Old Operating Theatre, Museum & Herb Garret

9A St Thomas's Street, SE1 (020 7955 4791)


London Bridge tube/rail. Open 10am-4pm Tue-Sun, most Mons (phone to check). Admission £2.90; £1.50-£2 concs; £7.25 family.





The only surviving example of an early nineteenth-century operating theatre is reached via a narrow flight of stairs to the belfry of an old church. Here, in an adjoining room, ancient banks of viewing stands rise in semicircles around a crude wooden bed. Close your eyes and you can almost hear the screams from an unanaesthetised, blindfolded patient as a blood-stained surgeon carefully saws through his leg. Exhibits in the garret illustrate the history of surgery, herbal medicine and nursing at Guy's and St Thomas's hospitals.

Co-laborações: Arquitectos/Artistas

It's a promising subject for an exhibition - works that are the fruit of collaboration between architects and artists. Five very different projects from around Europe in which Portuguese and non-Portuguese artists and architects were involved are presented. The projects chosen encompass architecture, urban planning and landscaping, demonstrating that where the creative process is concerned, two plus two can make five. On show are maquettes, plans, photographs, drawings and videos, so as to convey to the public how artists and architects actually work together.

Joe Jackson

Genre-jumper Joe Jackson and a six-piece band present a gig based around his hit 1982 album 'Night and Day', and the sequel 'Night and Day II' released last year. Jackson mixes his pop instincts with classical and jazz infusions on both collections. The piano man who first made the charts with 'Is She Really Going Out With Him?' back in the days of the New Wave was quiet during the 1990s, but is on something of a comeback, with recent live album 'Summer in the City' getting a critical thumbs-up.

Serge Vandercam

Aficionados of the 'Cobra' movement could do worse than pass by the Serge Vandercam exhibition at the Botanique. The multitalented Belgian was at a photographer, sculptor and painter. All these aspects of his life are on display in this exhibition, including examples of his early photographic work. When he first exhibited these images, beautiful in their simplicity, Vandercam was criticised for taking pictures of nothing. His work reflects the Cobra movement's focus on the abstract as a form of free expression.

Science Museum

Exhibition Road, South Kensington, SW7 (020 7942 2000 sciencemuseum@nmsi.ac.uk )


South Kensington tube. Open 10am-6pm daily. Admission ?6.50; ?3.50 students, OAPs; season tickets available; free under-16s, ES40s, registered disabled & carer; free for all after 4.30pm daily. GoSee Card member. Credit AmEx, MC, ?TC, V.

Website: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk




The Science Museum
makes the most of Britain's pioneering industrial heritage. Many of the
original machines that powered civilisation towards the millennium are
lovingly preserved here. Handily located and easy-to-use interactive
screens help visitors negotiate five floors of technological wizardry,
and the daily tours and shows, on a wide range of topics, are lively
and fascinating. The place is crammed full of information; the Synopsis
(in a side gallery), which gives an overview of the exhibits, is
practically a museum in itself. Big hardware includes Stephenson's
Rocket, a V2 missile and the Apollo 10 command module. Also exhibited
are inventions that were spurned in their time, such as Charles
Babbage's counting machine, a precursor of the computer.
If this all sounds a bit dry, don't be fooled: this place is a huge hit with kids, particularly the Launch Pad - a hands-on technological adventure playground, the Flight Lab where you can test the principles of flight, and On Air , where
secondary-school children can produce their own radio shows. The
basement is entirely given over to younger visitors, with hugely fun
hands-on games and experiments for three- to 12-year-olds.
A recent addition to the museum's treasure trove is the Challenge of Materials ,
a permanent exhibition, which explores the design, creation, use and
disposal of natural and manmade products, with loads of interactive
exhibits and activities. The centrepiece is a stunning glass and steel
bridge linking the two sides of the first-floor gallery, which responds
to the pressure of people walking across it with video, sound and light
effects. The second-floor exhibition focusing on the achievements of Leonardo and Renaissance Engineers , complete with working models and animated drawings, runs until 24 April 2000. There is an extra charge of ?3 (adults) and ?2 (children) for this exhibition.
The big news for 2000, however, is the opening of the ?48-million Wellcome Wing
in June. This vast extension, featuring four floors of exhibition
space, will present the cutting edge of contemporary science, medicine
and technology using state-of-the-art exhibits and multimedia, and will
also house an IMAX cinema. A new permanent exhibition, Making the Modern World ,
with displays drawn from existing collections, will link the old and
new parts of the museum. In the meantime, visitors should note that
some sections of the museum are likely to be closed.

Justo's

Eight years ago Justo's was a closed club, but one so famous that it is still talked of reverently now. Over the past decade it has gone through various reincarnations and since 1998 it has served partly as a Japanese restaurant and one of the main post-dinner haunts for celebrity stars. To cater for them, DJs and bands are imported and oddly every Tuesday afternoon it has tea ceremonies.

Four Projects

MIT's List Visual Arts Centre brings together four works that use digital technologies to explore complex social themes. The pieces included are 'The Long Road to Mazatlan and Vagabondia', a video installation by British artist Isaac Julien in collaboration with Venezuelan-born choreographer Javier De Frutos. 'The Long Count (I Shook Up the World)', a video installation about Muhammad Ali by Paul Pfeiffer. "InFlight', a lounge installation about commercial airline flight by Johan Grimonprez and 'Race In Digital Space', an installation that brings together works by over 30 other artists.