Exhibitions
Apart from the permanent displays in the Rock Room and South Wing first floor corridors the Geology Collections feature in a number of different exhibitions across the UCL campus.
Current Exhibitions
Model Translations
27 November 2012 - 30 April 2013. Location: The Octagon Gallery
(Wilkins Building), UCL.
Model Translations is the first ever exhibition in the Octagon Gallery, UCLs new exhibition space. The
exhibition showcases objects – some never displayed before – from across UCL's museums and collections. These
objects reveal creative encounters and explorations between scholars and the
natural and made environment, but at times materialise world views that are
problematic and difficult to reconcile today. This exhibition is supported by the Andrew W
Mellon Foundation of New York.
The Geology Collections are represented by a rare 19th century map of Mount Etna, from the Johnston-Lavis Collection.
For further information please visit the current exhibitions website.
Sir William Ramsay Display
Ongoing. Location: Sir Christopher Ingold Building, UCL Chemistry, Gordon Street, UCL.
A small display exhibiting objects exploring the work of William Ramsay, the discoverer of the Nobel Gases. Ramsay taught at UCL between 1887 - 1913, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements
in air".
The original sample of Cleveite from which Ramsay identified Helium forms part of the Geology Collection, and is displayed alongside the original scientific instruments Ramsay used to discover the gases.
For further information on the Chemistry Department please visit their website. Please note that visitors will need to pass through a manned security barrier to view this display. Staff and students are asked to bring their UCL ID with them. Outside visitors will need to talk to the security officer on duty.
Foreign Bodies
18March - 14th July 2013. Location: North Cloisters (Wilkins Building), UCL.
An exhibition by UCL research students, re-interpreting the museum collections through the theme of ‘foreign bodies’. Through seven very different research projects, audiences are invited to explore the idea of what is alien – biologically, psychologically, socially and politically – and how this concept has shifted across history, culture and even species.
The Geology Collections are represented by a sample of the mercury ore Cinnabar, used as a red pigment for tattoos in the 19th century, and a piece of fused glass in lava, with an iron nail protruding, from the Johnston-Lavis Collection.
Please visit the Researchers in Museums website for more information.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Digital Frontiers
Start of June - November. Location: The Octagon Gallery (Wilkins Building), UCL.
Digital Frontiers: and the themes explored in the exhibition - smart, connected and participatory - will aim to explore how emerging technologies are changing the way we access and experience culture and asks questions about the nature of art and technology.
The Geology Collections will be represented by NASA images from the Regional Planetary Image Facility.
Previous Exhibitions
Impact! Pop-Up Exhibition
12.30 - 3pm March 1st 2013. Location: The Rock Room, South Wing (Wilkins Building), UCL.
Curated by UCL and Birkbeck PhD students from the Centre for Planetary Sciences Impact! featured NASA images of the Moon and Mars taken from the Regional Planetary Image Facility at UCL, one of only seven centres outside the USA (and the only in the UK) to house the archive of NASA planetary images from the 1960s until the present day.
Visitors were able to view photos of the Moon from Lunar Orbiter (1966-67) and Apollo missions (1963-72), and compare them to images of Mars taken by the Viking 1 and 2 Missions (1976 – 1980). The exhibition also featured meteorites from UCL and Birkbeck Collections.
