Steam Museum to Be Transformed During Exhibition

Artist-in-residence Jasmine Pradissitto celebrates the vision of the Victorians

Dr Jasmine Pradissitto with Aletheflora (left) and Aletheflora surrounded by steam. Pictures: Richard Kalina

March 5, 2025

A major new exhibition is to be hosted at the London Museum of Water & Steam this Spring.

Tender Machines: Holding paradox will feature the work of artist and physicist Dr Jasmine Pradissitto, curated by Richard Hore. Inspired by her time as the Museum’s first artist-in-residence, she will be transforming the Museum with large-scale installations, sculptures and paintings that celebrate the Museum’s industrial past and history of Victorian innovation and its vision for a sustainable future through its ‘Steaming into Sustainability’ programme.

Set among the Museum’s monumental Victorian steam pumping engines, once crucial to London’s clean water supply, Tender Machines features art works that juxtapose rusted metal with delicate organic forms, repurposed mechanical objects from the Museum’s behind-the-scenes workshop with natural found materials. The addition of soundscapes will aim to create immersive experience.

The exhibition will open on 3 May and continue until 31 October.

Dr Pradissitto, a physicist and artist who uses materials like pollution-absorbing ceramics, wants visitors to reflect on how we power the world in the future.

She says, “From fire-lit shelters to modern cities, our ability to use and create energy has always been at the heart of our progress. But the cost has been a loss of touch with the natural world which provided the raw materials for such progress. My exhibition looks to the history of our past industrial innovation to ask: How can we build a new energy future that doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the past?

“These site-specific works ask us to imagine a positive future where technology, people, and nature can coexist.”

The exhibition launches as the Museum, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, embarks on Steaming into Sustainability, a long-term commitment to integrating renewable energy, including hydrogen, into its historic steam engines.

Hannah Harte, Director of the London Museum of Water & Steam, says, “Steaming into Sustainability is not just about working with leading UK scientists and engineers to explore using clean energy, like hydrogen, to power our historic engines. It’s also about showing visitors that we can honour and preserve our heritage while, at the same time, imagining positive solutions to the climate crisis. Our long history of innovation, like the transformative role we played in providing clean water to Victorian London, compels us to inspire, excite and empower our visitors to meet today’s challenges and imagine a green energy future. Dr Jasmine Pradissitto’s inspiring exhibition is the perfect start to sharing our vision for the Museum’s future with our visitors.”

The Waterworks Gallery tells the story of London’s journey from deadly to clean drinking water and encourages visitors to consider their role in environmental sustainability and the preservation of water in an increasingly uncertain future. Interactive exhibits explore the science, engineering and technology needed to supply clean, fresh, safe portable water to a growing city.

Admission to Tender Machines: Holding paradox is included with standard entry (£11.50 adults, £10 students, £4 children 5-16 years, under-5s are free).

The Museum opens Thursday to Sunday 10am to 4pm with extended hours on Bank Holidays and during the summer.