FOURTH PORTAL
GATEWAY TO THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
GRAVESEND
Fourth Portal at St Andrew's, Royal Pier Road, Gravesend, DA12 2BD
Welcome
The Past and Future always meet in the Present
![Gravesend Innovation Showcase 2024 [Official] SMALL JM Logo Black 20November2024.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2fcede_a6bbeb42fce84b38968cd75e6712f32b~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_472,h_99,al_c,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto/Gravesend%20Innovation%20Showcase%202024%20%5BOfficial%5D%20SMALL%20JM%20Logo%20Black%2020November2024.jpg)
EVENT | LOCATION | EVENT START TIME | INTRODUCTION |
|---|---|---|---|
The Laserium | 2. St George's Church Hall | 19:00 | Transforming Sound Into Light
A fully immersive 800 laser experience with music by Funki Porcini. |
Meet Mechanismo - Engaging and Playful Robots | 1-2, 14, 17 Popping Up | 11:00 | The Mechanismo team will be demonstrating their troupe of joyful robots that incorporate advanced sensing technology, four-wheel drive, and expressive movements. |
Your Opinion On AI | 4. Julius Caesar Italian | 11:00 | Come and tell Dr. Glenn McGarry what you really think about AI, do you feel included in the discussion? What do you want to see happen? Do a vox pop about the future! |
The Bell Agency | 13. House of Lelya | 15:00 & 17:00 | The Bell Agency opens out into a mesmerising slow motion sound world. Somewhere between performance and unfolding realisation, led by Charles Hayward. |
Drum Machine | 14. The Grand GYG | 18:00 | Charles Hayward is an English drummer/singer/composer and a founding member of the experimental rock group This Heat. Charles will invite people to join him for 5 minute drumming sessions. |
Polaroid Exhibition | 9. Gravesend Library | 11:00 | Polaroids photos exhibition from the Saturday 16 Nov workshop using Instax ‘Polaroid’ cameras to explore and photograph urban spaces. |
Green Yonder - Sustainable Design Futures | 2. St George's Church Hall | 10:00 | Playful, assessable and interactive devices to raise awareness of the complex sustainability issues resulting from society’s increasing adoption of emerging technologies like AI and ‘smart’ Internet of Things. |
Doraraathara | 14. The Grand GYG | 18:00 | Doraraathara is a live performance blending generative art, spoken word, and technology to explore creativity in the digital age, followed by a Q&A with creators, Jennifer Bell & Kristian Jones. |
Nodevember | Across Town Centre | 1 November | Nodevember is a global challenge to learn, share, and connect through procedural programming with tools like Blender. Running throughout November as part of the Innovation Showcase – join in! |
Large Language | 14. The Grand GYG | 16:00 | Gravesend's spoken word community welcomes the general public to explore the interactions between poetry and A.I. Watch, perform, or have your say! |
How to do VFX | 14. The Grand GYG | 19:00 | Beginners guide to the tools and techniques of the VFX trade |
Polaroid Workshop | FINISHED | FINISHED | A hands-on workshop, participants will use Instax ‘Polaroid’ cameras to explore and photograph urban spaces. |
AI, Archaeology, Avatars and Pocahontas | 1. St George's Church | 13:15 | Who gets to write the history of figures like Pocahontas, and how will AI and avatars, as a form of modern statues, shape these narratives? Explore who controls the stories of the past and the future. |
AI Responsibility | 1. St George's Church | 14:00 | Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the City Law School, Professor David Townend will lead a discussion on the challenges and opportunities being presented by AI for law and the legal profession. |
Wicked Avatar Problems | 1. St George's Church | 12:30 | Untangling questions of multiculturality in visual representation. |
Art of VFX 1896-2024 | 14. The Grand GYG | 16:15 | Tools and techniques to trick the audience |
Fair AI Futures? | 4. Julius Caesar Italian | 10:30 | Have your say on the future of Ai and ask what will a FAIR AI FUTURE look like at the University of Nottingham’s Innovation Showcase hub on Gravesend High Street. |
Innovation in Gaming | 1. St George's Church, Gravesend | 11:30 | Experience the world of innovation through gaming on real vintage computers, 3D modelling and AI. |
Game Changing AI Future | 1. St George's Church, Gravesend | 16:00 | Next Level: How gaming created our AI future (and why we should be excited about it) with journalist James O'Malley. |
Museum of Portable Sound | 9. Gravesend Library | 11:15 | The Museum of Portable Sound is a digital museum housed on an iPhone that explores sounds of daily life as well as the acoustic environments of London and many other cities worldwide. |
Museum of Portable Sound | 14. The Grand GYG | 16:00 | The Museum of Portable Sound is a digital museum housed on an iPhone that explores sounds of daily life as well as the acoustic environments of London and many other cities worldwide. |
Debugging Craft Beer Myths | 12. The Compass Alehouse | 12:00, 14:00 or 15:00 | Join one of The Compass Alehouse's lively tasting sessions that uncover the history, innovation, and hidden truths of the beer world. |
NHS Pharmacy First Service | 8. Pender Pharmacy | 12:30 | Pharmacist Steven Kane will discuss the expanding healthcare access through the NHS Pharmacy First Service at Gravesend’s trusted Pender Pharmacy. |
Shaping Processes | 10 Munns of Gravesend | 13:30 | How artists Naomi Boyle and Dawn Cole use innovation to adapt and personalise both traditional and new |
Reclaiming Wisdom | 9. Gravesend Library | 12:00 | Reclaiming Wisdom invites us to rethink the purpose of education, as artist and theorist, Professor John Wood advocates for a shift toward holistic learning to address biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. |
Traditional Apprenticeships in the Digital Age | 9. Gravesend Library | 14:00 | Embracing tradition in a modern world: Adapting apprenticeships and notions of work as old industries reinvent themselves. |
Mini Jam with Tiny Synths | 9, 15-17, Popping Up | 11:00 | Join producer and electronic artist, Felix X Tigersonic for one of the relaxed pop-up interactive workshops where you'll explore the world of tiny synths. No experience is needed.
|
Laser Cutting | 3. Mug and Meeple | 11:00 | Introduction to laser cutting with Glenn at the team at the Mug and Meeple. |
Enhancing Student Engagement | 9. Gravesend Library | 11:00 | Enhancing Student Engagement in Remote Learning: Exploring the Acceptance of Educational Technology in Higher Education Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic |
Laserium set up at Fourth Portal Lab, Gravesend, for Funki Porcini performance, 26-28 January 2024..
Our beautiful chilled-out Fourth Portal, nestled by the river Thames in Gravesend, is slowly teasing out the town's innovators, creators, entrepreneurs and curious.
The former seafarers chapel has transformed into a relaxed social space and venue introducing advanced technologies surrounded by an eclectic array of furnishings, books and retro computers.
There are Macs free to use, fast internet, a licensed bar, coffee roasted in HMP Mount purchased directly from the growers, and much more, all under stunning stained glass windows.
Rethinking how materials are made, adapted and recycled will be a prominent component of the emerging technological revolution and is central to public engagement at the Fourth Portal.
For summer and autumn 2023, the Fourth Portal Lab focused on paper before moving on to textiles for winter and spring 2024.
Fourth Portal stimulates knowledge exchanges by bringing technology, social gathering and innovation to life.
Using specially selected objects that coalesce with local history, rich conversations have emerged, leading to collaborations and learning.
How to find us and opening times.
Opening times
OPEN WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY FROM 12:30
Address
Train
7 mins walk from Gravesend train station
Kings Cross (22mins)
Lewisham, Deptford, London Bridge (35-40mins)
Margate, Folkestone (55-70mins)
Ferry
From Essex, Tilbury Port
Monday to Saturday, 7am - 7pm | 6mins
Not Sundays | Adult £5.50 return | Concessions |
Drive
8 mins from A2 (various junctions)
10-12 mins from M25 (Dartford junction)
Bike or walk
Gravesend Riverside, follow signs for Thames Path or Tilbury Ferry
Address
Train
7 mins walk from Gravesend train station
Kings Cross (22mins)
Lewisham, Deptford, London Bridge (35-40mins)
Margate, Folkestone (55-70mins)
Ferry. (PRESENTLY SUSPENDED)
From Essex, Tilbury Port
Monday to Saturday, 7am - 7pm | 6mins
Not Sundays | Adult £5.50 return | Concessions
Drive
8 mins from A2 (various junctions)
10-12 mins from M25 (Dartford junction)
Bike or walk
Gravesend Riverside, follow signs for Thames Path or Tilbury Ferry
Our venue.
St. Andrew's Waterside Mission Church, Gravesend
The primary missionary purpose of the church was transferred to Tilbury when the docks were built, with services continuing until 1971 despite ongoing problems with damp. The Diocese of Rochester decided to close the church because of the cost of repairs, but it was rescued and purchased by Gravesham Borough Council in 1975 and transformed into an Arts Centre.
Ceiling
Representing the upturned hull of a ship
Windows
By Clayton and Bell around 1870, Regents St, London
Plaques
Various including Franklin, Singh and Beaufort
Notable history and architecture.
SIR FRANCIS BEAUFORT
The Beaufort Scale was created by Sir Francis Beaufort, an Irish-born Royal Navy officer and hydrographer, in the early 19th century. Beaufort developed the scale as a way to standardise the reporting of wind conditions for the British Navy, which he served in for many years
MAHARAJA SIR DULEEP SINGH
Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, GCSI (4 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), or Sir Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire" was the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son, the only child of Maharani Jind Kaur.
JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION
HMS Erebus and Terror were two Royal Navy ships captained by Sir John Franklin during his ill-fated expedition to find the Northwest Passage in the Arctic in the mid-19th century.
The expedition is notable for the innovative technology and equipment onboard the ships, some of which were groundbreaking for their time, including steam power, air-tight food containers, a portable observatory and desalination apparatus.
CHARLES DICKENS
Charles Dickens had many connections to Gravesend and lived nearby.
He may have based Great Expectations on the town and possibly made a significant donation to the building of St Andrews.
The Fourth Portal offers real-world and virtual spaces to meet, work, socialise, learn and enjoy events.
Join us on the journey
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