Science Gallery London is a truly unique centre for discovery and debate, designed to inspire young adults at a time in their lives when they are establishing their place in the world around them.
Dr Daniel Glaser, Director of Science Gallery London
18 September 2018
Science Gallery London to open at London Bridge this autumn
King’s will open the ground-breaking space on 21 September 2018.
Art and science collide in the heart of the capital.
Art and science collide in the heart of the capital, as King’s College London opens a new permanent cultural venue – Science Gallery London – on 21 September at London Bridge, just moments from the iconic Shard building.
The first of its kind in the UK, Science Gallery London is a vibrant, creative hub where rigorous scientific research is made accessible to visitors young and old through innovative installations and a diverse programme of exhibitions and events.
Visitors to the free-to-visit Science Gallery will be asked to examine urgent global issues through the creative responses of artists working in collaboration with King’s researchers and scientists. Open to all and with 15-25 year olds the primary target audience, Science Gallery London aims to capture the imagination of young adults and inspire them to consider their world in a new way.
Science Gallery London’s Young Leaders, a group of 15-25 year olds from Southwark and Lambeth and King’s student community, will play a crucial role in the direction of the gallery. Young Leader and King’s neuroscience student Bella Spencer believes the new gallery will draw in young people from south London and beyond.
“Science Gallery London will challenge us all to think about the big issues affecting our world”, said Bella. “It will be a vibrant, interactive space where science isn’t hidden away in labs and art isn’t behind a velvet rope. Through Science Gallery London, King’s is making science and culture accessible to everyone, allowing young people the chance to interact with new discoveries and original thinking.”
King's academic research is central to Science Gallery London’s purpose. Professor Edward Byrne, President & Principal of King’s College London said:
“King’s Science Gallery London represents a new vision for the role of the university in the 21st century. It will take critical new research on urgent issues beyond the university walls and bring them to life through science and art. Science Gallery London will see new collaborations between artists and scientists challenge the status quo and capture the imagination of King’s local communities, students across the capital and visitors young and old.”
Science Gallery London will host three seasons a year and its inaugural exhibition HOOKED will delve into the complex world of addiction and recovery. From gambling to gaming and smartphones to social media, HOOKED will question what makes the human race vulnerable to addiction and interrogate the underlying factors and routes to recovery. Artists, scientists and researchers including Rachel Maclean, Melanie Manchot and King’s academic Dr Sally Marlow will invite visitors to explore the latest research and thinking on the subject while questioning their own ideas about the scientific and cultural aspects of this much debated topic.
Science Gallery London, which will feature exhibition spaces, an auditorium, a café and a shop, has been designed by LTS Architects and is situated on the site of Boland House, part of the historic 18th century Guy’s Hospital in London Bridge. During the project the last undeveloped Georgian courtyard in London has been transformed from a car park into a newly-landscaped public square.
This project has been made possible thanks to generous funding from Shard Funding Limited, in recognition of HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the father Emir; Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity; and the Wellcome Trust.
Science Gallery is an award-winning international initiative pioneered by Trinity College Dublin that delivers a dynamic new model for engaging 15–25 year olds with science. Science Gallery London is part of the Global Science Gallery Network, launched in 2012 with the support of founding partner Google.org.
For further information, images or interview requests please contact:
Email: press@london.sciencegallery.com
ABOUT SCIENCE GALLERY LONDON
Science Gallery London (SGL) is a space where art and science collide. The gallery connects art, science and health to drive innovation in the heart of the city. A flagship project for King’s College London, the Gallery focuses on engaging 15–25-year-olds in cutting-edge research in science, art and design. Through exhibitions and events, Science Gallery London brings together scientists, artists, students and local communities in new and innovative ways to stimulate fresh thinking.
The new permanent Gallery will launch in autumn 2018 in a renovated Georgian building on King’s College London Guy’s Campus opposite The Shard in London Bridge and is projected to attract 300,000 visitors per year. The gallery programme will feature three themed seasons each year, incorporating exhibitions, events, performances, live experiments, open discussions and festivals – all with scientific engagement at their core.
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ABOUT KING’S COLLEGE LONDON
King's College London is one of the top 10 UK universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2018/19) and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 29,600 students (of whom nearly 11,700 are graduate students) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,000 staff.
King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), eighty-four per cent of research at King’s was deemed ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*).
Since our foundation, King’s students and staff have dedicated themselves in the service of society. King’s will continue to focus on world-leading education, research and service, and will have an increasingly proactive role to play in a more interconnected, complex world. Visit our website to find out more about Vision 2029, King’s strategic vision for the next 12 years to 2029, which will be the 200th anniversary of the founding of the university.
World-changing ideas. Life-changing impact: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/headlines.aspx
ABOUT SCIENCE GALLERY INTERNATIONAL
At the vanguard of the STEM to STEAM movement, Science Gallery International is leading the creation of the world’s first university-led network dedicated to public engagement with science and art, igniting the creative potential of young people globally to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.
Science Gallery International represents, supports and connects the network of Universities which drive the Global Science Gallery Network. Through its galleries, pop-up programmes and touring exhibitions, the Global Science Gallery Network has reached millions of 15 to 25-year-olds with inspiring and participative transdisciplinary programmes featuring emerging research and ideas from the worlds of art, science, design and technology.
Following the pioneering founding of Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin, Science Gallery at King's College London is poised to open in autumn 2018, and galleries are currently in development at the University of Melbourne, the Indian Institute of Science, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Michigan State University (Detroit) and further expansion into Latin America and Africa is planned by 2020.
W: https://international.sciencegallery.com/
ABOUT THE LEONARDO GROUP
Science Gallery London’s Leonardo Group acts as a “brain trust” for the Gallery, playing a vital part in the gallery’s programme and profile. Members range from award-winning radio presenter Gemma Cairney, to Oxford University Professor for Public Understanding of Science Marcus Du Sautoy and Kentaké Chinyelu-Hope, founder of the London Hip-Hop festival, to comedian, podcaster and Infinite Monkey Cage presenter Robin Ince.
https://london.sciencegallery.com/leonardo-group
ABOUT GUY’S AND ST THOMAS’ CHARITY
Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity is an independent, place-based foundation. It works with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and others to improve the health of people in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, and to tackle the major health challenges affecting people living in urban, diverse and deprived areas. Over the next decade, the Charity plans to put around £250 million into improving health and healthcare in Lambeth and Southwark.
T: @GSTTCharity
ABOUT WELLCOME
Wellcome exists to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive. We’re a global charitable foundation, both politically and financially independent. We support scientists and researchers, take on big problems, fuel imaginations and spark debate.
ABOUT LTS ARCHITECTS
LTS Architects is an award winning architecture practice based in Bermondsey, London. Since being recognised by the Architecture Foundation as being one of ‘Britain’s Best Young Architectural Practices’ LTS has gone on to develop a diverse body of work with a portfolio that includes the world’s first institute of Palliative Care – The Cicely Saunders Institute, new teaching and learning spaces for King's College London within the Grade I* listed Old King’s College at Somerset House, the Shree Swaminarayan Temple combining both traditional religious architecture and contemporary design, the ‘Hidden’ House in South-West London and a commercial development on Mount Street, Mayfair.
W: https://www.lts-architects.co.uk/
T: @LTS_Arch