I know the big name dinosaurs—Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus, Velociraptor, etc.—but that’s about the extent of my grasp of Dinosauria. However, my nephew Cameron is a budding paleontologist at the age of two (yes, 2) and he constantly schools me on the identification and naming of his favorite creatures. The precocious toddler has been obsessed with dinos since he was an infant. When we get together he shares his favorite books, toys, and videos . Cameron not only has an impressive ability to recognize species, but he can accurately pronounce names, such as Archaeoceratops, Diplodocus, Pachycephalosaurus. This past weekend, I was able show him some contemporary dinosaurs stalking the streets of Paris .
Artist Julien Nonnon has resurrected some of the extinct reptiles for his latest work, “Prehistoric Safari,” utilizing video-mapping technology to project images of the dinosaurs in the Jardin d’Acclimatation. The digital art form is an exciting mash-up of photography, video, and architecture. Nonnon created 17 3D-projections of species that lived during the Cretaceous period. Of course, Cameron identified and named them all.
The projections can be viewed January 5. and online at Nonnon’s Instagram page.