The Science Museum is one of the few big London museums that doesn’t open late, but fortunately there’s another way to get your night-time science fix. Just behind the museum is the Dana Centre, a building specifically designed for “exciting, informative and innovative debates” about science and technology — and most of them take place shortly after the Science Museum itself kicks everyone out for closing.
(Picture by Gaetan Lee.)
The Dana Centre feels like a cross between a restaurant, a museum, a lecture hall, and a theatre, but with many orange walls than any of them. There’s a lounge, with free internet access and plenty of space to sit around. There’s a cafe, open weekdays from ten in the morning till six in the evening, serving plenty of decent food (the usual cafe fare, from soups and salads to burgers and nachos). The heart of the Dana Centre, though, is its public event programme.
Three nights a week, nine months of the year, the centre hosts a debate or a comedy event, a theatre performance or a workshop or a talk. The presenters range from the always-entertaining Richard Wiseman to human beatbox Shlomo, and almost all of the events are free. Some of them are webcast, but if you can get there in person it really is worth it; a lot of the talks take place in the cafe itself, with absurd tables covered in science-sounding words that don’t really mean anything (”factometrics”), sitting beside one huge glass wall, with the world gradually darkening on the other side.
Coming up this month, there’s all sorts. Space Camp gives you the chance to find out if you’d make a good astronaut, with a bevy of tests and talking. The Tone-Deaf Tune-In explores what it’s like to be unable to distinguish music from other noise, and a singing coach will encourage participants to address their own problems with singing. There’s also talks on the interaction between genetics and mood, the bionic ear, and the psychology of chilli addiction.
The events are only open to adults, partly because of the content but also because the cafe is licensed to serve alcohol; and they stop for a month in August, so if you don’t book something soon in the next week or two then you’ll have to wait for September. There’s no clues yet as to what the September events will be, but if past history is worth going on, they’ll involve a lot of science, information, jokes and food.
The Dana Centre: 165 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, SW7 5HD (behind the Science Museum, but accessed by a different road). Cafe: Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., prices around £1.75 for coffees, £7 for main meals, and £14 for a bottle of wine. Events: many evenings from 7 p.m.
