Great Exhibition Road Festival

Great Exhibition Road Festival

Heatwave conditions saw Londoners seeking shade amongst the green exhibits at the Great Exhibition Road Festival (4-5 July, 2019)

A pop-up park constructed to replace car parking spaces and a trio of giant blocks enclosing visitors in a cooling green refuge and tranquil soundscape were amongst over 200 activities engaging with the social side of science and arts this weekend.

More than 60,000 people of all ages attended the street festival in South Kensington, which involved Imperial College London and 20 local partners including national museums and cultural institutions. The event took place ahead of the official launch of the first ever London Climate Action Week, a celebration of low-carbon solutions and expertise in the city that is being coordinated by the Mayor of London from 1-8 July 2019.

PhD students Charlie Roscoe and Robbie Parks teamed up with oil painter Enya Lachman-Curl, designer Robbie Thompson, and Science Museum curator Rupert Cole to create the immersive installation GREEN SPACE.

This trio of imposing obelisks appeared from the outside to be austere concrete blocks but gave way to an immersive refuge of sweeping oil paint compositions resembling lush foliage for visitors who stepped between their imposing walls.

The accompanying soundscape combined meditative synthesisers with delicate piano motifs to evoke the sanctuary that urban green spaces provide.

Further info can be accessed here.