Art
Ten permanent exhibits by different artists are now on display in the Station Road area of CB1 for residents, workers and passers-by to enjoy.
LEAN-TO, a sculpture by multidisciplinary artist Shezad Dawood, was the latest to be unveiled at 10 Station Road, in July 2024. The piece explores the idea of sections meeting and morphing in space, to become a kind of fantasy meta-architecture - while also remaining discreet and functional. More information, including a walking tour of the buildings referenced can be found here.
In summer 2022, another sculpture was unveiled, ‘Ariadne (Wrapped)’ by the renowned British artist Gavin Turk. More information and a short film exploring the artist’s inspirations can be found here.
Art plays a big part in the thinking behind CB1. Its public art programme is highly regarded within both permanent and temporary art scenes.
How it works
One of the UK’s leading public art agencies, Commission Projects, leads the programme. Commission Projects brings artists and commissioners together, changing the way people experience art and making it more widely available. Aid & Abet is among the artists’ groups that have been supported. Aid & Abet ran its projects and artistic experiments from ELAN – a contemporary visual art studio at the centre of the CB1 development.
CB1 has also played its part in City wide arts initiatives run by Cambridge BID, including ‘Cows about Cambridge’ – a colourful art trail of sculptural cows, each designed by a different artist. Find out more here.
LEAN-TO
Shezad Dawood
Dawood was drawn to certain key architectural moments and instances across the City of Cambridge, and then chose how these elements might come together both structurally and aesthetically - like a 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.
LEAN-TO is designed to be a place of meeting or a coffee break that references the array of architectural styles and movements that have contributed to the iconic visual language of Cambridge.
Ariadne (Wrapped)
Gavin Turk
Gavin Turk’s ‘Ariadne (Wrapped)’ is an exploration of a classical figure that invites the audience inside a larger metaphysical maze. The work is inspired by surrealist artistic methodologies, the ‘myth’ of the artist – and the architecture of Cambridge Station itself.
Reflective Editor
Douglas Allsop
A series of artworks at CB1. Douglas Allsop’s works present a site specificity that is architectural. They are neither abstract nor illusory but reflective. They capture an inverted mirror world that changes with our perception. They question the way we look at them and what we want to see. Douglas Allsop does not create images but his works do. Using reflective materials they mirror the surroundings they are in and the people looking at them. But these are elusive, ghostly images registering on a surface. Allsop explores our processes of perception and plays with our quest for stability and meaning.
Reflex
By Peter Freeman
A major sculptural light installation for Station Road where there will be a colour change with each of the four seasons. Responding to the movement of pedestrians, a slow pulse of contrasting coloured light is shone along the building. In addition there are special memorial days when the lights will have distinctive colour arrangements, not only marking those days visually but also adding temporary dynamic colourful variety to the space.
Continental Drift
By Troika
‘Continental Drift’ is a two-dimensional world map projected onto the ceiling by a faceted, rotating globe. Located in the public walkway that leads to the new cycle park beside Cambridge station, the projected image shows a world that continuously shifts, stretches and rearranges itself. Landmass is not static, nor is it organised in an established cartographic format. Contrary to a conventional world map, the continents here drift in and out of the centre and in and out of focus, with each instance presenting another version of the world.
Wander
By Dryden Goodwin
‘Wander’ is a series of 100 etched portraits of people the artist encountered as he travelled around the city. The work is embedded into the pavement around Cambridge’s new bus interchange.
Translucent Drawing
By Antoni Malinowski
‘Translucent Drawing’ comprises 2,500 glass elements - which respond to changing light conditions - embedded into the façade of the various buildings throughout the development. The piece aims to create unity between architecture and the environment.
Ceres Bronze
By William Bloye
This bronze of the Goddess of Agriculture has been restored and now takes pride of place in the landscaped Mill Park. Ceres has come to represent the rebirth of this historic area.
Ridgeons Centenary Park
Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley, and letter carving by Tom Perkins
The park that commemorates Ridgeons’ centenary in 2011 is close to the site of the company’s original office. Here, the artworks include a a sculptural oak seat and a carved roundel featuring a quotation by the founder Cyril Ridgeon.
