Human Cell Atlas creative commission for the Tomorrow Gallery

Descriptions

Introduction : Tomorrow: The Bennett Gallery will be the Science Museum's new landmark gallery exploring how today's scientific discoveries are shaping our future. It will be the destination for our audiences to discover and learn about the most exciting and impactful science stories transforming lives today and extending what we know about ourselves, our home and our universe. This project will transform one of our most prominent and highly visited locations, currently home to the Exploring Space gallery, where 80% of our audience pours through the museum every day. The gallery will create a step-change in how we excite, inspire, and engage our audiences with current science, technology and innovation. We regularly work with artists, makers and designers across our sites, adding to the permanent collection, developing exhibitions and galleries, and contributing to our events programme. Invitation to the artist, maker or designer : We are seeking a bold, vibrant response to the themes raised by the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) initiative to be as a centrepiece of the gallery The Human Cell Atlas project is a global consortium of scientists striving to map every cell in the human body to transform our understanding of health and find new ways of diagnosing and treating disease. We wish to showcase one of biology's most ambitious and significant projects and speak to the role scientific enquiry plays in revealing what it is to be human. In engaging with the HCA's mission, this piece also plays a role in evoking a sense of unfolding scale that emerges across the gallery, from genes and cells to cosmic objects. There is an exciting opportunity to explore how our curious and energetic visitors might engage with the physical form of such a piece. Featured alongside the artwork will be a film about the project as well as a selection of cell images. This will be a 2 stage process, Shortlisted practitioners will be asked to submit a visual concept as part of a second stage selection process, providing information on budget, programme and design.