Artist collective Troika launch research initiative

*Consultancy has been working with London-based artist collective Troika to deliver the first public art offer for the University of Cambridge’s West Cambridge development.

As part of Troika’s research, the artists and *Consultancy invited a panel of thought leaders to consider how art and technology can change the way we see the world. Contributors across disciplines came together last week to explore how artistic and scientific research collaborations can inform each other in new ways.

Hosted by Dr Ljiljana Fruk at the Department of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Head of CAS *Consultancy Fabienne Nicholas chaired the event, which included presentations from writer Christine Harmar-Brown considering collaboration and hierarchy and Troika, who discussed the deep-seated interest in science within the group’s artistic practice.

Each contributor was invited to bring along a small object relating to their research, with one sharing a prehistoric, ten-legged Antarctic sea spider. The ambition for Assembly Effect was to stimulate dialogue between academics, researchers, scientists and artists through a central theme that interesting things happen at the edge of expertise.

Troika are the first artists to be commissioned to develop work as part of the West Cambridge public art strategy, which was developed by *Consultancy in 2017.