Science Gallery London: MOUTHY

Previous art-science seasons produced by Science Gallery operated across King’s College London’s campuses. MOUTHY (2016) focused on Guys Campus, now the site of the gallery’s permanent home, and offered a rare opportunity to test new forms of engagement in unconventional spaces. I was brought in to lead the strategic development and delivery of the season, shaping a bold, experimental programme that integrated art, science and public engagement. This role demanded a novel combination of creative vision, relational leadership and inclusive practice — designing new ways to activate space, foster cross-disciplinary collaborations, and connect diverse audiences with scientific inquiry in meaningful, unexpected ways.

Drawing on learnings from previous pop-up seasons, I developed a strategy for delivering a season that meaningfully engaged not only key academic and student groups but local communities and organisations. Leading on 19 commissioned projects, I delivered 12 weeks of programming (34 events, performances and workshops, 1 festival, 6 installations and 3 public art works) that far exceeded goals and expectations. Importantly, the season's audience was inspired and invigorated by the content.

Highlights during this role included:

Transforming unusual spaces

During this development phase of the gallery, limitations existed - from having no dedicated spaces for workshops or artworks to developing processes and relationships from scratch. As there was no permanent gallery space, I found and transformed several unusual spaces in and around Guys' Campus, engaging King's College and local communities in surprising ways to ensure diverse expertise - from lived experience to disciplinary knowledge - came into dialogue around the artworks.

• I arranged for renowned artist Effie Paleologou to take over billboards around London Bridge station.

• A local disused railway tunnel became a venue for the launch event and community engagement activities.

• An old bookshop on campus, with a floorspace of 5m x 5m, was turned into a pop up mini gallery for artworks.

Developing meaningful approaches to evaluating impact

Evaluation is still often carried out as an 'add on' to the end of the engagement process. However, the Science Gallery London team had brought a fantastic research engagement manager, Louise Weiss, into the team at the same time I joined. MOUTHY therefore presented a great opportunity to change this, and embed evaluation from the start.

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I worked with Louise to create an evaluation strategy that could be deployed through the season. A strong focus was using the Science Capital framework to reveal more in depth information about the audience’s background (how diverse their cultural backgrounds were as well as their relationship with scientific content) and therefore how they might view the exhibitions and events in different ways. This evaluation also created valuable data for researchers to use in Impact Case Studies, which made it easier to 'justify' their involvement in public engagement activities.

Developing collaborations (and new lines of scientific research!)

Spit Crystal is a work by artist Inés Cámara Leret, commissioned as part of the MOUTHY season via the open call process. Part of ​Inés' proposal was that she hoped to partner with salivary researchers and crystallographers at King’s College London to carry out experiments. I investigated the appropriate researchers, and facilitated the early stages of a collaboration between Inés, Professor Brian Sutton, and researchers from the mucosal research group.

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This led to Inés growing the first ever pure crystal made of human saliva. It was also the first time crystallographers at King’s had collaborated with mucosal researchers, and the collaboration has since led to the development of a new research proposal. New lines of scientific research have emerged from this project, leaving a lasting legacy.

Delivering MOUTHY required combining strategic vision with creative problem-solving, relational leadership, and rigorous research-informed evaluation. I drew on skills in cross-disciplinary collaboration, site-responsive programming, participatory audience design, and stakeholder negotiation to develop a season that leveraged the unique potential of art-science to inspire curiosity, provoke dialogue, and generate new knowledge. By embedding evaluation from the outset, cultivating collaborations that led to entirely new lines of scientific research, and transforming unconventional spaces into platforms for experimental practice, I was able to deliver a programme that had tangible impact for participants, partner researchers, and the institution alike. This approach not only strengthened institutional capacity for collaborative, evidence-based engagement but also demonstrated the transformative potential of art-science in connecting people with complex scientific ideas in ways that are experiential, relational, and generative.