The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford has announed that it will re-openin two phases in 2025 following 'unforeseen delays' during its £6m Sound and Vision capital redevelopment.The museum will now reopen to visitors at the start of Bradford’s City of Culture year, with the new Sound and Vision galleries launching later in 2025.
The museum closed in June 2023 to undergo a £6 million transformation bringing in two new permanent galleries, a new passenger lift and an improved entrance. During the lift's excavation contractors discovered an unexpected make-up of ground that has led to delays.
Commenting on the change Jo Quinton-Tulloch, the director of the National Science and Media Museum, said “While the impact of this delay in the short term is frustrating, our Sound and Vision project will future proof the museum for decades to come,” said . “Our new Sound and Vision galleries will completely transform the museum’s visitor offer by showcasing our incredible collections and ensuring visitors can find stories that resonate with them". She added: the additional passenger lift is “a crucial part of our transformation that will enable us to welcome many more visitors in 2025 and beyond. “Despite extensive survey work before the excavation commenced, our contractors encountered an unexpected make-up of ground at the base of the lift, which took much longer to excavate than anticipated. Whilst the impact of this delay in the short term is frustrating, our Sound and Vision project will future proof the museum for decades to come.”
Designed by gallery architects, AOC (Agents of Change), the new galleries will showcase the museum’s core collections through the four key themes of Innovation, Identities, Storytelling and Everywhere, to lead visitors on a journey through the explosion of sound and image technologies, and the impact on our lives. The latest design renders illustrate some of these themes and the key moments and stories that visitors will be able to explore throughout the galleries.
In the section on Identities, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in an interactive space with ‘sound showers’, a mixing desk and dance floor to evoke the shared experience and thrill of live performances and gigs. A key moment in Storytelling will take visitors through the long history of creating animation from flipbooks and stop motion to digital illustrations through the stories of beloved fictional characters such as the March Hare from Alice in Wonderland. Local radio station, Bradford Community Broadcasting (BCB) will also feature in the new galleries in Everywhere, where an interactive studio space will tell the story of how sound and image technologies have enabled local community representation in broadcasting and give visitors the chance to be a radio DJ.
In a newly reconfigured part of the galleries which has opened up a double height space, artist Nayan Kulkarni has been commissioned to create an interactive installation called ‘Circus.’ Visitors will be invited to enter a room that comes to life using a captured live feed of themselves, like a chamber of mirrors, encouraging visitors to engage with broadcast technologies and see how image manipulation has changed over time.
The museum has shared some of the designs that can be expected when it reopens next year, including an interactive space with ‘sound showers’, a mixing desk and dance floor to evoke the shared experience and thrill of live performances and gigs. Elsewhere, the artist Nayan Kulkarni has been commissioned to create an interactive installation called Circus, where visitors will enter a 'chamber of mirrors' room filled with a captured live feed of themselves.
“Our new gallery designs reveal how the spaces will be dynamic, interactive and inspiring, underlining how all areas of our collection from photography to videogaming are embedded in every aspect of our lives,” said Quinton-Tulloch. “Visitors will be able to see the first ever photographic image, have a go at being a sound engineer, step inside the studio of a local radio station and enter a live art installation. We’ve also worked closely with local communities to ensure we’re telling stories that are relevant to Bradford, showcasing the creativity and diversity of our home city. We look forward to welcoming visitors back into the museum and into our new Sound and Vision galleries in 2025.”
See: https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/about-us/sound-and-vision-project
and FAQs: https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/closure-FAQ
Comments
Thanks for posting! Does this mean a January 2025 reopening is anticipated or later that year? Also, does anyone have info about when researchers will be able to get back in for access? I assume that may coincide with the reopening, but earlier would be awesome for those of us with projects on hold!
Early 2025 rather than 1 January. I'll see if I can find out anything about Insight and collection access.
Much appreciated! I emailed awhile ago but didn't hear back. (But I perhaps didn't have a good contact email.) Thank you!
I hope I am wrong but I suspect this will be another museum ruined by aiming to become more "trendy and relevant". I am guessing that the Museum directorate have worked out that the average attention span of their target audience of teenage schoolchildren, is less than five minutes and have laid out the exhibits accordingly, complete with buttons to push and levers to twiddle, half of which will be broken after the initial 12 months.
Let's wait and see... the museum can be both popular and engaging, and can continue to support academic research. It has great collections and they should become accessible again through Insight.