Bradford and Wakefield: The national science museum and the Hepworth Gallery

Bradford and Wakefield trip

The National Science Museum and The Hepworth Gallery

25/11/14

Unlike the London trip, I did actually make it to this one, and am glad I did, as it was fun to get out and to walk around the different places we went to.

To start with, even though it isn't included in this blog title, we paid a visit to Bradford university after kick starting the rather cold day with an hour long plus journey in which me and two others were coach spotting and complaining that we were hungry. Eventually, we finally entered the rather misty city of Bradford. Upon arrival at the university, I realised the place was a lot different to what I had expected: Dull building, depressing colours and a secluded location. Oh no, this university was the complete opposite. There were bright colours everywhere, buildings of different shapes and sizes, too many stairs to count and it all happened to be located in near enough the heart of the city, in fact it was about a five minute walk to the city park and the National Science museum.
We were shown the media and games design department by a very cheerful and easy going Ex- Games industry lecturer, in which we entered an actual photography studio and briefly disrupted a life drawing session, given a tour around the campus with a friendly guide who always walked backwards and then shown the student accommodations, where we kindly entered into a persons house and had a look around (I stayed put while everyone else looked upstairs at the bedrooms as it was a tight fit and I felt like I had already intruded enough by walking through the door)

After this one of the universities tour guides showed us the way to the city park, which, directly opposite stood the National Science museum

While we were on the hunt for food (and MacDonald's, in one particular case) I kept stopping to admire the buildings that surrounded me, and even forced a friend to wait up so I could take the photos.

After a half an hour lunch break we then went on to the National Science museum. Thsi place, all in all, was spectacular, completely fitted with an IMAX Cinema, an Arcade wull of retro games, and many awesome galleries, such as the Kodac gallery, that me and two friends had managed to take a glance around before a conference was held there (no one else managed to see it), a history of film and TV, where we had plenty of fun, a history of the Internet, a brightly lit room which was full of old and new technology, including a glass walkway through the room holding many computers, phones and other things alike, a Magic room, the 'Stranger than life' exhibit and a room full of memorable TV characters. Overall this was a brilliant place to visit.

Admittedly, we spend a lot of time playing around in the History of TV room, in which we were shown how a blue screen works, how a newscast is directed and how lighting teams and camera teams work with actors on a TV show.

In the history of internet room, we came across an interactive screen, which we also played around with, rather than actually following the instructions of the screen, this mostly included laying on the floor and laughing at ourselves

The magic room was more of a collection of carnival/ funfair items, such as the well- known mirrors that distort your figure upon looking into them. It was brightly coloured with a few other featured such as a screen showing 'how we see our selves' and 'how others see you' and a brilliant view out of the slightly hidden window.

There was a lot to see here, including a nice view of the city.

Now it was nearing the end of our trip, however, we still had one more place left to visit, which was the Hepworth Galleries in Wakefield. This place, although the building was more 'Prison block' than Gallery, was full of beautiful sculptures, drawings, paintings and information on artists such as Henry Moor, Barbara Hepworth and many others (the museum mainly focusing on Hepworth) which left me astounded and my camera flat out of battery. We then took off home, blasting Bon Jovi and the likes through a custom made Pringles tin speaker while chatting about this and that. Overall it was a brilliant day out and left me with lots to think about and consider.