Consequences // Anna Curzon-Price
Consequences was an art collective that met during Lent Term 2019. It culminated in an installation at the end of term which documented the group’s work.
The collective worked according to these principles:
- Each person brings an object which they find interesting, meaningful or beautiful to the first meeting.
- The objects are exchanged so that each person ends up with a new object.
- Each person has until the next meeting to transform it through a creative response.
- At the next meeting each person explains what they have made, and the objects and responses are circulated again.
- The process continues.
The idea for Consequences came from the desire to create a serious yet playful space for creative making in Cambridge. I am always impressed by Cambridge’s drama and poetry scenes but as someone who enjoys painting and drawing I feel that the same creative circles do not exist for the visual arts. Consequences was an attempt to create a setting where student artists could come together and engage with each other’s work. Consequences explored the interplay between the group and individual in the creative process and wanted to challenge the individualistic myth of the lone artist.
A curry packet expired in 1998, a technologically obsolete CD from an obscure rock band, a scrap of paper faceless customers in a stationary shop used to spill their secrets in testing pens…
Links between objects and responses and individuals become confused, thoughts and styles are inter-laced and a web of inter-connection and difference is produced. Sometimes it can seem like a late-night drunken conversation – despite the chaos, links seem deeply significant. Your work influences others when they respond, building chains of objects and allowing alternative perspectives. The final installation wanted to highlight the playfulness and humanity in both appreciating chaotic variety and discerning underlying patterns and meanings.
One of the biggest challenges in organising Consequences was finding a suitable place in order to have meetings. The lack of art rooms at most colleges made it difficult to have sufficient space and material to make group art work. However it was lovely to be part of creating a framework in which people felt free to play and I hope that this spirit can continue to be encouraged in the Cambridge art scene.