The weekly feature rounds up the latest updates in museum appointments, openings, funding and new exhibitions from across the UK.
Museum Moves is supported by DJW Projects Limited: DJW Projects Limited. DJW Projects Limited is recognised as one of the UK’s leading forces in the audio-visual industry, providing creative lighting, Audio Visual and multimedia solutions globally to achieve the ultimate technological experience, using sound, lighting, vision and interaction.
Openings & closures
A new Beatles experience is set to open in London next year, created by the band’s multimedia company Apple Corps Ltd. It has announced plans to open the first official Beatles fan experience – The Beatles at 3 Saville Row – in 2027.
New Beatles visitor experience at ‘spiritual home’ announced for 2027
Exhibitions
Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery
V&A Dundee | Dundee
Opening: 26 March 2027
The story of how jewellery has played an integral role in defining the Vivienne Westwood look is explored in a major new exhibition making its UK debut at V&A Dundee next year.
Curated by the Vivienne Westwood team, it will feature four decades of special archive and runway jewellery, highlighting the brand’s symbiotic relationship with Scotland. The exhibition will be on display from 26 March 2027.
Godfried Donkor: It’s a Numbers Game
Firstsite | Colchester
Opening: 23 May 2026 – Closing: 30 August 2026
Firstsite presents ‘It’s a Numbers Game’, the first UK institutional exhibition by Ghanaian-born mixed-media artist Godfried Donkor. Working across collage, painting, embroidery and installation, the exhibition examines historical relationships between Britain, West Africa and the Caribbean, connecting local Colchester history with broader narratives of empire and resistance. The exhibition coincides with Donkor’s participation in the main exhibition of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
Becoming America: How Science Shaped a Nation
Science Museum | London
Opening: 23 October 2026 – Closing: 25 April 2027
This free exhibition explores how science and technology shaped the land, peoples and identity of the United States across four decisive decades from the 1760s to the 1790s. Over a hundred objects will be on display, including a rare Dunlap print of the Declaration of Independence, a Gulf Stream map by Benjamin Franklin, and a ten-foot traditional Indigenous dugout canoe. The exhibition was created with support from the Library of Congress and features loans from Mount Vernon, the British Museum, the Royal Collection Trust and The National Archives, among others.
A National Portrait
National Portrait Gallery | London
Opening: 14 May 2026 – Closing: 27 October 2026
Artist Es Devlin, in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture Lab, presents ‘A National Portrait’, an evolving collective digital artwork displayed in the NPG’s History Makers gallery. Members of the public across the UK can submit a photograph of their face via a dedicated Google Arts & Culture site, where it is transformed into an animated digital portrait styled on Devlin’s charcoal and chalk drawings and added to the work on display. Accompanying free public Drop-In Drawing sessions will take place throughout the exhibition’s run, with a drawing event hosted by Es Devlin on 14 May 2026.
Imagining the Unknown: The Reckoning of Space
Beamish, The Living Museum of the North | County Durham
Opening: 9 May 2026 – Closing: 30 May 2026
Artist Sarah Stamp presents an immersive exhibition and performance in Beamish Museum’s 1950s welfare hall, transforming the space into a fictional future ‘research lab’ exploring the first Space Age. Drawing on the International Geophysical Year of 1957–58, the work imagines how a far-future society might interpret twentieth-century ideas of space, science and progress as ancient history. The exhibition features sculpture, craft, text and storytelling, and includes a live performance on the opening day developed in collaboration with theatre-maker Rosa Postlethwaite. Standard museum admission applies.
Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific
V&A South Kensington | London
Opening: 16 May 2026 – Closing: 10 January 2027
The V&A presents ‘Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific’, bringing together more than 70 works by over 40 artists from 25 countries across the Asia Pacific region. Developed in partnership with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane, the exhibition draws on more than 30 years of QAGOMA’s Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Arranged across three thematic sections — ‘Re-Visioning History’, ‘Enduring Knowledge’ and ‘Evolving Faith’ — the exhibition spans sculpture, photography, painting, ceramics, weaving and body adornment, with many works never previously exhibited outside the region.
Funding
Elizabeth Gaskell’s House received a £232,899 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to support its future growth and enhance the visitor experience. The funding will enable business planning, improvements to the visitor experience, and support for the small team, trustees, and volunteers. The grant will also help the House mark the tenth anniversary of Manchester’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature in 2027.
