opens at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science this week with a slippery balancing act in tow.
How to make poison — a storied substance with a cultural and scientific history as long as humanity’s — equal parts fun and harrowing?
And will there be any actual poison on site?
Yes, as it turns out. The exhibit, which arrives in Denver after stints at New York’s (which created it) and Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum, opens with a lush, green-hued re-creation of Colombia’s remote Chocó forest. The canopy of fake trees lords over display cases filled with monstrously enlarged flora and fauna, each with their own deadly defense mechanisms.
Then, a terrarium containing live poison dart frogs, one of the most toxic animals on the planet, appears. It’s here that a point is driven home: Poison is a valuable survival tool in the wild, as natural as any other biological adaptation.
“Humans have been fascinated with this idea of magic, this ability to change people’s bodies and behaviors and feelings. And it turns out that nature creates some really incredible toxins that can do exactly those things,” said Jill Katzenberger, lead educator for the exhibit.
Other than these introductory rooms, which contain a good amount of actual science and well-lit eye candy, the exhibit is chiefly concerned with poison’s human history.
Wrapped in a fetching, old-timey design aesthetic made to look like late 19th-century print advertisements, the displays dive into poison’s role in popular narratives. Dioramas depicting Snow White (immaculately preserved and life-sized), the Mad Hatter (in a bold storybook display come to life), and the natty witches from Macbeth alternately chill and delight.
There are displays featuring other famous poisonings, but the fictional ones are most likely to grab kids’ attention — especially a modest but effective Harry Potter stop, and a smattering of vintage comic books. How many Greek myths, Agatha Christie novels, bits of Shakespeare or spy movies have employed poison as plot device?
“One of the underlying messages is that anything in huge doses can be poisonous,” Katzenberger said, passing an opening nod to salt and chocolates. “But in the correct doses, many of these toxins can actually be helpful.”
To prove it, the exhibit ends with a giant replica yew tree, a species native to Europe whose toxic needles have been used in healing for hundreds of years (most recently in cancer treatments). A nearby cart is stacked with the consumer-ready medical applications of poison.
Along the way, attendees can also watch a live, multimedia demonstration about tracing poison in criminal cases, play detective in life-sized shadow boxes, or learn about the differences between venoms and poisons (for example: the former is injected, the latter is secreted). Cobras, spiders and scorpions are all represented.
“I can see how people would assume that the exhibit would have a scary undertone, but overall it’s more fanciful,” Katzenberger said. “Of course, that’s up to a family to decide whether or not it’s appropriate.”
Provided they haven’t ingested any hemlock before arriving, the choice for attendees should be easy. “The Power of Poison” is an attractive, coherent exhibit that pulls the neat trick of providing breezy entertainment with a serious educational undertone, one that sticks with you long after being ingested.
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642, jwenzel@denverpost.com or twitter.com/johnwenzel
THE POWER OF POISON
Interactive exhibit running 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday to Jan. 10 at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd. Included with admission, $9.95-$14.95. 303-370-6000 or dmns.org.
