Sno-Cats and toasters telling stories about our changing climate

A new series of exhibit interventions, Ten Climate Stories, opens at the Science Museum on Friday 8 April, reveals hidden stories behind some of the museum's best-loved exhibits – as well as showcasing artworks from established and emerging artists, offering new perspectives on the famous displays.

Ten Climate Stories is part of the Museum's three-year Climate Changing programme – a series of thought-provoking events that accompanies the *atmosphere exploring climate science gallery.

David Rooney, Science Museum curator said: “Ten Climate Stories takes a long view of our climate changing world, offering a fresh take on historic inventions and everyday objects – and their impact on the world around us.”

Newly on show is the Sno-Cat used by Sir Vivian Fuchs in the 1955–8 crossing of Antarctica with Sir Edmund Hillary. This bright-orange tracked vehicle was one of four that completed the perilous journey, along a route littered with icy ridges and treacherous crevasses.

In The Toaster Project, emerging designer and Royal College of Art graduate Thomas Thwaites pulled apart the cheapest toaster he could find – and then built his own, by mining and processing all the raw materials himself and manufacturing every component. The magnificently imperfect result offers a playful yet powerful comment on consumer culture.

Longplayer, by Jem Finer, is a thousand year long piece of music that began playing on 31 December 1999. A new listening post playing this critically acclaimed work will be installed in the Museum's flagship gallery, Making the Modern World. Nearby, Yao Lu's arresting images from the New Landscapes series depict a rapidly changing world – where all is not what it seems.

Other exhibits in 10 Climate Stories include a blazing inferno in 18th-century Shropshire, the march of steel pylons across Britain's countryside, the first photograph of Earth from space, the roots of car culture in First World War America, a million-volt machine used to build an atom bomb, and a spaceship journey that changed our entire view of our world.

*The atmosphere gallery and the Climate Changing programme have been made possible by support from Principal Sponsors Shell and Siemens, Major Sponsor Bank of America Merrill Lynch, major funder the Garfield Weston Foundation, and with additional support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Patrons of the Science Museum and members of the Founders Circle: Climate Changing programme: Accenture, Bayer and Barclays