Jurassic Lounge

Hang on to your security guard keychain Ben Stiller, crazy Sydneysiders are taking over the Museum and you’ll have less luck stopping them than a cheeky monkey. The giant T-Rex might not want to play fetch with you but if you ever dreamed of re-enacting the mystical world of Night At The Museum, Jurassic Lounge at the Australian Museum would be your closest bet.

Think of a boring school excursion with annoying homework sheets last time you visited. Now, keep that inner child mantra and throw out everything else. Grab a beer or glass of wine as you enter and get ready to have some serious fun. On this special occasion I’ve got three of my lovely girlfriends along for the ride. After a few sparklings we decide it’s a good idea to make friends with the animals for an ‘insiders perspective’ of the event.

We make our way to the Atrium where artist Alex Lehours is painting comical dinosaurs live in the middle of the crowd on a large canvas. There’s a long line of people waiting to get their face painted and instantly my three, fully developed adult friends turn into squealing schoolgirls about what animal they’re getting painted. We meet a wallaby, have a stare-off with a possum and get snobbed by a Koala.

The line for face painting is too long so we cruise around the ground floor and check out the latest exhibition Birds of Paradise while we wait. We bump into a friend who tells us to enjoy the disco. Disco? Bring it on! We head upstairs and see a room full of people with headphones bopping about and DJ Drae Leighton in the corner. It’s a ‘silent disco’. Brilliant! We get our groove on, tear up the dance floor and show off our cool robot dance moves to the dinosaurs that glimmer in the laser lights.

But back to the animals…we hand in our headphones and take time out with a Tasmanian Tiger and have a spot of reading with a fox. There’s a live twitter stream so I tweet from @msdarlinghurst and take a pic of myself projected on the wall from the VJ Eightfilters on the interactive dance floor in the ‘Surviving Australia’ room. One thing is for sure, Jurassic Lounge is the most interactive night out I’ve had this year…perfect for an easily distracted child-like adult!

This place has everything including live reptiles, tortoise shells (for dress up fun), life size kangaroos that appreciate the ‘awkward lean’ and real human skulls- ‘alas poor Yorick I knew himl’ style! Downstairs in the skeletons hall we catch the end of live band The Dead Heads playing to the cool wine sipping crowd lounging around. If we were on a school excursion we’d have our wines confiscated and a detention headed our way. But we’re big girls now and ain’t no one touching our vino.

We almost shed a tear when we return to find face painting closed but then an attendant starts making room for dancers Dansatori who are about to perform. Meanwhile artist Alex has almost finished his painting and keeps stroking while the crowd gathers around to watch the beautiful contemporary dance in the middle of the atrium.

Cultured up and feeling stimulated we all agree it’s been a less than ordinary evening and one we’ve all thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve been telling everyone about Jurassic Lounge but don’t take my word for it, go check it out for yourself. You’ll have to hurry though the fun is almost over. Next Tuesday 19th April is your last chance to get your Jurassic on! Make sure you say hello to my fury friends!

Category: Art, Play