Dynamic new exhibition centre to bring cutting-edge technology to the public

Art and science will collide at the Arts Catalyst building in King's Cross, London, in a showcase of projects from home and abroad

They've explored the future look of Antarctic research stations, co-commissioned studies into deformed amphibians and even probed cultural issues relating to nuclear technology. Now The Arts Catalyst is embarking on a very different project. Opening this month in Kings Cross, the Centre for Art, Science and Technology will build on the organisation's 20-plus years of experience in marrying the two cultures, offering a permanent spot to publicly showcase projects from home and abroad, as well as foment new plans. But the venue on Cromer Street won't be your typical gallery. "There will be big discursive programmes, talks, public events, workshops, residencies," says curator Alec Steadman. "It will be dynamic rather than a static exhibition of objects."

Celebrating its opening is a twin exhibition, Notes from the Field, one arm of which will feature footage and activities relating to Wrecked on the Intertidal Zone - an ongoing project in the Essex town of Leigh-on-Sea. Highlighting the community's relationship with the Thames Estuary, artists have worked with residents on activities ranging from citizen science projects to a "temporary monument" in the form of a reclaimed cockle boat that has been carved with the names of "lost species", from plants and animals to local customs. "The idea is that we will put her back, but a bit further up, and then she will rot away where people can see her," says Graham Harwood of artistic partnership YoHa that is working on the project. The second part of the exhibition, Arte itil - translated as "useful art" - displays a different collection of works. "That's an archive looking back all the way to the 1800s, applying this notion of usefulness to art history - so projects that have an actual social use," says Steadman.