An art project inspired by the history of Newnham College has been unveiled.
Award-winning artist Sinta Tantra was commissioned by the women’s college to create an installation stretching the length of the historic red brick corridor between the Kennedy Building and Peile Hall.
Newnham is a series of elegant halls linked by corridors and set around the College’s gardens. The corridors are an important feature of the College and Newnham is believed to be home to the second longest continuous corridor in Europe.
The artwork and light installation combines striking coloured geometric motifs on the inner walls and a series of stunning hand-blown glass pendants suspended from the ceiling. It is titled ‘A Means of Liberation’ which references a quote by 20th century artist Henri Matisse, ‘Colour even more than drawing, is a means of liberation’.
Motifs, shapes and colours for the installation were inspired by histories and stories of and from Newnham – the Newnham crest, the curved architectural lines of the building and objects and artefacts from the college archive.
The result is an artwork that becomes immersive and activated as people walk through.
As light falls on the pendants and panels, pools of coloured light crescendo and dim at various points of the day. By incorporating the original brickwork into the installation, Tantra looks at spaces in between, layering the past with the present.
The corridor project was formally opened by Dame Carol Black, Principal, at a special ceremony on Friday (Jan 29) which was attended by Tantra, Fellows, staff, students and special guests.
She said: “The artwork has transformed the busy corridor and turned it into a reflective space. The project combines the language of industry – as seen in the machine cut wall panels – as well as traditional craft, as demonstrated by the hand-blown pendants.”
Tantra is known for her colourful site-specific works in the public realm, both in the UK and internationally. She creates her designs on the computer first, often working with teams of people on what she describes as ‘painting on an architectural scale’.
She said: “I create works that celebrate the spectacle, questioning the decorative, functional and social role of art. My work is an ‘overlay’ which insets its identity with the pre-existing – heightening a sense of fantasy within the functional.”
Photo caption: Artist Sinta Tantra in the foreground with her art installation behind her in the corridor between Kennedy and Peile.