The Dive In exhibition is a call to action. It is an exploration of our ocean, the threats it faces and what you can do to help.
It is also an experiment.
Visit the exhibition
The exhibition is now closed but you can explore the themes and finding on this website, or visit the Wardlaw Museum to see our latest temporary exhibitions.
Opening dates: 8 October 2021 – 30 January 2022
Opening times: Monday to Friday, 11am – 7pm
Weekends, 10am – 5pm
Wardlaw Museum, 7 The Scores, St Andrews, KY16 9AR
You can find out more about accessibility and how to get to the Wardlaw Museum on the Visit Us page.
A call to action
Dive In doesn’t just seek to inform. We want visitors to consider how their actions impact what happens in the ocean, because what happens in the ocean affects us all.
Visitors will encounter suggestions about what you can do to have a positive effect, tailored to your circumstances. Whether that be telling friends about the effects of climate change, making small changes to save energy around the home or going vegan for three months, there should be something that everybody can do.
An experiment
The Wardlaw isn’t just a museum, it’s also a laboratory, a place where we try new things.
We want to know how museums can have a positive impact on our environment by encouraging people to make sustainable decisions. For this reason the Museums are working with a consultant in environmental behaviour change, Dr Adam Corner, and an evaluation consultant, Steve Slack. With them the team will be carefully researching what effect visiting the exhibition has.
This means that when you visit you may be asked to answer some research questions, or to take a survey a few weeks after you’ve seen the exhibition. We’ll then share the results with the public, including on this website. Check back to see what we’re learning.
You can discover more about our approach and why we’re doing what we’re doing on the Museums’ blog.
Practising what we preach
Dive In doesn’t just encourage you to be sustainable, we aim for the exhibition to be sustainable as well.
For this reason, we’ve minimised the number of items we’ve borrowed from other museums, meaning that we’ve burned less fuel to transport them. We’ve selected materials that we can recycle, such as paper wall coverings rather than vinyl. We’re reusing display equipment from previous exhibitions, or buying new equipment that we know we can use again, so that we’re not producing too much waste. We’re also developing a digital package so that other museums can hold their own version of Dive In using their own collections, without the need to transport anything.
We welcome the opportunity to be questioned on our sustainable practices, and to find ways to be more sustainable. Feel free to contact us with comments or suggestions.