The Amateur Ancestor Tour: South Kensington
What's the link between a blue whale, a toaster and a steam engine?
The Amateur Ancestor Tour: South Kensington is an eye-opening guided tour that uniquely connects the collections of the Natural History Museum, V&A and Science Museum. Designed to practice thinking like good ancestors, it will allow you to zoom out of the day to day and reconnect to your wider sense of purpose.
The Amateur Ancestor tour is designed to expand our sense of time and cultivate multi-species empathy so as to inspire action today for generations to come. Together we delve into deep time, search for the roots of the Earth Crisis and explore alternative ways of stewarding the Planet. Through the galleries, we find our own courage in the work of the ancestors who have made a difference to our lives today. In a nutshell: we practice thinking like Ancestors.
In a world of instant gratification and throwaway culture, our capacity to think about the future has been seriously altered. By reframing ourselves as ancestors, we can stretch our capacity to care for the future and take responsibility for generations of humans and more-than-humans to come. Whether you are feeling concerned, hopeful or maybe even disconnected from the future - this practice is for you. The tour is particularly suited for teams and businesses who are exploring their values and embarking on a purpose-led projects.
Inspired by the Long Time Project by Beatrice Pembroke and Ella Saltmarshe, this tour puts into practice the belief that culture can play an active role in bringing forth radical and necessary systems change by creating emotional, memorable experiences that shine a different light on our heritage - and underpin action.
The Amateur Ancestor Tour draws from the collections of three iconic institutions:
- Natural History Museum: Delving into deep time, we nurture empathy for other species and look at extinction right in the eye. Stopping at heritage Victorian displays, we reflect on how our fraught relationship with nature was constructed and experience gratitude for those who have fought for better living conditions.
- Science Museum: So how did we get here? Under the shadow of the great steam engines of the Industrial Revolution and the rockets of space exploration, we reflect on the concept of legacy and multi-generational stewardship.
- Victoria and Albert Museum: Drawing from the Design 1900-NOW collections, we further delve into what type of ancestors we are, and the role design can play in shaping our legacy.
Testimonials
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“Justine’s thoughtful and well researched tour was eye opening and inspiring. She deftly reminded us of the role museums play in telling stories, helping us understand where we’ve come from, inviting us to take comfort in historic challenges that have been overcome, and galvanising us to think creatively about how to shape the future. […] A highlight of the year.”
Elise Foster Vander Elst, Head of Exhibitions, Design Museum
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“The Amateur Ancestor Tour is a visceral reframing of the history we've been taught. For anyone working in the field of sustainable/regenerative design, this experience will zoom your perspective right out, and when you zoom back in again, you land in a very different understanding of the complex systems that we operate in and how we got here. Thanks Justine for a very thought-provoking, emotional and impactful experience.”
Nat Hunter, Regenerative Designer & Coach
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“[…] engaging, insightful and eye opening. […] It was such a creative and unique way to think about and use museum collections that not only energised and refreshed the displays, but made them relevant and meaningful to the issues we are facing today.”
Esme Hawes, curator, Design Museum