Youth Panel

Our Youth Panel, for young people aged 14 – 18, offers collective work experience opportunities across The MERL and Reading Museum as part of Museums Partnership Reading’s youth programme. We meet monthly to work on a variety of exciting projects which are great for developing a range of transferable skills. Our panel members influence current projects and programming and are change-makers within Reading’s culture and heritage sector.

‘Pandora Reboxed’

In this period, the Youth Panel will be involved in a project with the University of Reading’s Art curatorial team called ‘Pandora Reboxed’. In 1913, the artist John Dickson Batten created a huge painting called Pandora, which is now on display at the University of Reading. The painting focused on the Greek myth of ‘Pandora’s box’ — which Pandora opened, and so unleashed all the evils known to humanity. 

The Youth Panel will work with the Art Curatorial team to analyse and reinterpret the Greek myth of Pandora. In addition to designing and creating our own ‘Pandora’s Box’, we will create paintings made with historic techniques and materials, including eggs, spices and chalk. Finally, we will curate an exhibition that juxtaposes our artworks with the original painting.

For more information about the painting please visit our online exhibition as well as a ‘deep dive’ blog with further context.

Upcoming Dates (on the third Thursday of the month, 4.30 pm – 6 pm):

• 21st November
• 19th December

For more information on how to join, please contact merlevents@reading.ac.uk.

Image credit: John Dickson Batten, Pandora, 1913, egg tempera on board. UAC/10235