Eight large-scale artworks created through Imperial College London’s Paint Lab project are now on display at the White City campus, showcasing unique collaborations between scientists and artists that transform cutting-edge research into visual art.
Paint Lab, part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival, saw over 50,000 visitors witness local artists working alongside Imperial scientists to create live artworks on Exhibition Road itself, focusing on how humans, plants, animals, and technology sense the world around us.
Notable collaborations include “Unseen Presences” by Frankie Strand, inspired by space scientists studying the sun through the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter mission, “Listening, Not Hearing” by Matt Munday exploring sound perception research, and “Car Shaped People” by Jerusha Kinnaird drawing from studies on body movement and pain response.
The eight artworks will be displayed adjacent to Perkin’s Green from July 16 through September 18, 2025, with other pieces exploring topics from detecting early Parkinson’s signs to creating human connection during cancer treatment.
The 2026 festival will mark 175 years since the original Great Exhibition of 1851, and as participating artist Bec Dennison noted, the project “challenges you to create something meaningful from the data, shaping a visual narrative from research and lived experience.”
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