London Institute of Imagination’s 2019 Cultural Residency Comes to a Close

A group of children sit on the floor in a circle and draw with markers

Source: Mark Mercer, copyright Institute of Imagination.

For the past four months, the Imagination lab at London’s Institute of Imagination (iOi) has become “The Firebird Lab,” transformed by holder of iOi’s 2019 Cultural Residency, BitterSuite.

BitterSuite, a company using multi-sensory engagement to encourage people to dive in to music, created The Firebird lab to engage kids around the idea of empathy, iOi’s current thematic focus. Through accessible workshops with composers, chefs, perfumers, and specialists in movement, the project immersed families in Stravinsky’s The Firebird, inviting them to explore differing responses to the same music and better understand the experiences of others.

The 2019 iOi Cultural Residency was supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), among others. The Institute of Imagination, started in 2005 as the London Children’s Museum, seeks to offer children hands-on opportunities for self-directed exploration, experimentation, creativity, and problem solving.