Studio Series: The Study, Manchester

Aquaponics, photography and cabinets of curiosity: introducing The Study, Manchester Museum’s brand new space for brand new thinking…

What exactly is it? 

A hands-on, public gallery, research space, and coworking centre, The Study is The University of Manchester’s latest visitor attraction. Taking over the entire top floor of their beautiful, Grade II*-listed, red-brick museum on Oxford Road, it has cost a whopping £700,000 to build, and enjoys its grand unveiling this week.

Sounds good. Who is it for?

According to Manchester Museum, ‘For the curious, the makers, the searchers and the sharers’; a sociable study space, events seem to be aimed at an adult audience, from casual visitors to academics to hackers and artists.

What’s special about it? 

Award-winning interior design studio BKD have taken control of the refurb, along with Wilson Mason Architects, aiming to ‘spark wonder, curiosity and a passion for research in all of its visitors’. Expect a big open space, with new roof lights and windows, a loving restoration of original features (including ebony-black cabinets clustered around a central atrium), and bespoke high-tech furniture. There’s digital access to the museum’s four million-strong collection of objects, as well as selected artefacts on display to see first-hand. State-of-the-art equipment, tools and resources are there for those coming along to tinker and make projects of their own – including a video microscope capable of sharing still images direct to Twitter.

You mentioned a gallery: what’s on?

A lively mix of cutting-edge science and art. The Study launches with an exhibition by West African artist Nyaba Ouedraogo: The Phantoms of Congo River. Described as ‘both a ballad to and a deconstruction of Joseph Conrad’s famous 19th-century novel, Heart of Darkness’, self-taught photographer Ouedraogo re-enacts scenes from the book. Expect striking images accompanied by some of Manchester Museum’s own collection of objects from the Congo area.

At the other end of the scale, there’s also an ‘aquaponics’ installation on display; a fish tank created by the Biospheric Studio, filled with carp, generating the nutrients needed to grow mint plants. It’s a live research project showing real alternative food production methods in action.

I want to make things: what do you recommend?

There’s loads of hands-on special events — including workshops — to get involved with. Explore how that aforementioned fish tank works, plus techy forest farming, during Manchester Science Festival (31 Oct); speed-date scientists at the European Researchers’ Night (25 Sept); or enjoy a ‘bio-historic banquet’ under the bones of a giant whale with chef Robert Owen Brown (12 Sept). Crafty, or want to be? Manchester Craft Mafia are running a series of guides and courses (from 12 Sept). If you’d describe yourself as a technologist, you can also use your skills to integrate ecology and technology at Food Hack (29 Oct).

I’m in! So when can I use The Study?

Simply, anytime you like during the day, 10am-5pm, all week long; The Study swings open its doors this Friday and is free for enthusiastic makers and curious sightseers of any sort. Enjoy!

Laura Robertson

Visit The Study at Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, from Friday 11 September 2015 — free entry

Follow Manchester Museum on Twitter @McrMuseum