On Thursday 26th September, the inaugural exhibition of a collaboration between CSVPA’s Graduate School students and PIPgen took place at The Denis Murphy Gallery in Cripps Court, located within the University of Cambridge’s Magdalene College.
This ground-breaking collaboration saw our Graduate School students work in tangent with PhD students and researchers from a number of different European Universities (including the University of Cambridge) who are part of the PIPgen consortium. Through these partnerships, 15 visual, artistic outcomes have been crafted by our CSVPA students, translating, for a wider audience, the research undertaken by their academic partners.
PIPgen is an Innovative Training Network funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme that envisions to empower PI3K/PTEN research in Europe to the next level of research and especially towards clinical translation. The PIPgen network aims to train 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in a wide range of scientific and complementary competences and prepare them for leading roles in the European industry and academia. PIPgen is a multidisciplinary and cross-sectorial consortium that brings together 11 leading European basic and clinical scientists and complementary industrial expertise in the PI3K/PTEN field.
It is not uncommon for scientific knowledge to become inaccessible to the general public, however PIPgen strongly believes that scientific outreach is inseparable from scientific advancements. PIPgenerating Art is the result of an insatiable desire to explore, learn and communicate ideas – the same ethos behind the teaching at CSVPA.
For our Graduate School students, this collaboration served as a platform for them to challenge their approach to artistic interdisciplinary problem-solving and their ability to co-create. Using their individual artistic talents, our students have translated and re-imagined the complex medical research undertaken by their academic partners – using their fresh perspectives and creative powers to make visible that which otherwise might remain invisible.
The exhibition was attended by academics and creatives alike who together marvelled at the creative outcomes that took the form of fashion, ceramics, comics, 3D models overlayed with audio visual projection, illustration, graphics, animation and film.
Each aspect of this unique project serves to underline the mutual benefits of artists and designers working alongside academic researchers from diverse fields of enquiry, contributing to raising awareness and helping to communicate the extraordinary and far-reaching impacts of cutting-edge research in medical science.
Ed Dimsdale, Head of the Graduate School at CSVPA, commented on the collaboration: “This sort of project is really important for our students as it gets them out of the studios and into the world, collaborating with a wide range of different academic fields. It’s the kind of experience we look to give our students in order for them to recognise just how valuable their skills are. It is really vital that our artists, designers, illustrators, graphic designers recognise that they have an important role in helping to translate, explain and communicate and that they can contribute to the world through their own unique creative approaches.”
The exhibition can now be seen at Cambridge’s WestHub (Mon – Fri, 8am – 9pm; JJ Thomson Ave, Cambridge CB3 0US) until the 23rd October 2024 where you will have another opportunity to view the artwork.
This is just one of a plethora of opportunities CSVPA students in our Graduate School can take advantage of to improve their individual create practices. In March, they took part in a number of projects and exhibitions through the Cambridge Festival, bringing their work to a wider audience. Find out more about our MA programmes.
