UCL partners with The Herds in London to help raise awareness of our heating planet

UCL will help to welcome hordes of life-sized puppet animals to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park next month in a partnership with The Herds, a startling public art and climate initiative designed to inspire action on the climate crisis.

In a journey symbolising flight from climate disaster, The Herds of puppet animals are sweeping through city centres, including London, on a 20,000km route from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle.

On Friday 27 June, The Herds will cross London's Tower Bridge before heading via More London, Soho, Somerset House, Coram's Fields and Camden High St to Westfield Stratford City and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Sunday 29 June.

Once there, the puppets will encounter groups of dancers as they venture through Stratford Cross and then on to Sadler's Wells East before dispersing throughout the Park, in a specially commissioned choreography by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Alesandra Seutin.

This not-to-be-missed spectacle, along with The Herds activity in London across the 3 days, is free to attend so save the date and we'll look forward to seeing you there.

As well as this extraordinary activity happening around our UCL campus in east London, UCL is proud to be partnering with The Herds on a series of additional free events bringing together artists, researchers, activists and the public on and around our central London campus in Bloomsbury.

Explore the UCL Stampede for the Arts on a Heating Planet schedule and book your place:

• Thurs 26 June,11am: Guided visits of the UCL Art Museum showcasing exhibits relating to The Herds.
• Thurs 26 June,12 pm: Roundtable on The Visual Arts on a Heating Planet.
• Thurs 26 June, 2pm: Drawing the Stampede at UCL Art Museum Workshop 1.
• Thurs 26 June, 3pm: Drawing the Stampede at UCL Art Museum Workshop 2. 
• Thurs 26 June, 4pm: a presentation on The Herds - The Peforming Arts on a Heating Planet, with David Lan, Producer, The Herds and Maryam Pasha, London co-Producer, The Herds.
• Thurs 26 June, 6pm: 2025 Rabindranath Tagore Lecture in Comparative Literature - The Work of Literature in a time of Eco-Crisis.
• Fri 27 June, 10am to 5pm: Comparative Literature and Environmental Humanities Colloquium in London, discussions and presentations exploring links between these disciplines.
• Fri 27 June, 5.30pm to 7.30pm: Writers of the Anthropocene

Experience The Herds in London from 27-29 June

Photo Credits:

1. The Herds / Bolton & Quinn / Kinshasa - Congo Basin. Photograph by Berclaire for The Walk Productions.

2. The Herds / Bolton & Quinn / Lagos, 20 April 2025. Photograph by Kashope Faje, for 88 Life Studios.

3. The Herds / Bolton & Quinn / Photograph by David Levene.