Reveal Festival; Everything You Need to Know About V&A Exhibition Road Quarter

REVEAL, a free, week-long public festival has been announced in celebration of the opening of V&A Exhibition Road Quarter, designed by AL_A. The new quarter is the largest architectural project undertaken by the Museum in over 100 years. Exhibition Road is to be pedestrianised for a day of celebrations on Saturday 1 July.

Aerocene Explorer, launches at San Francisco, USA, 2016
Courtesy the Aerocene Foundation. © Photography by Studio Tomás Saraceno, 2017

REVEAL Festival, 30 June – 7 July

This week-long public festival will include floating Aerocene sculptures, Ron Arad and Zandra Rhodes ‘drawing with light’ on V&A façades, a new dance commission from Julie Cunningham and hip hop from Botis Seva and the National Youth Dance Company Alumni. The festival will be free of charge for all the public to enjoy.

As part of the celebrations, floating Aerocene sculptures will fly above Exhibition Road for the day on 1 July. Activated by the heat of the sun (depending on the weather), these air-fuelled sculptures reach up to five metres in size. The Aerocene project is initiated by artist Tomás Saraceno, and developed by a non-profit Aerocene Foundation.

There will also be collaboration from other cultural centres in the capital. The Royal Albert Hall’s Albert Band will march from Princes Gate Mews to the V&A, while the Royal College of Music will bring to life the Museum’s Norfolk House Music Room.

There will be fun for all the family, with younger visitors getting the chance to ‘hold a cloud’, explore wearable tech with Imperial College scientists, and construct a ‘Stego-jigsaw-rus’ with Natural History Museum staff.

Science Museum family programming at V&A will give visitors aged seven and up to experiment with their own ‘Doodle Bugs’, to create doodling masterpieces.

V&A Exhibition Road Quarter

V&A Exhibition Road Quarter is the largest architectural project undertaken by the Museum in over 100 years. It has been designed by Stirling Prize-winning British architect Amanda Levete and her practice AL_A. Throughout REVEAL Festival, visitors will be able to explore the new spaces, which include:

• The Sainsbury Gallery: a 1,100m sq column-free exhibition space purpose built for the V&A’s world-leading programme of temporary exhibitions.
• The Sackler Courtyard: the world’s first all-porcelain public courtyard, ‘inspired by the rich tradition of ceramics at the V&A’.
• The Blavatnik Hall: a new entrance into the V&A

REVEAL Festival| 30 June – 7 July 2017 | Admission Free| vam.ac.uk/reveal for more information