'Planet Bonkers' artist becomes museum's dancer-in-residence

The Science Museum has appointed its first dancer-in-residence as part of a summer arts season.

Athina Vahla is a contemporary artist and choreographer whose work was once described as "a one-way ride to Planet Bonkers, featuring completely gratuitous nudity".

While there is unlikely to be any gratuitous nudity at the museum usually associated with space rockets, jet planes and the great inventions of the Industrial Revolution, staff don't knowexactly what Vahla will be doing. "She has been given free rein to plunder our collections to come up with a work," said a spokeswoman.

Vahla's previous work has been hailed as "dance theatre on an epic visual scale". It includes Wrestling An Angel, which was performed in the old operating theatre at St Thomas' Hospital and a deserted abattoir in Clerkenwell. Her residency will include a workshop from 18 to 22 August, culminating in a public performance at Listening Post, the museum's new contemporary art piece of 200 computer screens streaming live internet chat.

Vahla said: "My work often evolves from a combination of research, education and artistic creation and I have a strong scientific bias in my work, particularly in relation to body/mind, so the Science Museum residency and Listening Post installation seem like fertile territory."

Foxy-T author Tony White has been appointed writer-in-residence.