Great Exhibition Road Festival 2022: Trailblazers
18-19 June 2022
- Great Exhibition Road Festival to fill South Kensington with trailblazing innovators, scientists, artists, and designers
- Hundreds of free events explore the changing world, from the possibility of life on Mars to the future of fashion, women in science to robotic surgery, the music of the brain to the chemists of the future
- Innovative, wide-ranging festival created by Imperial College London, Natural History Museum, Royal College of Music, Science Museum, V&A, Royal Albert Hall and many more
For the weekend of 18-19 June, Exhibition Road, the world-famous home of some of the UK’s greatest museums and centres of innovation, will become a vibrant festival, celebrating the ideas, people and communities that are changing our world. The Great Exhibition Road Festival will be full of inspirational events for all ages and opportunities to hear from – and take part in activities with – some of the world’s great, innovative minds. The festival runs across the weekend of 18-19 June. Admission to the festival, and all of its events, is free.
Trailblazers are at the heart of the festival, from the Victorian innovators of the Great Exhibition in 1851, to the people changing their communities today and those shaping our future with their research. Visitors of all ages will be welcome to discover the power of ideas, celebrate curiosity, and reimagine a new world. People will be invited to take part in a Chemical Kitchen cheesecake cook-along, to learn the art of making cyanotype photographs, to build their own musical instrument or join the fashion surgery to redesign unloved clothes, hear about the future potential of technology with gaming and AR experts, or go on an exciting adventure back in time to learn about dinosaurs at the Dino show.
Vicky Brightman, the Festival Director, said, “We believe that anyone can have trailblazing ideas, big or small, and the Festival celebrates the fact that we can all change the world around us. We hope that visitors to the Festival will relish meeting some of London’s trailblazers and be encouraged to explore the things that inspire them. Wherever you look and whatever you love, there will be fun and exciting opportunities to take part in events.”
The full festival programme is now up at www.greatexhibitiontroadfestival.co.uk but among the highlights:
- The Hands-On Families Zone is packed with games, stories, crafts, quizzes, demos and experiments. Alongside scientists, artists and engineers, you can build rockets, extract DNA, transform transport, discover how animals adapt to climate change, how morse code can help badgers or how bacteria can turn plastic waste into new materials.
- The Curiosity Zone with games, experiments, arts and crafts activities revealing the lights that diagnose diseases, 3D printed bones, paper marbling, fluid dynamics and DNA origami.
- The Smart Machines zone invites you to meet the latest Artificial Intelligence systems, digital decision makers, aerial robots and flying drones.
- Medical Marvels showcases new medical research, inviting you to take a live, musical journey through the brain, discover how gene therapy is fighting diseases, visit the chemist of the future and see how disease modelling is fighting outbreaks across the world.
- The Adult Zone, where you can sharpen your fashion upcycling skills, take in a cloud demo or grab a drink from the bar and relax in the garden – an oasis for adults in the middle of a busy festival.
- At the Neurodiversity Zone, you can learn about the incredible creativity of neurodiverse artists and innovators, draw your own dyslexia, develop your own comic or science hero, make tinted glasses out of recycled materials, redesign the egg, or try knit bombing. Relax in a low sensory environment designed for tranquillity or enjoy art and poetry by neurodiverse creators.
- The Future Design Zone reveals the innovations happening across Imperial College London. Visitors will design chairs with design engineers, hear 3D sounds in the audio lab and try out a full-size mock-up of an autonomous vehicle, leaving with a virtual experience of future city centre journeys.
- The Climate Friendly Pop-Up Kitchen will serve delicious, healthy, affordable and sustainable food samples made from plant-based and largely local, seasonal ingredients prepared by professional chefs. Get a taste of sustainability, pick up recipe cards and get some top tips for reducing the carbon footprint of your meals.
- The Amazing Molecular Science Show will give families the chance to explore the incredible world of molecules in a live interactive family-friendly show
- Augmented Reality and the future of gaming, looking at the creation of new otherworldly sports to be played in real world arenas and playing fields.
- The search for ancient life on Mars – Red planet scientists report on the latest findings from NASA’s Perseverance Rover and its ground-breaking search for evidence of possible Martian life
- Suppressed music – opera singer Peter Brathwaite discusses bringing to the stage music banned by fascists and voices oppressed by the slave trade.
- The music label run from prison – join InHouse Records, the UK’s first record label to be launched in prison, to hear about breaking the reoffending cycle through music.
- The future of surgery. Join Lord Ara Darzi, Professor of Surgery and co-director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, and members of the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery at Imperial College London, for an exploration on how the field of surgery has evolved and how engineers and doctors are developing the next generation of surgical technologies, including imaging techniques, sensor technology, surgical robots and augmented reality.
- Why we infected healthy people with COVID-19. During the height of the pandemic, researchers from Imperial infected 36 healthy people with COVID-19. Find out why, how they made it safe, and what they learnt.
- Journey through the cosmos with storyteller Helen Tozer and cosmologist Claudia de Rham to discover how scientists use rainbows and gravitational waves to see and hear the universe.
- ‘Kaleidoscopic Minds’, an immense installation by creative pioneer, local artist Azarra Amoy, originally co-curated with Kensington + Chelsea Art Week, will illustrate the contributions of South Kensington’s community of neurodiverse colleagues to innovation and celebrate Exhibition Road as one of the world’s most exciting places to live, work, study and visit.
Professor Alice Gast, President of Imperial College London, said: “Collaboration is at the heart of the Festival, with the programme drawing on the combined imagination and expertise of our wonderful neighbouring institutions – resulting in an event that truly offers something for audiences of all ages and interests. We can’t wait to welcome members of the public to enjoy this weekend of fun and discovery, and to celebrate the trailblazers who have made this such a rich and vibrant centre of science and art.”
Craig Hassall, CEO of the Royal Albert Hall, said, “It is such a thrill for the Royal Albert Hall to be a part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival once more. The spirit of innovation has shaped the cultural district of South Kensington since the Great Exhibition of 1851, and it is in this spirit that the festival once again brings together people of all ages and interests to be inspired.”
Festival Information
The Great Exhibition Road Festival 2022 – Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ
To register for the latest updates and early word on registration for some events please visit www.greatexhibitionroadfestival.co.uk
For more information: www.greatexhibitionroadfestival.co.uk or festival@imperial.ac.uk
Admission prices: Everything is free
