Monday, 10 March 2025
A temporary exhibition in the form of an extraordinary concert performed at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, will bring to life rarely heard historical musical instruments and their ‘lost’ sounds, on 15 March 2025.
The performance – titled – was born from a UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded project, co-investigated by 糖心原创 academic James Mansell, Professor of Cultural History and Sound Studies in the Department of Cultural, Media and Visual Studies, and Principal Investigator Dr Ed McKeon of the Science Museum, London and Birmingham City University, along with collaborators at the Science Museum Group (SMG).
The Science Museum Group has been collecting a remarkable ensemble of musical instruments for 150 years because of the sounds they can make, and yet they sit silent when on display. But the question of how best to share them with the public has been an ongoing concern.
Back in 2015, a network of curators, scholars, musicians and artists under the banner of ‘’ came together to find a solution to making sound and music more prominent in exhibition displays. This extensive work fed into the latest 2024 AHRC-funded project ‘Musical Affordances and Counterfactuals’ which inspired the Time Loops exhibition performances – the first was a sell-out on 6 February 2025 at the Science Museum, London, followed by the next special event which will take place on 15 March 2025 at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford.
鈥淲e have been working to find ways of turning museums into places where we can share and explore sounds and where we can involve the public in the audible histories of science and technology. The Time Loops exhibition performance is a special kind of event that not only brings composers and musicians into the museum space but also brings museum objects into the process of new music making. Each of the composers involved in the project has been inspired by working with objects from the Science Museum Group collection.鈥�
Three celebrated composers Sarah Angliss, Gavin Bryars, and Shiva Feshareki worked with the ensemble Icebreaker, to explore the musical potential of sound recording and reproduction technologies. The latest performance in Bradford – which has been named as the UK’s City of Culture 2025 – will present new works that explore the musical possibilities of historic sound technologies such as the EMS VCS3 and VCS4 synthesizers, the Watkins Copicat, Roland Space Echo, and the DIY electronic instruments of Hugh Davies.
, in the heart of Bradford, explores the science and culture of light and sound technologies and their impact on our lives. With the aim of inspiring the scientists and innovators of the future, it secured funding grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2023 to deliver new Sound and Vision galleries that will open later this year.
Taking place in the newly-redeveloped foyer, with d&b’s immersive Soundscape system (an alternative to the traditional left and right stereo system), the audience is invited to listen, as well as to look, as sound becomes an exhibit in the museum and the space itself becomes an instrument.
Dr Annie Jamieson, Curator of Sound Technologies at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, said: “We’re extremely excited to be involved in this project. It’s vital for us to find new ways to engage our audience with sound-related objects in our collections that, for conservation reasons, usually remain silent. Time Loops has evolved through several years of research and exploration, with James Mansell, Ed McKeon and others, and we’re thrilled to welcome the composers and musicians to our newly-redeveloped spaces, as part of our contribution to City of Culture.”
The Time Loops performances not only celebrate the reopening of the museum and its new focus on sound technologies, but they set out to transform museums into places for sound and listening. The wider project has now been outreached as a school resource to aid music education delivered to local schools in Bradford.
Time Loops audio can be listened to .
Further information and ticket booking for Time Loops in Bradford on 15 March 2025, can be found .
Story credits
More information is available from Professor James Mansell, Department of Cultural, Media and Visual Studies, via james.mansell@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
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