<<

ONE MILLION WILD SPIDERS FROM MADAGASCAR

SUPPLIED SILK FOR RARE TEXTILE

ON DISPLAY AT AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

 

Lustrous Golden Cloth Made from Undyed Silk

Took Four Years and Some 80 People to Create

 

A spectacular and extremely rare textile, woven from golden-colored silk thread produced by more than one million spiders in Madagascar, goes on display Wednesday, September 23 in the Museum’s Grand Gallery. This magnificent contemporary textile, measuring 11 feet by 4 feet, took four years to make using a painstaking technique developed more than 100 years ago.

This unique textile was created drawing on the legacy of a French missionary, Jacob Paul Camboué, who worked with spiders in Madagascar in the 1880s and 1890s. Camboué worked to collect and weave spider silk but with limited success, and no surviving textile is now known to exist. Previously, the only known spider-silk textile of note was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900, and it was subsequently lost.

(Images: AMNH/R.Mickens)

Producing the spider silk—the only example of its kind displayed anywhere in the world—involved the efforts of 70 people who collected spiders daily from webs on telephone wires, using long poles.  These spiders were all collected during the rainy season (the only time when they produce silk) from Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, and the surrounding countryside. These giant spider webs are a well-known feature of the capital, and frequently surprise international visitors.  A dozen more people were needed to draw the silk from the spiders with hand-powered machines, with each spider producing about 80 feet of silk filament. This intricately-patterned spider silk features stylized birds and flowers and is based on a weaving tradition known as lamba Akotifahana from the highlands of Madagascar, an art reserved for the royal and upper classes of the Merina people (who are concentrated in the Central highlands). Silkworm silk has been used for a long period in Madagascar, however, there is no tradition of weaving spider silk in Madagascar. In this unique lamba cloth, the individual threads used for weaving are made by twisting 96 to 960 individual spider silk filaments together.

The silk fiber was gathered from the female golden orb spider (Nephila madagascariensis), which is renowned for the lustrous golden hue of its silk fiber. The male spider does not produce silk. The golden orb spider of Madagascar is just one of about 36 members of the Nephila genus. These spiders are found throughout the tropics and are known as golden orb weavers for their big, gold-colored webs. The webs can often be seen between telephone and electrical wires—and are sometimes large enough to span a one-lane road.

Almost all silk fabric is made from silkworm moth cocoons, but people have occasionally tried to make cloth from spider silk. One of the biggest challenges is the cannibalistic nature of spiders, which makes it very difficult to raise them in captivity, unlike silkworms. Spiders can be collected in the wild and then placed in a device to keep them still so the silk can be drawn. Afterwards, the spiders are released back into the wild.

For its weight, spider silk is stronger than steel, but—unlike steel—it can stretch up to 40% of its normal length. Scientists are trying to produce this intriguing material artificially on a large scale for possible uses on the battlefield, in surgery, for space exploration, and elsewhere. Since raising spiders has proven difficult, researchers are investigating ways to replicate spider silk to avoid harvesting. However, spider silk is difficult to mimic in a lab because the silk begins as a liquid in the spider’s gland, becoming a remarkably strong, water-resistant solid after following a complicated course through the spider’s interior.

            The curator for the spider silk is Ian Tattersall, Curator, Division of Anthropology, with consulting by Norman Platnick, Curator, Division of Invertebrate Zoology.

            The textile is on loan from Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley. Peers founded “lamba,” an enterprise specializing in weaving, embroidery, and passementerie in Madagascar, working with architects and designers around the world. Lamba’s regular silk textiles have been acquired by museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute in Chicago, the National Museum of African Art, the Smithsonian, and the British Museum. Godley arrived in Madagascar in 1994 and created a small manufacturing company specializing in raffia products. He launched his first collection of fashion handbags in 1999 at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. In 2005, Godley closed the factory and moved key personnel and resources to Antananarivo, Madagascar to work on the spider silk partnership with Peers.

            Visitors interested in learning more about traditional silk-making can also visit the Museum’s Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World, which opens on November 14. This intriguing exhibition brings to life one of the greatest trading routes in human history, showcasing the goods, cultures, and technologies from four representative cities: Xi’an, China’s Tang Dynasty capital; Turfan, a verdant oasis and trading outpost; Samarkand, home of prosperous merchants who thrived on the caravan trade; and ancient Baghdad, a fertile hub of commerce and scholarship that became the intellectual center of the era.

 

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to explore and interpret human cultures and the natural world through a wide-reaching program of scientific research, education, and exhibitions. The Museum accomplishes this ambitious goal through its extensive facilities and resources. The institution houses 46 permanent exhibition halls, state-of-the-art research laboratories, one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere, and a permanent collection of more than 30 million specimens and cultural artifacts. With a scientific staff of more than 200, the Museum supports research divisions in Anthropology, Paleontology, Invertebrate and Vertebrate Zoology, and the Physical Sciences. The Museum shares its treasures and discoveries with approximately four million on-site visitors from around the world each year. AMNH-produced exhibitions and Space Shows can currently be seen in venues on five continents, reaching an audience of millions. In addition, the Museum’s website, www.amnh.org, extends its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more beyond the Museum’s walls.

 

At the American Museum of Natural History

The Museum offers a broad array of activities for adults, children, families, students, educators, and scientists. These range from special exhibitions to symposia, lecture series, workshops, and film festivals.  Highlights include Frogs: A Chorus of Colors (May 30, 2009–January 3, 2010), a delightful exhibition of 200 live frogs that introduces visitors to their colorful and richly diverse world; Extreme Mammals: The Biggest, Smallest, and Most Amazing Mammals of All Time (May 16, 2009–January 3, 2010), an intriguing exhibition that explores the surprising and sometimes bizarre world of extinct and living mammals; On Feathered Wings (June 21, 2008–July 1, 2010), an exhibition of more than 30 striking photographs featuring dramatic images of birds in flight; Vital Variety:  A Visual Celebration of Invertebrate Biodiversity (ongoing), an exhibition of 23 large-format color photographs highlighting the importance of the immense diversity of invertebrates; the Hayden Planetarium Space Show, Journey to the Stars, narrated by Whoopi Goldberg; SonicVision (Friday and Saturday evenings), the dazzling, digitally animated alternative music show in the Hayden Planetarium, with a mix by Moby; and One Step Beyond, the popular monthly party series where guests can dance in the Museum’s Cullman Hall of the Universe to sets by the biggest names in techno, electronica, hip-hop, and indie rock.

 

Hours

The Museum is open daily, 10 am–5:45 pm

The Museum is closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

Space Show and SonicVision Hours

The Space Show is shown every half hour Sunday–Thursday and Saturday, 10:30 am–4:30 pm, and Friday, 10:30 am–7 pm. SonicVision is shown Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and 8:30 pm.

 

Admission

Suggested general admission, which supports the Museum’s scientific and educational endeavors and includes 46 Museum halls and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, is $16 (adults), $12 (students/seniors), $9 (children). All prices are subject to change.

 

The Museum offers discounted combination ticket prices that include suggested general admission plus special exhibitions, IMAX films, and Space Shows.

o       Museum plus special exhibition, IMAX film, or Space Show: $24 (adults), $18 (students/seniors), $14 (children)

o       Museum Supersaver (includes Space Show, IMAX, and all special exhibitions): $32 (adults), $24.50 (students/seniors), $20 (children)

 

Visitors who wish to pay less than the suggested Museum admission and also want to attend a special exhibition, IMAX film, or Space Show, may do so only on-site at the Museum. To the amount they wish to pay for general admission, they should add $20 (adults), $16.50 (students/seniors), or $11 (children).

 

Public Information

For additional information, the public may call 212-769-5100 or visit the Museum’s website at www.amnh.org.