The pedestrianisation of Strand Aldwych has transformed one of London’s most congested and polluted streets into a vibrant ‘creative thinking quarter’ for the King’s community and the wider public.
Running through King’s Strand Campus, the area now offers a beautifully landscaped green space for walking, quiet reflection and learning.
As a major partner in the management of the space, King’s hosts a programme of free and accessible cultural events and educational activities. These initiatives connect local communities with life-long learning, research, art and performance, while enriching the campus experience for the King’s students and staff, with a quiet, car-free environment.
This programme is complemented by creative spaces adjacent to Strand Aldwych, including the Arcade in Bush House and the Curiosity Cabinet, which feature regular exhibitions and cultural events.
Our partners
King’s Culture works closely in partnership with Westminster City Council, the London Heritage Quarter, Somerset House, the Courtauld Institute of Art and other stakeholders to facilitate creative collaborations connected to King’s research and student experience.
Past projects
Imaging Peace exhibition (March 2025 onwards)
If we don’t know what peace looks like, how can we work towards it? Imaging Peace is a multi-country study of peace photography. It explores the vital but overlooked relationship between photography and peacebuilding.
The project was led by Tiffany Fairey, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies. It explores the history, practice and methods of community-engaged peace photography.
The initiatives being researched include The Home Stay Exhibitions, Everyday Peace Indicators' (EPI) Fotovoz project and the Feminist Memory Project. Through a free outdoor exhibition on the Strand, photographs from a range of international peace-building initiatives were displayed, accompanied by active public engagement through Instagram.
Our partners for Imaging Peace include:
The Middle sculpture (October 2024 – February 2025)
The Middle was a monumental sculpture created by artist Aman Aheer, in collaboration with Dr Taushif Kara, Lecturer in Islamic Studies in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at King's.
Drawing on different theologies and practices relating to death and mourning, The Middle asked the viewer to consider the precarious and often ambiguous space in between. What does it mean to live on the threshold or exist on the border? And what does it feel like to seek sanctuary?
The sculpture was installed on the Strand and a programme of talks and events accompanied it.
Congregation portrait installation (4 – 9 October 2024)
Congregation by Es Devlin was a monumental collective portrait installation created in support of UK for UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and part of contemporary art fair Frieze London.
The installation was curated by Ekow Eshun and developed in collaboration with King’s, The Courtauld and artists and communities across London. It featured large-scale chalk and charcoal portraits of 50 Londoners who experienced forced displacement from their homelands.
The work was co-authored by the portrait sitters who reflected on their lives in London, as well as their journeys from more than 25 countries, including Syria, Sudan, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
Congregation was shown in the eighteenth-century church of St Mary le Strand. Each evening at 19:00, the installation was accompanied by free choral performances on Strand Aldwych, fusing the voices of The Genesis Sixteen, The London Bulgarian Choir, the South African Cultural Gospel Choir and the Choir of King’s College London.
The production was inspired and informed by King's life-changing migration research. It reflects King’s College London’s status as a University of Sanctuary, as well as our ongoing commitment to improving the lives of those affected by injustices and addressing the forces that prevent peace.
Glow: Illuminating Innovation exhibition (8 March – 20 April 2024)
GLoW: Illuminating Innovation showcased the groundbreaking digital creativity of women in technology.
The exhibition was curated by Professor of Screen Media at King’s College London, Sarah Atkinson. The multi-sited exhibition celebrated historically significant pieces, including the first ever virtual reality documentary, Hunger in LA (2012) by Nonny de la Peña, and the first experimentations with virtual and augmented reality eyewear.
Four brand new commissions from international artists Violeta Ayala, Yarli Allison, Lisa Jamhoury and Rebecca Smith also featured in GLOW. Their creations included interactive AI-generated portraits, 3D-printed animal robots, virtual sculptures, light and sound installations and a WebXR clinic.
Our partners for Glow: Illuminating Innovation included four international artists producing commissioned work, alongside:
Glowbot Garden was an opportunity for people to meet a host of inflatable, pneumatically controlled creatures in the green spaces of Strand Aldwych. It was the largest presentation to date from creative soft robotics studio Air Giants.
Installed across the lawn area and gardens, the different robots responded with unique motion, light and sound, making no two interactions the same.The event was free and accessible to audiences of all ages.
Glowbot Gardenwasa collaboration between King’s Culture, Estates & Facilities and the Department of Engineering. The event was generously supported by The Northbank BID, with additional advice and expertise from Westminster City Council.
The Quiet Enchanting mural (Oct 2023 – March 2024)
How can we collectively imagine climate positive futures? This was a question posed by The Quiet Enchanting, a mural made of digital screens and printed artworks that wrapped around the windows of Bush House.
Inspired by the research of King’s climate scientists and academics, design studio Superflux undertook a research residency and in-depth listening exercise that engaged King’s experts from across disciplines, along with external partners including the Greater London Authority, Policy Lab, Tomorrow’s Cities, Centre for Global Lives and members of the public.
The resulting mural offered a view into transformed worlds, both familiar and strange, where culture and nature are no longer separated.
The Quiet Enchanting was the artistic partner for King’s Policy Institute’s Hopeful Futures research project and was the basis of discussion for a Citizens’ Assembly in September 2024 around positive climate action.