Each year, students and staff from CSVPA actively contribute to the Cambridge Festival—an esteemed programme of free public events, including lectures, film screenings, exhibitions, guided walks, and family-friendly activities, all of which celebrate the groundbreaking research emerging from the University of Cambridge across a range of globally impactful disciplines. This year, our gifted CSVPA creatives presented their work as part of a compelling collaboration with the Museum of Zoology, titled Sensing Change.
Sensing Change was a true cross-college collaboration, involving both CSVPA’s Higher Education and Further Education students working alongside staff to create an ambitious and dynamic body of work in response to a selection of species from the Museum of Zoology’s vast collection.
Producing a wide range of work — from mixed media illustrations, large mural-style drawings and sculpture to digital fashion inspired by animal traits, music utilising animal sounds, animations telling the stories of individual creatures and live theatre — their responses were exhibited within the Museum of Zoology, bringing together creative and scientific perspectives to explore environmental change. Through their creative talents, students and staff from across CSVPA brought attention to and inspired conversation on urgent conservation issues, highlighting the vulnerability of species worldwide, the threats they face and the actions needed to protect them.
This unique and challenging project allowed our students and staff to create work in direct dialogue with the museum’s remarkable collection. For example, Julian Escott’s ‘Digital Witness’ response enabled visitors to see three animals brought to virtual life through Augmented Reality, placed right alongside their skeletons.
A live drawing session gave visitors time to reflect on the narratives behind the creative responses, as students and staff illustrated vulnerable species on a large canvas and encouraged visitors to add their own contributions to the communal artwork being created.
Providing a soundtrack to the exhibition, Music students from CSVPA crafted original compositions influenced by individual species. Visitors were invited to scan a QR code, allowing them to immerse themselves in the musical compositions while contemplating the museum’s artefacts, each piece of music thoughtfully curated in relation to the corresponding species.
Sam Race, Pathway Leader for Experimental Studies, commented “The Sensing Change exhibition was a fantastic experience and a brilliant opportunity to collaborate with the wonderful team at the University Museum of Zoology, and a collection of real national significance. The museum space itself provided both inspiration and challenge. With limited walls and strict material restrictions to protect the collection, our students had to think creatively and push their ideas further. It was an invaluable experience for our students, designing work for a family audience in a distinctive, professional museum setting.”
