National Science and Media Museum in Bradford to reopen with Hockney exhibition, Wallace & Gromit screenings and IMAX return

Its return will be celebrated on Saturday, January 11 with A Grand Day Out – a special partnership with animation company Aardman which includes screenings of Wallace & Gromit, model making workshops and more.

A new temporary exhibition David Hockney: Pieced Together also opens on January 15, showcasing the Bradford-born artist’s use of film and photography.

Ahead of the full reopening, the museum’s IMAX screen will welcome audiences back from December 20, 2024, with screenings of Mufasa: The Lion King during the festive period.

The museum temporarily closed in June last year to undergo a “once-in-a-generation transformation” with big changes made through a £6 million capital project called ‘Sound and Vision’, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. When it reopens, the museum will have two new permanent galleries (scheduled for opening in summer 2025), a new passenger lift and improvements to the main entrance.

Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Director of the National Science and Media Museum, said: “We are delighted to be reopening the museum on 8 January and can’t wait to welcome visitors back into the building.

"With newly transformed spaces, improved accessibility and exciting additions to our public programme, it marks the beginning of an extraordinary journey for both the museum and our community.

"As the year unfolds, we will unveil more exciting improvements to the museum, culminating in the summer with the launch of our spectacular Sound and Vision galleries.

"We couldn’t be more thrilled to be reopening the museum with the backdrop of an amazing Bradford 2025 programme, making this a once-in-a-lifetime moment.”

The Hockney exhibition features a video installation capturing Woldgate Woods in the Yorkshire countryside through the four seasons, with each screen showing a different perspective of the country lane. The exhibition also explores the artistic and technical parallels of Hockney’s early ‘joiner’ photocollages, two of which are part of the museum’s collection. One of the joiners on display shows the museum in its early days as the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in 1985.

The early 2025 programme will also feature the return of the museum’s annual Yorkshire Games Festival, taking place from February 10 to 23, including half-term activities. The festival’s industry-led Game Talks will also take place on February 12 and 13, with talks and workshops from talented videogame developers.

As part of the museum’s regeneration project, the vintage arcade Games Lounge has been relocated and transformed into a space called Power Up. Opening in March, Power Up is “still the hands-on gaming experience that has grown to be a visitor favourite,” says the museum, but will be designed to engage visitors of all ages. It will include a BAFTA Young Game Designers section, where visitors are invited to play previous winners’ titles and learn about the next generation of game design, as well as an opportunity to discover more about the history of the arcade.

As part of the museum’s 2025 public programme, a new interactive installation by experiential artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast in partnership with Bradford 2025 will open in April 2025. The installation will take visitors on “a multimedia ride through time and space, exploring who we are and what makes us human,” says the museum. The experience has been inspired by Born in Bradford, a major research programme that has been tracking the lives of more than 40,000 people across the district since 2007.

Helen Featherstone, Director, England, North at the National Lottery Heritage Fund said: “It is incredibly exciting that audiences will be welcomed back into the National Science and Media Museum in January as their doors reopen.

"In 1995, the museum was one of the first transformational projects in Yorkshire that received funding from the Heritage Fund, and after 30 years we have supported the museum again with the new Sound and Vision Galleries.

"Showcasing key objects and stories from the museums world-class collection, the new galleries are due to open later in the year, ensuring that the museum will be a star attraction of Bradford City of Culture 2025.”

In addition to funding received from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Sounds and Vision Project also has support from the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, Bradford Council and the Science Museum Group, which runs the National Science and Media Museum.