Thursday 17 & Friday 18 September 2026 at the MUCEM Forum in 16h00 à 18h00.

To mark the 2026 Interdisciplinary Festival of Science and the Arts organised by Aix-Marseille University on the theme « Humans and Animals. A shared adventure? »We are delighted to invite you to the tour" From Medusa to jellyfish: from a mythological figure to an ecological symbol.

Long associated with the mythological figure of Medusa, jellyfish inspire both fascination and revulsion. Their gelatinous appearance, their stinging power and their strange beauty have fuelled tales in which they symbolise danger, otherness or elusive natural forces. Through these representations, they reveal as much about our relationship with the marine world as they do about the way we perceive, understand and imagine living things.

This exhibition offers an immersive journey tracing the evolution of representations of jellyfish, from mythological tales to contemporary scientific, artistic and ecological perspectives. Organised chronologically, it brings together naturalist illustrations, scientific studies and visual artworks to demonstrate how perceptions of these organisms have changed over time.

The installation also invites us to reflect on current environmental issues. Often presented as «symptoms» of global change, jellyfish are linked to global warming, overfishing and the degradation of marine ecosystems. Yet, having inhabited the oceans for over 650 million years, they too are affected by these upheavals, which prompts us to take a more nuanced view.

A participatory element rounds off the exhibition: visitors are invited to create their own jellyfish using recycled materials, as a way of exploring, through artistic practice, the emotions, imaginations and perceptions that these organisms evoke. By bringing together environmental history, the arts and marine ecology, this exhibition invites us to rethink the place of jellyfish in our collective imagination and our relationship with the oceans.

With :

• Louise Merquiol (postdoctoral artist-researcher, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography – MIO)
• Anne-Sophie Tribot (ecologist, junior professor at TELEMMe, amu-CNRS)
• Alicia Pasquet-Forster (PhD student in social and environmental psychology)
• Thomas Changeux (hydrobiologist specialising in fisheries ecology, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography – MIO).