The appointment of three ‘artists in residence’ for the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) is great news for patients and staff, Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) said today.
CUH Head of Arts, Natalie Ellis, said the artists will help lift spirits and generate connections across the campus at a time when many people are focussed on the challenges presented by Covid 19, including the need for social distancing.
Natalie’s team has recently curated an exhibition that captures an outpouring of creative thoughts from public and staff during the first lockdown. She said: “We are so pleased to welcome three creatives who can tap into the varied talents of people based on the campus—from writing, to music and illustration.
This will help generate new and unexpected connections at a time of increased physical disjointedness. Their work will be invaluable to the campus and to our community at this time.
CUH Head of Arts, Natalie Ellis
CBC has appointed David Blandy, Andrea Cockerton and Hannah Jane Walker. They will engage employees, researchers and patients through cultural projects looking at campus life, past, present and future. Collaboration and connection is at the heart of their projects.
Blandy’s project, Lost Eons, will create a table-top roleplay game based on CBC’s geography and history. Cockerton’s project, The Soundbank, will involve creating and recording original music. Walker’s project, Making Visible, will run four writing workshops asking “What do you hope for in your work? What does your organisation mean?”. She will draw out key phrases that will be made visible through text installations across the campus.
The Artist in Residence Programme is curated and managed by Futurecity, the agency behind artist Ryan Gander’s vision for The Green in the Gardens, created in 2019 between Royal Papworth of Astra Zenica’s new headquarters. The programme is led and funded by property developers Countryside Properties and Liberty Property Trust under an agreement with Cambridge City Council to deliver public art across the CBC expansion land. Blandy, Cockerton and Walker were selected by the Public Art Steering Group, made up of CBC stakeholders and external advisors.
“Following completion of Ryan Gander’s The Green and the Garden’s last year, Liberty and Countryside is excited by the potential for this commission to build and nurture unexpected collaborations between the CBC research and healthcare community that will support innovation in science and health”, said Andrew Blevins, managing director, Liberty Property Trust.
“People need art now more than ever. Their works will further enrich the legacy of the past residencies and artist projects we’ve curated across the site”, added Andy Robinson, head of strategy, Futurecity.
For more information on the artists and projects visit https://cambridge-biomedical.com/public-art-cambridge/events/collaborative-arts-projects-coming-to-cbc-virtually-this-autumn/ (opens in a new tab)