The Pop-Up Cardboard Museum of Natural History from the Future
Hollie Notman & Kat Lynas
The Pop-Up Cardboard Museum of Natural History from the Future was created by co-lead artists Kat Lynas and Hollie Notman, who developed the original concept. SIDEQUEST has worked alongside them to shape and expand the project into a touring, participatory work, building on their idea to bring it into new places, contexts and communities. The project remains rooted in their artistic vision, with SIDEQUEST supporting its development, delivery and growth.
The project invites communities to imagine what might be preserved, remembered or lost in the future.
Built from cardboard, the museum is co-created with the people who take part, transforming simple materials into speculative exhibits, artefacts and displays.
The work explores climate, ecology and care through making, working sympathetically in communities where the environment is often the least of their worries - building our visitors into eco-warriors with the power within them to make lasting change. Rather than presenting information, it creates space for conversation, asking people what matters to them, what they want to protect and what stories should carry forward. The act of making is re-framed as a way of thinking, where ideas are shaped through doing and where everyone involved has agency in what the museum becomes.
Designed to work in and alongside existing spaces, the museum adapts to its surroundings, from galleries and museums to libraries and everyday public spaces. Each iteration responds to where it is, building on local context, collections and conversations while remaining open enough to be shaped by the people who take part.
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In practice, this has included multi-week residencies that combine research, making and public activity, where our artists spend time embedded in a place before opening up the space to wider audiences.
These periods of activity are supported by workshops, informal conversations and shared moments that allow the work to grow over time rather than being fixed in advance. Alongside this, the project includes a performed museum-talk, a 30-minute interactive performance that brings the evolving museum to life, inviting audiences to step inside the world being created and actively take part in shaping its stories and meaning.
The Pop-Up Cardboard Museum of Natural History from the Future is as much about process as it is about outcome - about rehearsing the future. What is created matters, but so does how it is created, prioritising care, accessibility and participation, and ensuring that the work reflects a collective vision of the future grounded in the realities of the present.
The project has been supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Phase 2 has been supported by Arts Council England to tour to Hartlepool Art Gallery, South Bank Library and Preston Park Museum and Grounds. It was originally commissioned by Borderlands.
The Pop-Up Cardboard Museum of Natural History from the Future is available to hire and can be adapted for a range of settings, including schools, museums and community spaces, with workshops designed to support learning and creative exploration around ecology, environment and care.