“We have a great deal of artistic talent”: College launches first-ever open call art exhibition

Anna Dempster curating Santiago Sotil's exhibition at Wolfson

The exhibition runs from May to October 2022 as part of the ��ӽ紫ý Fine Arts Exhibition Programme and the ��ӽ紫ýExplores Growth event programme.

The deadline for submission of works for pre-selection is Wednesday 20 April.

The judges are looking for diverse artistic responses across media, styles, and aesthetic approach from both emerging and established artists. The exhibition will showcase artwork from leading national and international artists and provide an opportunity to exhibit work by emerging artists, academic and students from different fields, in a broad and inclusive dialogue between art and science.

We spoke to ��ӽ紫ýFellow and exhibition curator, Anna Dempster, about the show, the value of exhibitions, and the arts at Wolfson.

Has the College done an open call like this before?

The is the first time the College has tried an open submission group show. It’s very exciting! That means anyone can submit artwork to be considered for inclusion. It’s both risky and rewarding because you don’t know what you’re going to get. We won’t see what, or even how many, artworks we have to work with until the deadline of April 20th.

We have a great deal of artistic talent in the College, across the University, and Cambridge – we just need to give people the opportunity. This sort of exhibition is not just an opportunity to showcase what we know we have, but also discover new and hidden talent.

We’ve had exhibitions in the past by professional artists and loans from world-class institutions, but this exhibition aims to engage both students and Fellowship in a new way. I believe we need to create safe, welcoming, and engaging spaces, then people will come. I think Wolfson’s inclusive and open-minded culture is the best place to do a show like this.

For me, it’s even more important to provide experimental exhibition spaces because Cambridge University doesn’t have its own art school. We have a lot of great theatre, music, and dance at the university. But there’s less opportunity to showcase art and design, hear the voices of artists and makers. If creativity is at the root of experimentation and innovation, the arts, visual literacy, and the aesthetic experience have a critical and central place in academia and education.

Who else will be exhibiting at the show?

Alongside the competitive open call, we have also invited a number of leading international artists, whose long-standing work and ideas fit with the core themes of the exhibition. As curator, I’m working closely with these artists to bring new and exciting work to the College from around the world.

The exhibition is therefore also an amazing opportunity for amateur artists to exhibit their work alongside world-class leading international artists. This is what I call the “Summer Exhibition Model” – which I learned from working at the Royal Academy of Arts. There’s a sort of maverick madness of throwing together an eclectic mix of art and artists which creates a joyous energy and sense of adventure and fun. In my experience, discovering something new, challenging yourself and your preconceptions, is what makes for a great exhibition.

Why did you choose the theme ‘Kill or Cure’?

Kill or Cure aims to discover and explore how substances from the natural world have been used in, inspired and informed by medical sciences. It aims is to consider this delicate balance from different perspectives and build a dialogue between the arts and the sciences. College is a place where people from different disciplines intersect, mingle, and explore each other’s work and ideas. This exhibition reflects that approach.

Each year, the College event series, ��ӽ紫ýExplores, has an overarching theme, and this year’s theme is ‘growth’ – which has a strong conceptual link with the theme of this show. In many ways, growth represents hope and progress but with it, also brings choice and risks. This exhibition aims to explore some of these underlying tensions and dualities.

Tell us a little more about the arts at Wolfson.

The College has had a formal exhibition programme since 2012. Across an eclectic programme, we have shown works by both leading British and international artists including Anthony Green RA (��ӽ紫ýHonorary Fellow), Eileen Cooper RA, Christopher Le Brun (PPRA) and more, as well as working with leading cultural institutions including the Henry Moore Foundation (2015-16), the Fry Art Gallery (2022), and Kettles Yard (2016-17).

We have also exhibited ��ӽ紫ý members and alumni who are leaders in the world of art, design and architecture, leading design-duo Joseph Joseph (2019) and young award-winning architect Tszwai So (2019). Added to this, we have shown works from the College’s own Lee Seng Tee Collection, alongside young Singaporian artists (2018). The programme has spanned the world, exhibiting both local artists, as well as shows that build directly on the ��ӽ紫ýMembers’ research in India, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Korea as well as the United Kingdom.

What makes a good exhibition?

In my opinion, an exhibition is always a team effort. Exhibitions depend on artists and curators as well as visionary institutions, patrons, audiences, and specific individuals along the way who believe in an idea and help make it a reality. Great exhibitions rely on the strength and quality of individual works, but also how they speak to each other in time and space and across a coherent and unifying theme. They need to be displayed in both and aesthetic and meaningful way which is part of the curatorial and ‘sense-making’ process. Of course, the exhibition needs the artists to produce but an audience to engage; people to ask questions, discuss, and debate.

This show has a theme which I hope is both intriguing and different, and one in which people can engage with – it is both broad enough to speak to diverse artists and audiences, and also one which is precise enough to create meaning. I hope the show will both ask and answer questions, create room for conversations, offer unexpected insights, help us discover but also entertain and enjoy – just like great research.