Friday 1 October 2021

Horniman Museum and Gardens - October news from the Horniman

 

Purple and orange flowers and green foliage surrounding a rectangular pool of water in the Sunken Gardens
Visiting in October

Tickets are now available for visiting the Museum, Monkey Business exhibition, Aquarium and Butterfly House until 3 January 2022.

For guaranteed entry, especially during October half term, we recommend booking tickets in advance. 

We are continuing to increase ticket availability for all our spaces but are keeping advance booking in place for the moment so as to help manage capacity and visitor safety indoors. We also encourage all visitors to continue to wear a face mask indoors if they are able to.
 
Book for all our attractions online now
Headshot of The Venus Bushfires.
The Venus Bushfires
Saturday 16 October
Workshops: 10.30am or 11.45am
Performances: 2pm or 3.30pm


Let’s come together, celebrate each other and inspire a musical performance.

Join a storytelling workshop where families collectively create a story inspired by their lockdown experiences, led by artist Helen Epega. Then see your stories reflected in a live performance by The Venus Bushfires in the afternoon. Find out more about The Venus Bushfires.
 
Tickets: £7.50 workshop, £7.50 performance
Book tickets for Venus Bushfires
Three people playing Plonk Golf with a giant model walrus in the foreground.
In the Gardens

There is still plenty to enjoy in the Gardens as the days get shorter.

Plonk Golf is open from 10am-5pm every weekend, and during October half term every day. The Animal Walk is free and open daily, from 12.30-4pm. For your weekly food essentials, visit the Horniman Market on Sundays.

This month the Gardens closing hours change a number of times, from 6.50pm to 4.50pm by the end of October. Please check the website for an up-to-date schedule.
Three X-ray images on a wall next to a display cabinet with a taxidermy owl specimen and poetic text.
Closes 10 October 2021

Don’t miss this poignant display in the Natural History Gallery by artist Helena Hunter. X-rays, poetic texts and taxidermy specimens illuminate the ongoing and alarming decline in bird species around the world.
 
Find out about Falling Birds and read an interview with Helena Hunter
A black and white photo of two children, one embracing the other with a white drape hanging above them.
Closes 7 November 2021

On display in the World Gallery Balcony, artists Hamed Maiye and Adama Jalloh explore new ways to imagine spiritual identity through a Black British lens. 

Read an interview with artists Hamed and Adama about their work
Part of a can of Coast Instant powdered milk featuring red lettering, yellow background and a pastoral scene with a black and white cow.
Afro Historyscapes Podcast

Hear a fresh perspective on African history in our ten-part podcast series. From Igbo and Nigerian crafting practices to African milk technologies, and Islamic spirituality to Christianity, we tell stories about the objects in our collections that you might not have heard before. 
 
The podcast series has been developed by our curators, project team and Community Action Researchers.
 
Listen to the Afro Historyscapes Podcast
Luo headdress made from concentric layers of woven plant fibre, decorated with glass beads in white, dark blue, yellow and red.
Building Trust around African Collections

Rethinking Relationships was a two year project to develop new practice around the Kenyan and Nigerian collections at the Horniman and three partner UK museums.

Over four blog posts, curator JC Niala writes about how the project was carried out, working collaboratively with communities on the African continent and the diaspora. 

Read the first Rethinking Relationships blog post
A white coral showing slight fluorescence.
What is coral?

Do you know if coral is an animal or a plant? In a video about coral, Deputy Aquarium Curator Michelle gives us the answer and shows us some amazing behind-the scenes footage of coral spawning at the Horniman. She also highlights the dangers coral face due to climate change and what the Horniman is doing about this.
 
Watch the coral video
 
If you want to be part of a community tackling the climate and ecology crisis, join the Horniman’s Environment Champions Club.