Highlights list for 2017 9 Mar 2017

Explore our highlights list for 2017 – a selection of major exhibitions and stand-out events from NMDC member organisations. Raphael at the Ashmolean sits alongside a Pink Floyd retrospective at the V&A; in Bristol there’s a chance for children to name a very large Pliosaurus or for adults to attend an immersive Dark Ages evening fighting off Grendel. RAF Museum Cosford offers a food festival under the wings of impressive aeroplanes; Norfolk museums celebrate early photographer Olive Edis; and Oxford University museums offer ‘Brain Diaries’ in a programme which showcases modern developments in neuroscience. Manchester museums are commencing a three-year arts exchange programme with South Asia, with arresting contemporary art including a meteorite apparently crashing through the ceiling of a gallery.

At RAMM in Exeter luminous modern images of underwater life contrast with stories of the Victorian obsession with the seashore. The natural world also features strongly at National Museums Scotland which continues to show Monkey Business; the Natural History Museum promises the definitive account of the world’s largest creature, the blue whale; while the Horniman’s animatronic animals allow visitors to find out if they can move faster than a fly. Plywood, turtles, a stuffed cat, posh frocks, a giant sandcastle, an indoor tree and of course Vikings, ancient Egyptians and numerous Madonnas are all conscripted to shed light on the world we live in. You can read the whole list here: NMDC