An exhibition curated by Churchill students explored the relationship between science and art.

Churchill College, 12th–14th March 2014

“In Cambridge we are used to seeing Science and Art as separate — in fact, there are many significant and interesting overlaps. They are, as Albert Einstein said, ‘branches of the same tree’. Neither would exist without the other.

The underlying aim of this exhibition has been to find common ground. The University of Cambridge is comprised of a multitude of diverse departments, and although these are all incorporated within a single institution, the possibility of engaging with each can at times seem difficult. Even at a collegiate level, the different departments can appear determinedly separate. Our title ‘Enlightened Perspectives’ has therefore been proposed as an inductive metaphor for thinking about how we can access and foster such diversity.

Although the exhibition is rooted in Cambridge, the net has widened to incorporate people beyond the university. This was not planned, but it has expanded the field of interpretation and enquiry into new and exciting areas, whether tapping into art schools or the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Some of the works exhibited are final pieces, the culmination of a project presented at the end of a year of exploration and experiment. Others claim no such finality. They are rather on-going works that are part of a much wider and longer investigation, analysis or line of enquiry. Some works are self-consciously bringing Science and Art together, others are less insistent upon such a relationship. And yet all the works visualize and clarify something that is highly complex. In the work of the architecture students we see how such a dialogue forms the foundation of their work.

By showing all these pieces alongside each other in the main concourse of Churchill College, we aim to offer people an insight into each other’s fields of enquiry. From a watercolour of an orchid, to an image of chaos theory, to a DNA origami sculptor.”

— Tyro Heath, Churchill Art Sizar (3rd year English)

This exhibition was held in Churchill College, 12th—14th March 2014.