Image: The National Gallery's new podcast © The National Gallery, London
National Gallery and Natural History Museum debut podcasts on colour history and specimen collections, featuring expert guests and interactive formats for broader audience engagement.
Two London museums have launched new podcast series this week, offering audiences fresh perspectives on art history and natural science through digital audio content.
The Natural History Museum launched The ‘Perfect’ Specimen this week, a new thirty-minute series hosted by its zoologist Dr Natalie Cooper and science writer Josh Davis. The podcast takes an irreverent approach to exploring the museum’s collection of 80 million specimens.
Each episode begins with hosts receiving a random adjective such as “squishy”, “tacky” or “exuberant”, requiring them to select specimens that embody these characteristics.
Dr Cooper, Merit Researcher at the museum said “We have 80 million objects in our collections but we only ever get to talk about a really small number of them. This podcast is a really exciting opportunity for us to share more of our collections and science, and to have some fun while doing it!”
Josh Davis, the podcast’s co-host, added: “Each specimen we’ve chosen is really just a starting point, allowing us to explore all the unusual natural histories and stories from across the animal and plant worlds in an entertaining and lively way.”
The Natural History Museum’s series incorporates interactive elements, inviting listeners to suggest adjectives, share their own specimens and participate in dedicated Q&A episodes. The content is designed for both audio and video formats, available on major podcast platforms and YouTube.
Meanwhile, The National Gallery unveiled its Stories in Colour podcast this week. The eight-episode series explores the hidden histories of pigments and dyes used in paintings.
Host Beks Leary from the gallery’s digital department examines how colours have been created throughout history, including the use of Mediterranean sea snails and Latin American bugs, and how international trade networks, legislation and espionage have influenced colour usage globally.
The podcast builds on the success of the National Gallery’s Science of Colour YouTube series and its 2014 Making Colour exhibition, which was the first of its kind in the UK. The inaugural episodes feature Professor Anya Hurlbert from Newcastle University discussing colour perception and colour specialist Evie Hatch exploring Prussian blue’s accidental discovery.
Podcast host and senior content manager Beks Leary said the guests in the series “have opened up the world of colour to me from all their different perspectives as historians, scientists, artists, curators and colour specialists. Being able to sit down with them and have a really good chat to hear their amazing stories has been such a privilege.”
Lawrence Chiles, Head of Digital, said “…podcasts are a brilliant way to reach people, so we’re excited to launch this new series”.
“We hope it brings fresh voices into the mix, sparks new ways of thinking about our paintings, and helps more people feel inspired, connected, and part of the National Gallery story.’
