March 2013 public engagement events
Wonder: art and science on the brain
Spring is in the air and a new round of science and medicine themed events funded through the Wellcome Trust’s public engagement awards are popping up like daffodils. If you are inspired to go along to any of the activities listed here, leave a comment below and let us know what you thought.
March is the month for all things brain related. ‘Wonder: art and science on the brain’ is a season of activity at the Barbican in London, with events running throughout the month and beyond, including films, performances and talks. The O3 Gallery at Oxford Castle has a new exhibition featuring the works of artists affected by neurological conditions and contemporary art inspired by discoveries in neuroscience. The accompanying seminar series will explore, amongst other things, art, creativity and neurological disease. ‘Affecting Perception – Art & Neuroscience’ will be running until 31March. And Brain Awareness Week this year is March 11–17 including several events organised by Trust-funded researchers: take a look at the International calendar of events to find something going on near you.
The annual Big Bang Fair, the UK’s largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths, is taking place the ExCeL Centre, London from 14 to 16 March. Highlights include Flavour SenseNation, a touring exhibition by Actiondog which explores our sensory experience of flavour and guarantees to take your taste buds on a sensual roller-coaster ride. The Big Bang Fair will be touring later on in the year, so keep an eye out for summer events across the UK. The Cambridge Science Festival offers another fantastic opportunity to get to grips with a number of exciting science activities. We’ll tell you more about that on this blog in the next day or two.
In the spirit of a speakeasy, Lab Easy at The Arts Catalyst, London, is exploring DIY biology for two weeks from now until 16 March. Swing by and join in with MadLab’s experiments on weekday afternoons or sign up to one of the many workshops, ranging from building your own lab to hunting for water bears.
Developed in collaboration with evolutionary anthropologists and psychologists, Above me the wide blue sky is a performance installation by Fevered Sleep exploring our connectedness to the natural world. For the final leg of their national tour the piece will be showing at the Young Vic, London, from tomorrow until the 28 March.
‘Call it “Subheading” Because I Have No Time to Think of a Better Title’
Ever fancied having a drink from a water pump that killed hundreds of people? A free water cocktail lounge will be popping up at various times throughout the month at the site of the Broad Street Pump, source of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London. The lounge is part of an exhibition, Cartographies of Life & Death, celebrating the bicentenary of John Snow and his insights into the importance of disease mapping. The main exhibition is based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, between 13 March and 17 April.
Other exhibitions opening in March include Food For All Seasons, Wakefield Museum’s newest (and free) exhibition, which opened on the 2 March and runs until 28 September. Today, many of us would think nothing of eating strawberries in December, but this was not always the case and so the exhibition explores the lives of medieval people through the food they ate and grew as the seasons changed. Glasgow Science Centre’s latest exhibition, Bodyworks, also opens its doors this month on 28 March. Visitors can take run in circles in the giant hamster wheel, shimmy at the DNA disco and take part in live lab experiments.
If you’ve not yet been to see Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men at The Museum of London then take the opportunity to explore the murky history of body snatching and surgery before the exhibition closes on the 14 April. This month is also the last chance to see Inside DNA at Leicester’s New Walk Museum.
Finally, for all the literary fans out there, a reading of the six short listed stories for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award will be taking place on 20 and 21 March at Foyles on Charing Cross. The shortlist includes Toby Litt’s sci-fi short, ‘Call it ”The Bug” Because I Have No Time to Think of a Better Title’, which originally appeared in the book BioPunk: Stories from the Far Side of Research, which we wrote about here a few months ago. More information about all the stories and where to find them can be found online.
