New public art installation by local artist Fiona Curran unveiled at Turing Locke aparthotel in Eddington, Cambridge.
Today lifestyle aparthotel brand Locke has unveiled a new public art installation by local artist Fiona Curran at its new opening, Turing Locke, in Eddington, Cambridge.
Created in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society, ‘Bright Shadows Point’ aims to connect the rich history of Eddington with its progressive future, inspired by extensive research undertaken by Cambridge Archaeological Unit at the University of Cambridge.
A five-minute documentary has been produced alongside the installation, which explores the inspiration behind and fabrication of ‘Bright Shadows Point’. View here.
The inspiration behind ‘Bright Shadows Point’.
Over the course of thirty years, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit has unearthed a network of settlements dating back several thousand years at its excavation site in Eddington, Cambridge.
The most notable recent finding on the site includes a Roman villa, believed to have been buried underneath the local Park & Ride site. Other discoveries include Roman cinerary urns and crockery, Medieval copper brooches and jewellery, and Anglo-Saxon artefacts.
Using research by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit and its significant archaeological findings, ‘Bright Shadows Point’ explores Eddington’s multi-layered history. Specifically, Curran draws on the shapes that have been cut into the landscape by archaeologists during their digs, as well as the artefacts found within their excavations.
A selection of key objects in the Cambridge collections found across the Eddington development, including Roman cinerary urns, Medieval copper brooches, an Anglo Saxon bone comb and a Roman glass plate. Images courtesy: The Mistress and Fellows, Girton College, Cambridge.
An additional influence on Curran’s 'Bright Shadows Point', is Eddington’s close association with astronomy. The neighbourhood of Eddington is named after the astronomer, mathematician, and physicist Sir Arthur Eddington.
Further inspiration for the artwork came from photographs taken by Sir Arthur Eddington’s during a complete solar eclipse. These images helped to map Einstein’s theory of relativity through capturing the curvature of light from the movement of stars over time. The creation of these shadows on the landscape – from both the ground level and the aerial perspective – highlight the encounters with the site from multiple perspectives.
'Bright Shadows Point' was created with the support of fabricators MDM Props and Architects dRMM. It is situated in the under-croft space adjacent to Eddington Avenue.