The Artifacts

Each year, scientists from Imperial College and artists from the Royal College of Art join forces to create inspiring, innovative and interesting works of art under the scheme Artifact. Closet artist and Imperial student Meredith Thomas told Felix Arts all about it.

What is Artifact?

Artifact is a project I set up three years ago now, at the end of 2010, and the idea behind it was to try and promote some kind of social interaction and integration between the Royal College of Art (RCA) and Imperial College. It’s very strange because they’re so close and yet they don’t really talk at all. [RCA is located behind Beit Quad, next to the Royal Albert Hall.]

What inspired you to set it up?

I think it was the fact that I’ve always enjoyed art, and it was a bit of a wrench for me to come to Imperial. I spent most of my first year hoping I’d fail so I’d have an excuse to go and do an Art Foundation course! I also saw that there were a lot of students at Imperial who liked art but kind of felt like they had to supress it, because they couldn’t really use it or because it wasn’t that relevant to their studies.

Do you have an artistic background yourself?

Well, I always did art qualifications outside of school. I did an Art GCSE and a Graphic Design A Level at a further education college – although I got a U in Graphic Design…!

Why do you think it’s important to have something like Artifact at Imperial? I think mostly because there’s a demand for it. I basically see myself as a facilitator. I know that the RCA students are gagging to have interaction with scientists, and I know that for a lot of the PhD students, and undergraduates, they really want to be able to talk about their science, and they want to see it represented in interesting ways. I actually don’t like a lot of ‘Art Science’, a lot of it’s terrible. But I want to give people the opportunity. You find that some quite fantastic things emerge sometimes when you just give people the opportunity.

Do you think it’s been a success so far? The first year we ran it, I think it went quite well, given that it was a standing start; we had an exhibition of about seven pieces, and some of those pieces were beautiful. The last couple of years it’s been a bit up and down I think, so I’m using this year to take up the scheme again and really push it forward, and hopefully leave a big legacy before I finally leave Imperial!

Have you thought about including the Royal College of Music (RCM) as well? We have! It doesn’t fit very well into the format, but it would be nice to have a really solid year and then to start expanding the scheme. We had the Courtauld Institute involved last year, who are a small art history place at Somerset House. But it would be really nice to extend this to the RCM, yes. I’m not sure how we would fit any emerging collaborations into a gallery though – I guess we’d have to have a think!

How can Imperial students get involved in this year’s Artifact?

The launch event is Wednesday the 4th December, and it’s going to be a pub quiz based on art and science questions. We’re going to force you together into teams with artists and scientists and hopefully it will be quite fun. You’ll have a chance to talk to artists and start to maybe suggest ideas. We’ll then have a series of events throughout the start of next term, and you can come along to any of them, and try and find someone who’s perfect for you to collaborate with!

Do you have to have a background in art to get involved?

It’s definitely, definitely not essential. Almost, almost, possibly, you could say that it would help if you didn’t.

What kinds of artworks have been produced in previous collaborations?

I think my all-time favourite was an artwork called Matters of the Heart. It was a book-binder, who collaborated with a biomedical scientist. They took every slice from an MRI scan of the heart and bound them into a book, so when you opened the book you would see cross-sections through the heart, and when you closed it the whole heart would be there in ink. It was really, really gorgeous.

Would each piece normally be made by one scientist and one RCA student, or groups?

I think we’re going to leave it open for people to form any kind of group they want. Generally pairs normally work quite well, and it’s easy for people to form pairs, but if people want to form groups that’s fine as well.

Finally, what advice would you give to Imperial students looking to get more involved in art across campus?

There are lots of outlets, I think, for artistic students. Obviously, Leonardo Fine Arts Society. There are quite a few artists in residence who are worth talking to, such as Geraldine Cox in the Physics Department and Gemma Anderson in Maths. And Artifact, of course!

Artifact’s first event will be this Wednesday, 4th December at 7.30pm, and will take the form of a science and arts pub quiz in the Royal College of Art’s college bar. Everyone welcome.