Bank holiday weekend sees the arrival of the first ever festival event hosted by the Knowledge Quarter. If you’re unsure who or what that actually is, it’s an association of over 50 organisations based around King’s Cross (see box) that are guaranteed to feed your mind.
Which means a free two-day festival, aptly title Curious?, complete with performances, debates, workshops, experiments and lessons across a number of differently-focused zones should be the ideal way to expand your knowledge, in every way.
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So what exactly is the Knowledge Quarter?
From academic institutions like UCL and SOAS, to those dealing in research such as the Francis Crick Institute or the British Library, cerebral charities such as Poet In The City or the heavyweight Wellcome Collection, through to media organisations including The Guardian and us, (as Gasholder publisher London Belongs To Me is also a proud member), the KQ highlights the fact that this area is home to a world class collection of ideas-mongers.
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Expect the festival to be a public showcase for some of the work that goes on around here these days. You’ll be able to navigate your way through the various sites around King’s Cross with the help of special maps on the day.
Dedicated ‘zones’ include The Salon, The Observatory, The Lab, The Studio, The Conduit and the Adrenalin Pod. Each will have a programme of activity with a different focus, from live music, dance and science workshops to poetry trails and brain-training games – as well as a 50-metre high base jump. Yikes.
Visitors will be encouraged to wander through “a maze of discovery” and to take part in live experiments and workshops, all while encountering weird and wonderful music and unexpected pop-up performances.
The festival will also feature talks, language lessons and even metaphysical poetry. Street food can be washed down with knowledge-inspired cocktails – or by climbing on board the Craft Beer Bus.
All the events are free, with more detail of attractions to follow in the coming days. If it’s anything like KX’s previous end-of-summer bonanzas then we’re in for a family-friendly treat.
Roly Keating, Chairman of the Knowledge Quarter Board, sums it up neatly saying: “The area around King’s Cross, St Pancras, Euston and Bloomsbury is home to the most valuable commodity of the 21st century – knowledge. Just as the great Victorian railway engineers built a revolutionary transport hub for people and goods in this part of London, so the Knowledge Quarter is rapidly becoming a world-class interchange for creative ideas, research and innovation.”
Curious? will run Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th August at venues across King’s Cross.
To find our lots more about Knowledge Quarter, read our series of interviews that starts here
