From 17 January 2026, ArtScience Museum invites you to meet insects at their first exhibition devoted to them.
At the heart of Insects: Microsculptures Magnified are 37 large-format portraits by British photographer Levon Biss, created in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History and drawn from Oxford University Museum of Natural History’s collection. The work reveals a private architecture of armour plates, velveted textures and saw-toothed edges, details our eyes typically skip over, rendered here with theatre-worthy clarity.
“It invites audiences to reconsider these often-overlooked creatures as complex, beautifully structured, and essential to life on Earth,” says Honor Harger, Vice President of ArtScience Museum.
Biss’s method borders on engineering voodoo. Each image is stitched from more than 8,000 individual photographs using bespoke rigs and microscope lenses. The payoff? Microscopic textures that land with operatic punch, iridescence that behaves like liquid metal; scales so finely pigmented they feel hand-painted.
“By bringing these minute forms to monumental size, the exhibition invites viewers to look closely, to wonder, and care about the beauty and significance of these ingenious creatures we share this planet with,” he says.
And this isn’t just eye candy for macro-nerds. The museum has expanded the original exhibition with local specimens from Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, NTU’s Tropical Ecology and Entomology Lab, and Blackcrow Taxidermy & Art, plus microscopes for proper up-close gawping.
Fieldwork here in Singapore is uncovering the hidden labour of native dung beetles (ecosystem janitors we never thank), while ASTAR researchers are translating the nanoscale textures of cicada wings into self-cleaning, antimicrobial surfaces. Even a brand-new species, Campylomma singapura, gets a moment in the spotlight.
Need-to-know
- What: Insects: Microsculptures Magnified
- Where: ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands
- When: 17 Jan – 19 Apr 2026
- Why go: Monumental insect portraits, Singapore-led science, hands-on interactives—and a reminder that the natural world hides its best engineering in plain sight.
Check out more news articles on Futr here!
