquino via the contact information above

Interview opportunities:

• Bishop Museum Vice President of Public Programs and Interim Director of Education, Brandon Bunag, Ed.D.
• Exhibition Co-curator Neal Evenhuis, Ph.D., Bishop Museum senior curator of Entomology
• Exhibition Co-curator Richard Pyle, Ph.D., Bishop Museum senior curator of Ichthyology and director of XCoRE
• Exhibition Designer DeAnne Kennedy

More information on Taxonomy: Our Lives Depend On It will be shared on the Museum's website, BishopMuseum.org.

Bishop Museum Admission, Parking, and Hours

Timed General Admissions can be booked on the hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at BishopMuseum.org/Tickets. Tickets for Bishop Museum After Hours events can be purchased via this same webpage.

The safety and health of our visitors and employees remain our highest priorities. Face masks are optional but strongly encouraged. Learn more on our Health & Safety page.

General Admission

Weekdays / Weekends

Adults: $26.95 / $28.95 Seniors (65+): $23.95 / $25.95 Youth (4–17): $18.95 / $20.95 Children (3 and under): Free / Free

Hawaiʻi Residents, Hawaiʻi College Students, and Military with ID

Adults: $14.95 Seniors (65+): $12.95 Youth (4-17): $10.95 Children (3 and under): Free

Children age 16 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.

Bishop Museum Annual Membership levels include free general admission and parking for 12 months. Learn more at BishopMuseum.org/Membership.

J. Watumull Planetarium tickets can be purchased at the Box Office after admission to the Museum; shows are free for Bishop Museum Members, but must be obtained at the Box Office in person on a first-come, first-served basis.

Parking Rates

Daytime Rate: 6 a.m.–5 p.m. $5.00 Evening Rate: 5 p.m.–10 p.m. $3.00

Hours

Open every day from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Closed on Thanksgiving and on Christmas Day.

Bishop Museum Café by Highway Inn offers a limited menu of bowls, sandwiches, and snacks from 10 a.m.–3:30 p.m. daily. Bishop Museum Members receive a 10% discount with their membership card.