Exhibition London

April 12 2026

‘Astronomers Take Over’ at the National Maritime Museum

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New interactive family-friendly experience opened at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich. ‘Astronomers Take Over’ gives visitors a rare chance to meet real astronomers, ask their questions, see mind-blowing demonstrations and experience how the Universe really is.

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[BLOG POST IN BIO] Astronomers Take Over at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich 🚀🪐✨🧑🏻‍🚀 ‘Astronomers Take Over’ gives visitors a rare chance to meet real astronomers, ask their questions, see mind-blowing demonstrations and experience how the Universe really is 🪐✨ What to expect: • Galaxy room: It’s a gorgeous infinity room. Perfect for that Instagram moment! • A giant telescope installation you can step inside • Scavenger hunt for kids • Star Huddle: Learn what it really means when we say we are all made of stardust • Moon room • Astronomers Lounge • Lots of interactive elements kids will love + Planetarium experience (that’s extra charge) 📍 Where National Maritime Museum Greenwich | 9NF Romney Rd, London SE10 🗓️ When 27th March – 29th June 2026 🎟️ Tickets Astronomers Take Over + Planetarium ticket: £16 Astronomers Take Over (without Planetarium show): £8 #astronomerstakeover #astronomer #spacethings #familytimefun #familydayout

♬ Interstellar on Piano – Andy Morris

Astronomers Take Over

Astronomers Take Over - National Maritime Museum London

Photo: Urban Adventurer

‘Astronomers Take Over’ opened on the 27^th March and is a temporary gallery offering playful hands-on experience for anyone interested in space and astronomy.

Here are the highlights of the experience:

Galaxy Box

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Galaxy Box is an awe-inspiring infinity room designed with Sir Brian May and visual artist and astrophotographer, J-P Metsävainio for visitors to experience how vast and beautiful the Universe really is.

Perfect for that Instagram moment!

Telescope

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Step inside a giant telescope and learn more about major space discoveries through the past 350 years connected to the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

Telescope is designed to inspire the next generation of astronomers who could be you!

Cosmic Quest

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Kids will love this very interactive experience where they are invited for a scavenger hunt.

The mission is to find weird hidden objects astronomers have taken into space. Think of a gorilla suit, Luke Skywalker’s light sabre and an espresso machine.

Star Huddle

Photo: Urban Adventurer

What does it really mean when we say we are all made of stardust?

Meet the Royal Observatory’s Head of Astronomy, Liz Avery and the team and take a closer look to the stars using a spectroscope.

Moon Room

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You’ve probably seen the out-of-this-world images of the dark side of the Moon; the crew of the Artemis II mission had taken.

In the Moon Room, you can learn more about how our planet and the Moon move and dance around each other through space.

Land a Mars Rover at a Martian Crater

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Join Professor Sanjeev Gupta and his team and work together on some of the humankind’s most amazing space missions.

Did you know that Mars rovers are operated from the Earth and you can even do that from a kitchen at home?

Well, here’s your chance to operate a Mars rover and try to land it at a Martian crater.

Astronomers’ Lounge

Are you following the Artemis II mission? Fascinated by the newest space discoveries?

Pull up your chair and discuss the latest space news with the Royal Observatory’s astronomy team. Here’s your chance to get your questions answered by real astronomers.

Planetarium Experience

Why not add a Planetarium experience to your ticket and enjoy a 30-minute awe-inspiring show about our solar system or an adorable film about ‘Animals in Space!’ perfect for younger visitors?

Coming Soon: Mirror Moon by Luke Jerram

Celebrating 350 years of studying the Moon, a giant Mirror Moon will arrive at the Royal Observatory this May.

The Mirror Moon is a 2m in diameter scale model of our Moon, designed and created by British artist, Luke Jerram, famous for his large scale art projects (Gaia, Mars, Sun, Moon).

Mirror Moon is a touchable installation created using highly accurate topographical NASA data of the lunar surface.

Feel free to run your fingers on craters, valleys, mountains and million years old lava fields.

How to visit Luke Jerram’s Mirror Moon?

Simply book a ticket to the Royal Observatory online. Your ticket includes the visit of the Mirror Moon.

Practical Info

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Address

National Maritime Museum Greenwich | 9NF Romney Rd, London SE10

Opening Times

27^th March – 29^th June 2026

NOTE: Astronomers Take Over is closed on most Tuesdays and Fridays.

It’s open on all other days from 10am – 5pm

Tickets

Book your ticket on the Royal Museums of Greenwich’s official website.

Astronomers Take Over + Planetarium ticket: £16

Astronomers Take Over (without Planetarium show): £8

Ready for your next adventure? Fairy Tales exhibition at the British Library. This magical exhibition is full of interactive elements kids will love. It explores the origins of fairy tales and how the stories have changed over time. Visit a gingerbread house, sit with the Three Bears, smell portions, look into a magic mirror and make a wish from Aladdin’s Genie.

March 3 2026

Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life – Making Invisible Human Connections Visible

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Japanese artist, Chiharu Shiota’s large scale installation wraps Hayward Gallery’s top floor room from floor to ceiling. Red woollen threads cascade from the ceiling, entangle around an open wooden door, and form mysterious forests that preserve memories. Welcome to Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life exhibition at the Hayward Gallery.

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[BLOG POST IN BIO] You can visit two exhibitions for the price of one at Hayward Gallery 𝙔𝙞𝙣 𝙓𝙞𝙪𝙯𝙝𝙚𝙣: 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 🫀 This exhibition is featuring interactive elements, making it more family friendly. Xiuzhen uses second-hand clothing, household objects, concrete and food for her large scale installations. There is a giant heart that visitors can go inside and sit on pillows on the floor, a huge airplane wrapped in fabric and miniature cityscapes in suitcases🛩️🧳 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙪 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙤𝙩𝙖: 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚 🧶 Chiharu Shiota is best-known for her large-scale installations inspired by the Japanese Red String Theory (or Akai Ito). It’s a common concept in Japan that suggests that people are connected with invisible red threads that may tangle but never break. According to the theory, most of our meaningful encounters are inevitable because our lives are already connected even if we don’t know about it yet or we haven’t met yet. 📍 Where Hayward Gallery | Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX (Nearest station is Waterloo station) 📆 When 17th February – 3rd May 2026 🎟️ Ticket £19 @Southbank Centre #haywardgallery #southbankcentre #contemporaryart #artexhibition #CapCut

♬ Suave – The Pianist & D’Michel leb

Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Chiharu Shiota is best-known for her large-scale installations inspired by the Japanese Red String Theory (or Akai Ito).

It’s a common concept in Japan that suggests that people are connected with invisible red threads that may tangle but never break. According to the theory, most of our meaningful encounters are inevitable because our lives are already connected even if we don’t know about it yet or we haven’t met yet.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Chiharu Shiota was born and spent her formative years in Japan. She has lived in Berlin since 1996 where she studied art and painting. Following a vivid dream of her being inside a painting, she turned her attention to find how she could turn the flat canvas into a 3D palpable installation that can enwrap the space.

That’s how she started experimenting with woollen threads. When she left Japan for Berlin, she had to move nine times over just three years within the city. This resulted of her often waking up in the morning not knowing where she was.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

So, she began putting threads on her bed to create a sort of tangible boundary between dream and reality she could rely on.

Webs of Memories, Emotions and Human Connections

Photo: Urban Adventurer

During your exhibition journey, you’ll navigate through intricate tangled chambers of red and black wool.

Shiota often uses red colour for her installations, partly because it’s a symbolic colour in Japanese culture, partly because red has a deeply personal meaning to her.

Her floor-to-ceiling installations create mysterious chambers visitors can walk through feeling as though they were walking in a human artery or a womb.

Walking through the enormous geometric chambers, you’ll notice hundreds of old keys hanging from the above. Each key is part of Shiota’s collection, and each of them has its own story and meaning.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Shiota started collecting keys after a miscarriage in 2015 and her father’s death shortly after. She needed something to hold on during those depressed times; something small, something precious to her. That was when she started collecting keys.

Shiota’s art installations often involve everyday objects, including shoes, dresses and even beds.

One of the installations resembles a hospital room featuring white hospital beds, engulfed in intricate black threads. This eerie room is connected to Shiota’s early experiments with threads when she moved to Berlin.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The next room is a forest of red threads cascading from the ceiling, poignant letters attached to many of them. Each letter addressed to loved ones, some are odes to a city, some express gratitude.

Those letters are written by real people.

Shiota and Hayward Gallery had shared a social media post before the exhibition asking people to write love letters in which they show their gratitude towards something or someone. Thousands of letters arrived. Many of those letters are now part of the exhibition.

Chiharu Shiota’s Threads of Life makes the complexity of human emotions and relationships visible. It enwraps us, swallows us and touches our souls.

Two Exhibitions for One Price Chiharu Shiota and Yin Xiuzhen

Tickets to the exhibition start from £19 and that contains not only the Threads of Life exhibition by Chiharu Shiota, but you can also visit Heart to Heart by Chinese artist, Yin Xiuzhen!

Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Yin Xiuzhen and Chiharu Shiota share interest in creating artworks that are adventurous and experimental while using everyday objects.

Chinese artist, Yin Xiuzhen is also known for her large scale installations. The materials Xiuzhen uses include second-hand clothing, household objects, concrete and food.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart exhibition is featuring interactive elements, making it more family friendly.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The first installation is an airport including a baggage carousel and a huge airplane wrapped in fabric. Each bag on the carousel contains a mini cityscape that the artist shrank into the size that fit into a suitcase. Those suitcases do not just contain mini worlds, though. Each is packed with Yin Xiuzhen’s memories and her concern about globalisation.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The next installation is an enormous heart wrapped in red, pink and orange second-hand clothing. Xiuzhen’s interest in textiles began in her childhood when her mother worked in a garment factory.

Visitors can walk inside the heart where they can find pillows to sit on and spend time there. And maybe do even a bit of heart-to-heart with a friend.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Collective Subconscious (Blue) is another interactive artwork.

It’s a long minivan with 20 mini wheels on each side reminiscent of that caterpillar cake became popular a few years ago. The installation is wrapped in over 400 pieces of clothing. Inside, there are tiny wooden stools to sit on.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The installation reminds the artist of the period of idealism of the 1990s Beijing. The artwork carries a serious message that will be understood for those familiar with the Chinese song “Beijing Beijing” by Wang Feng.

The next artworks is called Ruined City and it’s a poignant memorial of the old buildings of Beijing that were demolished to make space for modern buildings.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The installation is made from old roof tiles and concrete pieces from buildings no longer exist. It builds a memorial using not only physical materials, but memories and traces of history those roof tiles and concrete pieces carry.