It's all academic festival launches this Saturday at UCL

Join the Grant Museum staff next weekend for a whale of a time as they re-assemble their biggest specimen – an eight-metre northern bottle-nosed whale skeleton.[[{"fid":"5007","view_mode":"large","fields":{"format":"large","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Whale bones","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_caption[und][0][format]":"limited_html","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"large","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Whale bones","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_caption[und][0][format]":"limited_html","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"}},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":"452","width":"1234","class":"media-element file-large"}}]]This giant zoological jigsaw puzzle will be put together from pieces currently stored across the museum and its storage rooms, and given a good clean. Long overdue in our opinion - this grubby specimen hasn’t bathed in 157 years!The specimen’s story begins in 1860 when it was originally collected in Somerset, when an expedition set off across the Bristol Channel in pursuit of “two great fish” (as they were described by the local newspaper – whales are, of course, mammals) – one of which was brought back to land. After a period “on tour” as a whole carcass, the prepared skeleton was displayed hanging from the ceiling of the Weston Super-Mare Museum. It eventually came to the Grant Museum in 1948, but it had been dismantled into its separate bones.“The vast majority of most museums’ specimens are not on public display – in many cases over 99%,” says Jack Ashby, Manager of the Grant Museum of Zoology. “The Whale Weekender will allow people to get very hands-on with one of those specimens – we are really excited about it.”“It will also allow us to work with the public to help protect this incredible specimen for the long-term by cleaning 157 years’ worth of dust”, Jack continues. “It has such a brilliant history to it. But most of all, we want to know whether we have a complete skeleton. It’s so big that we’ve never been able to lay it all out before!”The northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus) is one of the deepest diving mammals on the planet, hunting for fish and squid near the sea floor. They are rarely seen in UK waters – mainly off the coasts of Scotland and Northern Ireland – however one rose to notoriety in 2006 when a young female whale got lost and ended up in the River Thames, capturing the public imagination.You’ll have the chance to speak to our experts, help lay the pieces out and even help clean them to preserve them for the future.Other activities throughout the weekend include family art projects where you’ll help make a tableau of sea creatures to rival the museum’s weird and wonderful specimens.If you like your phonics fishy* - On Friday 7 July radio collective In the Dark will be producing a whale-themed audio cinema. Tickets for this event must be booked in advance here.*we know they’re mammals really.Entry and daytime activities are free. Drop in between 12 and 4pm on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th July.Featured in the Guardian July 2017

The practice of mindfulness, a way to explore and notice physical and mental wellbeing, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity. From the workplace to schools, mindfulness and meditation are being used to increase productivity, reduce anxiety and offset the impact of a life led in perpetual motion.UCL Culture’s Art Museum has now launched its own mindfulness event series - Mindfulness and Art. Inviting visitors into the museum to soak up the feeling of contemplation that comes from being in a gallery or sacred space.[[{"fid":"3477","view_mode":"xl","fields":{"format":"xl","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"cooper4179-4194_01.jpg","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Richard Cooper Jnr, album. Photo: Mary Hinckley","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_caption[und][0][format]":"limited_html","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"xl","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"cooper4179-4194_01.jpg","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Richard Cooper Jnr, album. Photo: Mary Hinckley","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_caption[und][0][format]":"limited_html","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"}},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":"2565","width":"5472","class":"media-element file-xl"}}]] From looking to making, participants are gently guided back into the present moment. Setting aside all other anxieties and worries to focus on the brushstrokes and pencil marks that make up a living, breathing work of art.The work of printmaking genius Richard Cooper Jnr, the subject of the current exhibition Legacy, form the focal point of the sessions. His rich manuscripts and soft-ground etchings are beautiful and absorbing, a restful respite from the flat, textureless glow of the computer screen.The relationship between art and mindfulness is nothing new. Marina Abramović’s The Artist is Present (Performance, MOMA, 2010) saw the artist seated at a wooden table in front of an empty chair for three months, eight hours a day as members of the public came and locked eyes with her. “It’s luminous, it’s uplifting, it has many layers, but it always comes back to being present, breathing, making eye contact”, said one visitor to Abramović’s performance.The Tate Modern’s Rothko room is similarly transformative, using dimmed lighting to indicate that this is a space to sit and drink in the meditative quality of the artist’s Seagram Murals. The rise in sales of adult colouring books is yet another example of our desire to return to a state of childlike playfulness and present-moment focus.Art has the potential to wake us up from the dream we spend most of our time in. To recommit us to living in the here and now and to make us connect with much deeper, more profound aspects of our experience. As a tool for meditation, it’s hard to beat.So how mindful are you? Come and find out at Mindfulness and Art, every Friday till June at the Art Museum. No need to book, just drop in.This event is part of the Culture = Health strand of programming from the UCL Culture Manifesto.