Appointment of Artists-in-Residence on Campus

Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) is pleased to announce the appointment of David Blandy, Andrea Cockerton and Hannah Jane Walker as Artists-in-Residence from November 2020.

Each of the three artists will bring their depth of curiosity and expertise to the campus over the next year, engaging employees, researchers and patients in the creation of cultural projects that respond to campus life, past, present and future.

Blandy’s project Lost Eons will explore a new kind of social space and imaginary world, culminating in the creation of a table-top roleplay game based on CBC’s geography and history. Cockerton’s project The Soundbank will involve CBC participants in creating, recording & performing original music, capturing it all in apps for iOS & Android devices. Walker’s project Making Visible will ask CBC researchers: What do you hope for in your work? What does your organisation mean? Through four exploratory writing workshops, she’ll draw out key phrases that will be made visible through text installations across the campus.

The Artist in Residence Programme has been curated and managed by international cultural placemaking agency, Futurecity, who are also behind artist Ryan Gander’s visioning for The Green in the Gardens in 2019. The programme is led and funded by property developers Countryside Properties and Liberty Property Trust under the s106 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.

Natalie Ellis, Head of Arts, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are so pleased to be welcoming three creatives who can tap into the varied talents of people based on the campus—from writing to music making to illustrating—all the while generating 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.”

Andrew Blevins, Managing Director, Liberty Property Trust, said: “After the completion of Ryan Gander’s The Green and the Garden’s last year, Liberty and Countryside are 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.”

Andy Robinson, Head of Strategy, Futurecity, said: “People need art now more than ever. We look forward to watching Blandy, Cockerton and Walker activate the Campus, enlivening it both virtually and in-person with their own examinations, interrogations and ambitions, all with a cooperative and inclusive spirit. Their works will further enrich the legacy of the past residencies and artist projects we’ve curated across the site.”

Learn more about public art on campus.