The exhibition

Mussels as they are eaten

• At the restaurant:
  Belgians are renowned as mussel eaters. Elsewhere in the world customs vary incredibly, according to the period and the place.
• In the kitchen:
  Size, colour, taste. Cooking and nutrition. Every facet of the mussel!
• Mussel cultivation:
  The cultivation of mussels combines tradition, know-how and industry. It fully conforms to the principal of sustainable development: a natural environment, no extraneous food, no fertilizer nor pesticides...

The mussel as muse

From the academic to the eccentric: a dozen works of art from different periods and places. The star of the show is the genuine Red Mussel Pot (1965) by Marcel Broodthaers.

Exemplars for Medicine

• The glue of the mussel: a bio-achievement
  Mussels fasten themselves, using threads which stick instantly, to a surface which is neither dry, nor very clean! Research laboratories study this feat to try to match it.
• Medical mother-of-pearl:
  Mother-of-pearl and bone belong to the same family! Strange links between the two materials reveal unforeseen medical possibilities. And they point to a very old link between animals with a shell and those with a skeleton.

Mussels in their habitat

• On the borders of two worlds:
  Mussels live between the levels of high and low tide.
• Breathing underwater:
  This is the function of the mussels' gills, which maintain a flow of fresh water. At the same time, they also catch food.
• Bio-indicator of pollution:
  By dint of filtering water all the time, the mussel accumulates the substances to be found there.
  Parasites, predators, plankton. The mussel invaders.

Accessories to your beauty

• The pearls:
  Oysters have the blues. Today the majority of pearls come from freshwater mussels!
• Silk of the sea, the silk of kings
  The most precious textile, finer than silk, came from a giant Mediterranean "mussel".
• Grandeur and decadence:
  When the sublime borders on the kitsch: 12 surprising objects.