Black Holes and Bangs
Space itself is wobbly. We exist on a choppy sea, its surface roiled by disturbances caused by the movements of black holes hundreds of millions of light-years away. The recent detection of these ‘gravitational waves’ by a completely novel type of observatory is a story of scientific persistence and precision engineering, resulting in a completely […]
Humanist Bloomsbury: Doers, Dreamers, Place Makers
Beginning at Conway Hall – the UK’s only surviving Ethical Society and its largest humanist research resource – join us for a walking tour to discover some of Bloomsbury’s non-religious radicals and reformers. Uncover a history spanning from Victorian era ethical societies to contemporary humanist activism, introducing suffragists, pacifists, and international activists, as well as […]
A Mirror in the Sky
The Hubble Space Telescope is the most famous astronomical instrument of all time. A project more than forty years in the making, Hubble overcame an initial disaster with a misshapen mirror to provide us with iconic views of everything from a comet crashing into Jupiter to the surprisingly active very distant Universe. This lecture tells […]
Conway Hall Open House Tour
Discover Conway Hall in a series of exclusive tours for Open House London. Director of Music Simon Callaghan will introduce the sublime acoustics of the Main Hall – home to Europe’s longest-running chamber music series. Discover the Library and Archives with Librarian Olwen Terris, and explore the home of the UK’s most comprehensive humanist archival […]
Boris Johnson: What Happened to Serious Politics?
What do the falls, rises, scandals, controversies and parties tell us about Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson? Who is he, and what does his particular brand of celebrity, chaos and contempt say about British Politics today? In this Ethical Matters talk, two very different Boris biographers join us to discuss the turbulent former Prime Minister. […]
A Rogue Reporter vs The American Empire
Investigative journalist Matt Kennard had unbridled access to the crème de la crème of the global elite. From slanging matches with Henry Kissinger to afternoon coffees with the man who captured Che Guevara, Kennard spent four years gathering extraordinarily honest testimony from the horse’s mouth on how the global economic system works away from the […]
Battle for the Museums: Fighting Back Against Cultural Colonialism
Museums can be both a valuable educational and cultural resource, and perpetrators of cultural colonialism, gatekeeping, and theft. In this Ethical Matters talk, we explore the underlying dark nexus of capital, art and power―and radical resistance movements fighting fiercely for exhibition spaces that serve today’s public. One digital entrepreneur has taken matters into their own […]
Why is Tomorrow’s Technology Still Not Here?
For decades we’ve delighted in dreaming about a sci-fi utopia, with flying cars and bionic humans. Why are we living in a future that is more flat-pack than jet-pack? Building a better world – be it a free-flying commute or an automated urban lifestyle – is a worthy dream. Given the pace of technological change, […]
September Songs: Celebrating Eliza Flower
Join Electric Voice Theatre and music historian Oskar Jensen in Conway Hall’s historic Library, as we celebrate the launch of their new website dedicated to Eliza Flower. This entertaining, informal event features a fascinating talk and open discussion exploring the research into Conway Hall’s most important radical feminist composer. The talk will be accompanied by […]