Recent sightings of the Northern Lights in Britain have piqued the public's interest in this wonderfully colourful natural phenomenon. Sophus Tromholt was also captivated by the auroras and hoped to capture them using photography while living in Norway from 1882-83, however the photographic plates were not sensitive enough at the time. Instead, he sketched the auroras on wood and photographed his works to accompany his book, Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis.
Explore the Portia Zvavahera: Zvakazarurwa exhibition out of hours. Music provided by DJ Bosslady. The Garden Kitchen café will be open for special cocktails and food.
You will also be able to do some late night shopping ahead of the festive period in the Kettle’s Yard shop and pick up special Christmas gifts for friends and family.
For this exhibition Kettle's Yard invites children and young people in Cambridge to create artworks about what matters to them today, in any artistic style or medium, from local to global issues; from their home to our shared planet; from love for families, friends and communities to concern for nature, animals and the environment.
A selection of artworks created by Kettle’s Yard’s partner schools and community groups will also be on display.
Saturday 16 November, 10am - 4pm. Free, drop-in
November’s Saturday opening is all about maps, as we host the University’s Dr Sara Caputo for a very special exploration in partnership with the Being Human Festival. Explore the fascinating history of a device we often take for granted, and discover new ways of visualizing our place in the world.
What’s on?
We have been working with a fantastic group of 29 Year 12 students from across the UK, who have co-curated a new exhibition, starting on Sunday 29 September. The students were hosted by Clare College, Cambridge. It is a joint exhibition with the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (MAA). The exhibition runs throughout the Museum (and the MAA) and is based around the theme of ‘Our power over the natural world’. Do pop in to see the thoughts of these talented young people.
Presenting new and recent paintings, this exhibition will be Portia Zvavahera’s first solo exhibition at a public gallery in Europe. Drawing on southern African culture, Christian iconography, traditional European painting and African printmaking, this exhibition will show artworks informed by the artist’s own dreams and the spiritual traditions she grew up with as a child.
These semi-autobiographical works use layers of colour and texture and various artistic techniques including batik stencilling, block-printing, drawing and painting with ink.
From 21 September, visitors to the Whipple Museum will encounter an example of “guerilla history” - a blue plaque from nearby Bene’t Street which was repeatedly graffitied to acknowledge Rosalind Franklin’s enormous contribution to our understanding of genetics. The plaque will go on display for the first time, and will be exhibited alongside Franklin’s own handwritten DNA research notes from early 1953.
Discover six awesome species from around the world and how they have adapted to their environments.
Consider what you can do to help nature thrive.
Share what you think in our interactive display.
The Whipple Museum has recently acquired the blue plaque, originally dedicated to Crick and Watson, which was repeatedly graffitied to acknowledge the contribution which Rosalind Franklin made to the discovery of the structure of DNA. Director Joshua Nall will talk more about Franklin's story, one of her notebooks (on loan from the Churchill archives) and why telling the stories of women in science is important to the Whipple Museum. This is a drop in talk, no booking required.
Join us for Fungi Field Day at the Botanic Garden to celebrate fungi and their relationships with plants in the run up to UK Fungus Day. Highlights include:
🍄 A range of talks from expert speakers about fungi and their interactions with plants.
🔬Science outreach stall with microscopes to view fungi that live deep inside plant roots.
