Horniman Museum Late: Lunar New Year

Join us to celebrate Lunar New Year at the Horniman. Welcome the year of the snake with an evening of immersive musical performance from Daniel Tsz-shing Lei, calligraphy workshops, tea tastings and talisman making.

Explore the collections after hours, enjoy the galleries, see our current displays and grab a drink with friends.

6 February

Join us to celebrate Lunar New Year at the Horniman. 

Daniel Tsz-shing Lei presents ‘Fading Memory’

7.45pm | Gallery Square

Experience the captivating sound of the Dizi bamboo flute in a special performance by Musician in Residence, Daniel Tsz-shing Lei.

Fading Memory, performed in collaboration with visual artist Chloe Tam, reimagines traditional instruments found in the Horniman Collections. Fading Memory invites audiences to recall their own fading memories and reflect how memory can be created and recreated through music.

Daniel Tsz-shing Lei playing the dzi flute in the Horniman Gardens

Daniel Tsz-shing Lei

Harpsichord talk

Join Ben Marks for a talk on the Harpsichord and hear how memory plays a role in it’s upkeep.

Chinese Calligraphy Workshop

6.30pm, 7.30pm | Education Centre

Find out your Chinese zodiac birth animal and create you’re very own calligraphy artwork with Carry Hornby. You’ll learn about the four treasures in calligraphy art, the zodiac signs and the unique characteristics associated with them.

Year of the Snake Talisman Workshop

6.30pm, 7.30pm | Conservatory

This is your chance to create a symbol of hope and intentions for the forthcoming year. Join community organiser Jenny Lau, AKA Celestial Peach to make an auspicious talisman for the Year of the Snake. Explore cultural traditions and superstitions, while co-creating new meanings for each ingredient you add to your talisman.

We invite you to bring your own uncooked rice, beans, seeds, or a small meaningful item from nature to personalise your talisman.

Jenny Lau

Jenny Lau © Ming Tang-Evans

A Journey Through Tea with Sanko

7pm, 7.25pm, 7.50pm, 8.15pm, 8.40pm | Conservatory

Experience an immersive tea-tasting that celebrates the rich traditions of Lunar New Year through the art of gongfu tea. Join Sanko, London-based tea specialists and founders of London Tea Friends, on a journey of exquisite flavours and cultural storytelling.

A man pouring tea into a cup

© Sanko Tea Zipu Zhu

Object Handling

6.30pm | Gallery Square

Get up close to some amazing objects from our Handling Collection that celebrate both Lunar New Year and the musical performance of Daniel Tsz-shing Lei. Touch, smell, and listen to a selection of objects including instruments, games, and tea sets.

Aquarium

Take a magical journey through rivers, seas and oceans in our highly acclaimed Aquarium. Child and Universal Credit tickets can only be booked in person at the ticket desk.

Food and drink

Enjoy food and drink at the Horniman cafe during your visit to the Horniman Museum Late. Colicci serves memorable moments across London’s green spaces, alongside historic, iconic and cherished public spaces across the Capital – and now the Horniman!

Bloomberg Connects

Take a trail, find out more about objects in the collection, and watch exclusive behind the scenes content on our guide on Bloomberg Connects. Bloomberg Connects is the free arts and culture app powered by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

6 March

Join us for a special Cyberdance Horniman Late curated with our Musicians in Residence Anti.Net. 

ANTI.NET

Fusing punk-rap experimentation with DIY alien-aesthetics, Anti.Net have taken on a process they call the “reverse anachronism”– masking, mutating, re-imagining the Horniman’s Musical Instrument Collection to reveal new realms for traditional sounds. 

Authentic, rebellious and raw, their energetic and immersive performance, designed in collaboration with visual artist Valeria Salinas Toro, will transport the audience into their world of cyber-experimentation. 

Anti Net collective

Gaming Visions of the Future: Panel discussion

Join us for a special panel discussion on how the future is imagined in gaming. Looking back to the retrofuturism of 90s gaming to present day panellists will consider the changing vision of the future. Chaired by composer and gamer Helen Epega and joined by the Museum of Youth Culture, the panel will discuss the feedback loop between youth culture and gaming, and how both influence each other in continuous dialogue. 

Cyberdance Gamestation

Now with over five decades of computer gaming The Museum of Youth Culture is now adding games consoles to their archive. In this specially curated ‘Cyberdance Gamestation’ you will have the opportunity to play games from across the decades and experience first-hand the evolving visions of the future in gaming. 

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Filming and photography may take place at these events. For more information or if you do not wish to be photographed/filmed, please speak to a member of staff.