Adult highlights

Dive into our age 18+ festival zone for some serious fun! From the art of corrosion to climate change and mental health, discover the blurred lines between art and science and enjoy hangover-free cocktails.

The Dyson School of Design Engineering opens its doors to showcase interactive activities and innovations which address the challenges faced by our planet.

A curated group of artists create live artworks inspired by different areas of wondrous science. Watch their large-scale creations come to life in real time.

Hear an eclectic range of performances from the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal College of Music and many more!

Draw, paint and collage the leaves you love through this summer garland activity, using eco-friendly materials and ancient Roman hedgerow structures for inspiration.

Explore the wonderous four letter language of our DNA, and contribute to a hand-art mural celebrating its story of individuality and shared history.

Visit the 1851-der tent and discover the legacy of innovation from the original Great Exhibition, from 1851 to today. Meet experts and experience the world of WONDER for yourself.

Explore new flavours and ingredients, as chefs and scientists whip up dishes that you can sample right there and then!

Create your own space poem with award-winning poets and scientists who explore the universe and worlds beyond our own.

Find your personal environmental cause with an interactive climate action simulator and create placards and banners to take out amongst the Festival crowds.

Discover an ancient lace craft tradition and make your own needlework memento with a designer repopularising historic artforms through digital technologies.

Unleash your artistic skills to create your own colourful metal keychain in this workshop exploring corrosion.

Create your own digital printing artwork with scientists working on low cost electronics, solar cells and sensors.

Find out how a moment of lockdown inspiration started artist Peter Brathwaite on a journey rediscovering the history of Black subjects in Western art and literature.

Discover how atoms absorb and emit light to colour our world. Don some headphones and hit the dance floor, boogying to atomic spectra and finding the parallels between light and sound waves.

From K-Pop to Squid Games, V&A Curator Rosalie Kim looks at how pioneering tech and digital culture turned South Korea into a leading artistic and cultural powerhouse.

Explore the origins of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and how it led to the current festival we see today.

Find out what it is like coming face to face with a prehistoric giant, and learn about the eating habits that helped make Titanosaurs so large​.

Explore the finest art and industrial design of the day during this discussion of the first World’s Fair.

Explore the relationship between the seen and unseen with artist Jacques Nimki.

Join us for an adults-only celebration of science at a special late opening. Challenge yourself to a quiz, take part in hands-on workshops and enjoy live music curated by AZEEMA.

Make mosquito melodies and find out how music is used by these flying bugs to find their perfect mate.

Britain's first astronaut, Helen Sharman, hosts maritime experts for a discussion on submarines, autonomous drones, satellite measurements, and other technologies that will help us go where no human has gone before.

Professor David Nutt explores the history of mind-altering drugs in science and society.

50 years after the last human left the moon, space scientist and science educator Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock takes us back, exploring folklore, facts, and our plans to return astronauts to the surface.

Poets and space scientist take to the stage to discuss the inspirational nature of space and perform their favourite cosmic poems – including some written by the public over the festival weekend.