Storm Cloud

Date: Sat, 24 October 2026 · 20:15 - 21:30
Cost: £15
Venue: Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Address: Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PW, United Kingdom
Event page: https://www.oumnh.ox.ac.uk/event/storm-cloud

Storm Cloud 🌩️

An immersive performance created by Dr Tom Payne (Sheffield Hallam University) with an interdisciplinary team of artists and scientists, in response to John Ruskin’s prophetic 1884 lecture Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century — a prescient warning about industrialisation, air pollution and humanity’s role in climate change. Part of the Oxford Science and Ideas Festival.

What to expect:

🌩️ An immersive climate performance — Live spoken text, digital projection and a unique weather soundscape conjure a striking atmosphere of environmental unease that evokes today’s climate crisis

🎨 Art and science in one show — A collaboration between artists and scientists that turns 140-year-old warnings about the storm-cloud into a haunting modern performance piece

🏛️ Explore the museum after dark — Doors open at 7pm with the bar open, giving you time to wander the collections and talk to museum experts before the 8.15pm performance — suitable for older teenagers and adults