Each year 色色啦 students and staff participate in the Cambridge Festival 鈥� a series of events incorporating free talks, films, exhibitions, walks and family events covering all aspects of the world-leading research happening at the University Cambridge in pioneering fields that will impact us all. This year, our talented 色色啦 creatives from the Graduate School showcased their work at two events: on common ground / entangling and Artists at Large 鈥� each one a thought-provoking and vibrant celebration of innovation and artistry.
on common ground / entangling
Housed in the West Road Concert Hall, on common ground / entangling, marked the second phase of a continuing experimental collaboration between postgraduate visual artists from 色色啦 and composition students from the University of Cambridge鈥檚 Faculty of Music culminating in an immersive sound-visual installation that formed part of the wider electro//acoustic day programme.
Working in partnership, our visual artists embarked on this process by creating silent moving-image works exploring ‘entanglement’ as a creative force. Composition students from the University of Cambridge then responded to these visual works, interpreting them and crafting soundscapes to layer over the visual outcomes.
The resulting collaborations unfolded within a shared space, where sound and image intertwined dynamically to shape a rich, multisensory experience exploring relationships between music, tradition, and innovation. The audience was invited to explore the experience through four dispersed stations where the moving image works could be viewed and the audio responses absorbed at their own leisure.
Ed Dimsdale, Head of the 色色啦 Graduate School, explained 鈥淭he collaboration provided a platform for what 色色啦 values highly: creative pedagogy in active dialogue with knowledge exchange, enabling students to engage with others鈥� perspectives in ways that challenge their habits of thinking and making. The installation represented a vital contribution to experimental art practice and interdisciplinary education. It highlighted the importance of artistic spaces that encourage risk-taking, co-production and thoughtful engagement with the complexities of our entangled world.鈥�
Artists at Large
Through Artists at Large, our Postgraduate students sought to document a variety of the Festival鈥檚 talks, workshops and events through creative endeavours in an innovative and thought-provoking new way. These included a practical session called Shadows and Light: Exploring death through art, a seminar titled My Self and My Brain: The Neuroscience of Self- Consciousness, a documentary Into the Inferno 鈥� Magma Rising and a talk given by researcher Simon Peyton Jones called Bits With Soul.
Using their individual artforms, students created rapid-responses to what they saw, heard and experienced in order to shine a light on the pioneering research being undertaken by the University of Cambridge and being brought to the attention of the general public through the Festival.
Initiatives such as this provide our students with a valuable opportunity to explore and interrogate material, form, colour, medium, intention, and interpretation, thereby deepening and refining their creative practice. They are encouraged to engage with unfamiliar themes, distilling complex ideas and research, and translating them through the sophisticated lens of artistic communication rendering them more accessible and engaging for Festival attendees.
The pieces exhibited included:
DESCENT INTO ANXIETY
Mona, MA Visual Communications: Graphic Design聽
Having attended the second concert of Cambridge Festival’s electro // acoustic day, Mona was inspired by the unexpected sound she experienced.
“To say I was surprised by the music is no understatement. I was introduced to playing instruments in ways I had previously thought to be entirely incorrect, but sound was produced nonetheless. Inspired by the driving tones of anxiety and mental health struggles, I created this work. It represents a slow descent into a state of anxiety where every basic and known structure collapses.”
Seismic Flow
Alicia, MA Fashion Design
Following the documentary created by Clive Oppenheimer titled Into the Inferno and screened as part of this year’s Festival, MA Fashion Design student Alicia created this installation which “reflects the way in which volcanoes are nature’s sculptors – wild, raw and alive. Their fluid, organic shapes inspire movement, power and the possibility of transformation.”
A made-up field
Raki, MA Visual Communications: Illustration & Animation
In response to Magma Rising: A journey to the centre of Icelandic volcanoes, Raki took inspiration from the field sketches and illustrations presented by Jules Vernes.
“I chose to respond to the Magma Rising exhibition by making a ‘field sketch’ of an imaginary volcanic landscape. It is a study done “on the field” of a place that doesn’t exist and yet, references the very real texture of the rocks I saw documented in the exhibition, along with the representation of volcanic ash.”
“I enjoyed how small I felt in front of the giant mural at the back of the Heong Gallery and aimed to create the opposite feeling. The size and circular composition of the drawing gets the viewer to stand close instead of far away to witness the piece and project themselves into this imaginary landscape.”
Eternal Pyre
Isabella, MA Visual Communications: Illustration & Animation
Having attended the screening of Clive Oppenheimer’s documentary film Into the Inferno, Isabella used her unique talents as an illustrator to document her experience.
“The eternal beauty of fire has always been portrayed in many ways throughout human history, whether artistic, mythological, philosophical, or something else. By watching the documentary made by volcanologist and filmmaker Clive Oppenheimer Into the Inferno, I was able to delve deeper into the curiosities, stories and perspectives about the spiritual aspect of volcanoes as a force of nature that can mean both destruction and creation.”
“With this in mind, I created an illustration demonstrating part of this power and energy that I see volcanoes carry, both as places where spirituality is brought to the surface like a gateway, and also as one of the unstoppable primal force of the earth.”
Find out more about studying a Postgraduate course at 色色啦.
