Pokémon Fossil Exhibit At Field Museum Combines Paleontology and Pop Culture

MUSEUM CAMPUS—For more than 130 years, Chicago's Field Museum has been enlightening the public about the incredible diversity found among the natural world and in human culture.

Now it embraces an evolution of its own — with the opening of the eagerly anticipated “Pokémon Fossil Museum†this weekend.

The institution famous for “Evolving Planet,†the Grainger Hall of Gems and the Pawnee Earth Lodge is now programming this Pokémon-themed special exhibition. 

As Field paleontologist Arjan Mann told Block Club during an exhibition preview, “Natural-history museums need exhibits like this, I think, to show off how far-reaching natural history is and how it can transform pop culture.â€

Previously seen only in Japan (where the original version is still on display), the experience is a huge get for the Field, which produced and built this new version with input from Pokémon International. It will run for nearly a year, closing next April. After that, it will begin a North American tour.

It's a good time to be a Pokémon fan in Chicago. The juggernaut franchise — comprising video games, card games, cartoons, toys and more — celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Two months ago, Pokémon Pokopia was released for the Nintendo Switch 2 to glowing reviews. The video game encourages players to search for fossil pieces and bring them to display in a hidden museum. After happy hunters score Tyrantrum fossils in the game world, they can see one fully assembled at the Field — where the giant faux bones loom alongside a replica of the skull of Sue, the famous T. rex.

Some regular museum visitors might initially find this programming odd. Ten miles south, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry has a long history of programming exhibitions with pop-culture hooks, from “Star Wars†to Spider-Man to James Bond. But despite its relatively staid reputation, the Field has previously hosted an exhibit with props and costumes from the “Star Wars†movie franchise. And with Pokémon Fossil Museum, its current branding features Excavator Pikachu — the well-known yellow Pokémon frontman, now sporting a fedora and brandishing a pickaxe.

As the union of Pokémon and the natural-history museum suggests, Pokémon is the hook curators hope will convince people to open their minds to allow real-life science in, too. The experience encourages viewers to compare and contrast fictional fossils with real ones — and in case anyone gets confused, it deploys a very simple but clever graphic tool: Red signs by a specimen case highlight real-world science, while blue signs explain the evolutionary history of a Pokémon species. 

For example, the exhibition showcases part of a juvenile Nyctosaurus, a flying reptile approximately 85 million years old, adjacent with Aerodactyl, a winged Pokémon fossil. And it compares prehistoric sea turtles — highlighted by an underbelly shell piece, some 80 million years old — to Tirtouga, the ancestor of modern turtle Pokémon.

The marriage of fiction with science impressed Field preparator Akiko Shinya, who saw the exhibition a few years ago while visiting Japan. When she returned to Chicago, she sang the exhibit's praises to the Field's Head of Exhibitions Jaap Hoogstraten.

“People recommend exhibits to me all the time — and a lot of branded exhibits. We haven't done a lot of those,†he said. 

“Akiko was not recommending it because she was a fan,†Hoogstraten continued, “but because there's real science to it. Even though the draw was Pokémon, visitors were paying a lot of attention to the fossil content. So I went to Japan and saw the show. Akiko was absolutely right.â€

The collaboration between the Field and Pokémon International was greenlit about 18 months ago. Since then, Hoogstraten said, “We completely rebuilt it. We added more context for the American market — some basic Pokémon 101. And the physical design, although related to what was in Japan, is new as well. All produced and built in house, upstairs on the fourth floor.â€

Another Chicago element is the presence of cartoon versions of three Field scientists: Shinya, Mann and paleontologist Jingmai O'Connor appear as Pokémon professor-guides. The three all have an affection for Pokémon; O'Connor even has a tattoo of Omanyte.

While 26 of the faux fossils are the same Pokémon as seen in Japan, there's a brand-new 27th fossil: “The Archeops model is a new one, created for this because of our Chicago Archaeopteryx,†Mann explained. 

As someone who was part of the first generation of Pokémon fans during his childhood in Toronto, Mann was beaming as he walked through the gallery.

“I was a nut for the card game. I liked playing the Game Boy Advance games. I was super-excited for the movie,†said the 33-year-old, who specializes in studying early tetrapods. “I remember when the TV show first aired. We were glued to the screen. I remember when they met all the fossil Pokémon for the first time — one of the coolest episodes! I was already a dinosaur fan, and that sold the genre for me.

“So to see those two things together, and to put our spin on things and help curate this, it's an amazing experience.â€

The “Pokémon Fossil Museum†runs through April 11 at the Field Museum, 1400 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive. The exhibition requires a special timed ticket in addition to general admission; tickets are selling quickly. A special exhibition store — which has a few exclusive pieces of merchandise, including an Excavator Pikachu plushie — is open only to visitors with a voucher handed out at the end of the exhibition. More information is available on the museum website.