Eight artworks inspired by Imperial research, which were painted live during the Great Exhibition Road Festival, will go on display at White City.
From tomorrow, artworks created as part of Paint Lab, an annual science-art project taking place at Great Exhibition Road Festival, will be on display in Imperial College London's White City campus.
Paint Lab returned to this year's festival for the third time, which saw more than 50,000 visitors enjoy a varied programme of science and art activities, organised by Imperial in collaboration with neighbouring organisations like the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, and the V&A.
Transforming Exhibition Road
Curated by Interplay – a creative consultancy specialising in public art – alongside Imperial's public engagement team, Paint Lab saw local London artists join forces with Imperial scientists to transform Exhibition Road into a giant live art studio. The large-scale artworks came to life across the two days of the Great Exhibition Road Festival, where visitors were able to chat to the artists and scientists as the work took shape in front of their eyes.
Participating scientists were selected from teams taking part in the Great Exhibition Road Festival, representing a range of Imperial departments, whose research projects responded to this year's Paint Lab theme: 'the different ways we as humans, plants and the animal kingdom, and the technologies we are developing sense the world around us'.
The works took inspiration from research exploring topics like predicting weather in space, equipping plants to save themselves and the planet, detecting early signs of Parkinson's, and creating human connection during cancer treatment.
Frankie Strand collaborated with Tim Horbury and Helen O'Brien, who are involved in the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter mission, seeking to understand the inner workings of our sun. Frankie's piece explores its role in shaping the many forms of life that exist in earth—questioning how life might look around other stars, each with their own behaviours and unique characteristics.
[Paint Lab] challenges you to create something meaningful from the data, shaping a visual narrative from research and lived experience. Bec Dennison Paint Lab artist
Another one of the artists involved, Bec Dennison, said, "Paint Lab has been a truly brilliant experience. The set-up really sparks your imagination – combining the researcher's work with your own visuals pushes your ideas outside of their usual comfort zones. It challenges you to create something meaningful from the data, shaping a visual narrative from research and lived experience."
Other collaborations included Matt Munday's Listening, Not Hearing, which emerged from conversations with researcher Rebecca Stewart, based at the Dyson School of Engineering, who studies the multi-dimensional nature of sound and the unique ways we perceive it. Matt's artwork expands on her ideas and explores how deeper listening might reconnect us to each other, to nature, and to the world around us.
Alison McGregor, a professor of Musculoskeletal Biodynamics in the Department of Surgery and Cancer, researches how the body responds to pain, and how if we were to give our bodies an annual MOT, we may be able to prevent hip and knee replacements in later life. This fed into Jerusha Kinnaird's Car Shaped People, who used scientific examinations into walking gait and posture to inform her artwork.
Moving to a new home
Eight of the works created were transported to Imperial's White City Campus, and will be on display adjacent to Perkin's Green from 16 July until 18 September:
- Unseen presences by Frankie Strand with Tim Horbury and Helen O'Brien
- Connection by Skye Baker with Helen McNair and Caroline Yan Zheng
- Cellular Siege by Luke Gray with Tarhan Ibrahim
- Perspectives by KARC with Professor Holger G. Krap
- Crozzle Block by Nazusk with Dr. Marc Masen
- Notice by Dominika Lipniewska with Dr. Cynthia Sandor
- Car Shaped People by JERU with Professor Alison McGregor
- Listening, Not Hearing by Matt Munday with Dr. Rebecca Stewart
"Paint Lab, which has been a hugely popular edition to the last three Great Exhibition Road Festivals, offers a unique opportunity to engage with scientific research through the eyes of an artist", commented James Romero, Public Engagement Programme Manager. "We're delighted that some of the works created are now on show at the White City Campus, for our wider Imperial community and visitors to enjoy."
Anniversary extravaganza
Planning is already underway for the 2026 edition of the Great Exhibition Road Festival, which will mark 175 years since the original Great Exhibition of 1851 – a landmark event showcasing art and innovation, organised by Prince Albert. The surplus of the event helped create 'Albertopolis', a cultural and educational quarter in South Kensington, which led to the founding and expanding of institutions like Imperial, the V&A, and Royal Albert Hall.
The Festival will take place on 6-7 June 2026, with a call out for proposals from Imperial research teams to get involved opening in October this year.
To stay up to date on when proposals for the Great Exhibition Road Festival open, as well as other opportunities to engage the public with our work at Imperial, sign up to the Societal Engagement newsletter.
