Bradford 2025: National Science and Media Museum director hopes to ‘inspire the next generation’

• Bradford’s National Science and Media Museum is celebrating the city’s status as the UK City of Culture in 2025.
• Reopened in January, the museum houses a new David Hockney exhibition and its first ‘digitally-born object’.
• Museum director Jo Quinton-Tulloch discusses the hopes of the museum and its influence on a younger generation.

As I started my descent into Bradford, on the horizon I could see a landmark that has recently had a £6million refurbishment, in time to celebrate Bradford’s City of Culture status.

It’s a landmark that boasted the first IMAX cinema in the country, and is playing home to a brand new work of West Yorkshire’s finest, David Hockney. And as I was to be told during my interview with Bradford National Science and Museum director, Jo Quinton-Tulloch, there’s a lot more to come during Bradford 2025.

The moment I walked through the entrance, I was immediately greeted by a villain and their contraption - Feather McGraw and the Techno Trousers from the iconic stop-motion feature, Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers.

“We wanted something to welcome people back to our newly-opened foyer and entrance and to welcome people as they came in,” Jo told me.

“And Aardman Animations are really good friends of the museum. We were talking to them, and already have some items in the collection from some of their animations.

“Obviously, Wallace, of the famed trousers, is known for his inventions and his quirky creative nature, and we hope that will inspire some of the young people that come to the museum as well.”

Bradford Science and Media Museum as part of Bradford 2025

The re-opening of the museum in January was integral to Bradford 2025, Jo reveals, especially as it is considered “one of the key cultural anchors in the city centre”, one that’s rich in heritage.

The Kodak Gallery, for instance, is dedicated to the history and impact of photography and the photographic industry, along with the museum’s ‘first ‘digitally-born object’.

The "absolute unit" meme, which went viral in 2018, was created by staff at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading. It featured a photo of an Exmoor Horn ram from the museum's 1962 collection, accompanied by the caption "look at this absolute unit” - and quickly garnered millions of views.

“We have internationally significant collections, and we have some of the very first examples of our technologies,” Jo said.

“For example, we've got the very first photographic negative that was ever taken by William Henry Fox Tolbert. We've got the camera that was used to take the very first moving footage ever by Louis France [...] we've got the apparatus that was used by John Logie Bear to demonstrate true television for the first time.”

She added: “Pretty much everybody carries a mobile phone, so we're all involved with and engaged with those media technologies. They're everywhere in our lives. That, in one sense, makes it a difficult gallery to curate, because they're so ubiquitous that lots of people don't even notice that you're using them.

“But equally, the history of those technologies is really relevant to how we've got to where we are today.”

David Hockney - Bradford Boy and new exhibition

Of the exhibitions already open to the public, and more to come across the next 12 months at the museum, one will have a particular resonance with audiences: David Hockney’s Pieced Together.

“Who else would we choose to celebrate as the first exhibition in this museum?” Jo said.

“He's known for his photography and his film, and we've chosen some pieces accordingly that really celebrate his place in Bradford and his place in Yorkshire.”

The local community also had a great deal of input into the refurbishment of the museum, with community groups and a youth panel helping shape and “future-proof” the museum for years to come.

“We're a national museum with a national and international profile,” the museum director explains.

“But we're also a museum of place. Our new galleries try to highlight local stories which are of international relevance.”

Jo hopes that the big events taking place at the museum “will bring people not just local, but from afar” - and that visitors will continue to explore Bradford and all it has to offer for its Year of Culture.

“We were very involved in the bid,” Jo reveals. “Once we won the bid, of course, we've been working with the City of Culture team to ensure that our programme is ready to welcome thousands more visitors to the city and the district in 2025.”

“I'm really proud of the teams that work here,” she added.

“It's been tough. We closed the museum for 18 months to enable us to do some really significant work to future proof the museum so we'll be here for years to come, welcoming more and more people over those years.

“If you've never been to Bradford before, this is the year to come and visit, come to our museum, and also come and explore the whole district.

“There's lots on offer.”

Bradford National Science and Media Museum is open seven days a week from 10am to 5pm, with Pictureville Cinema open Tuesday through to Sundays. For more information about their programme of events, visit the Bradford National Science and Media Museum website or Bradford 2025’s programming page.