UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS (2020) is a project bringing together patient ambassadors for Blood Cancer UK and stem cell researchers working at the Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre. Through a series of stop-motion animation workshops held via Zoom, participants developed hand-cut animation sequences exploring their experiences of ‘the unknown’ in relation to living with blood cancer, the challenges of research and the global uncertainties of Covid-19. Animation materials included paper, velvet and issues of National Geographic published in 1960, the year Blood Cancer UK officially became a charity.
Commissioned by the Wellcome - MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute as part of its Public Engagement programme, project outcomes include an animated film featuring participants’ stop-motion sequences (Futuramic Unknown, 2020) and an installation for the Jeffery Cheah Biomedical Center at Cambridge Biomedical Campus (The Night the Mountains Moved, 2020).
Circuit: Unlock Cambridge
Alternative Tours
Kettle’s Yard and Wysing Art Centre (2015)
Alternative Tours was a tour of hidden, unusual and unknown spaces to find out what lies behind the high walls and locked doors in Cambridge. Designed using fictional facts and site-responsive performances, this interactive walk was developed in collaboration with Circuit members Joe Lyward and Lou Greenwell.
Alternative Tours: Expect the Unexpected trailer:
Post-project blog by Circuit member Joe Lyward:
“A dreamlike walk through the secrets of the city. A mad poetic tour. I still can’t get my head around what tourists on the tour might be telling their grandchildren in China or Poland."
Alternative Tour participant, Rasmus Nielsen (SUPERFLEX)