Aid and Abet

Aid and Abet is an artist centred, peer led organization and provides a testing ground in the form of a warehouse for artistic contemporary practice and an opportunity to develop concepts and ideas. It was co-founded by Sarah Evans, David Kefford and CJ Mahony in 2009. They try to distance them selves from traditional works of public art, usually bronze sculptures, to create dynamic and innovative art works. Their work is very conceptual and tries to develop an alternative response from the viewer. This organization commissions artists to create public works of art whether that be in collaboration with other artists or solo sculptures. The warehouse which is based in Cambridge near the railway station brings artists together and encourages the exchanging of creativity, ideas and socializing. In this space exhibitions are also held, these exhibitions are temporary like some of the public art created by their artists. Many people have preconceptions of public art being permanent sculptures but the use of projection art is a temporary form of public art used David Ward. 

The artists include David Ward who uses 'projection' and lighting in much of his work, he created a temporary light projection for the iconic mill building at the centre of the CB1 site.

Antoni Malinowski uses this idea of using natural light by using materials like glass. On of his public pieces consists of hundreds of small glass inserts across the brickwork of the new student accommodation which responds to the changing light with reflections and shadows that create a large subtle drawing on the surface of the building. 

Dryden Goodwin is known for his intricate drawings, often in combination with photography, film, large-scale screen-based installations and soundtracks. One of his ideas for a series of possible future public art pieces consists of faces of people he has sketched in Cambridge, his idea is then to transfer these sketches on to metal plates and position them near the train station on the pavement. Usually we think of drawing as a traditional, flat medium and is not associated with public art because of this. I like the way he has created an unlikely combination between the contemporary nature of his pieces and the traditional way they are created using sketching. A very traditional way of recording observations.

Jem Finer's supercomputer is a functioning computer made from a series of beautifully constructed and designed pipes, enclosed in a glass fronted pavilion, similar to the mainframe computers of the 1970s. Much of the work is experimental and on a personal level seems quite contrived. 

I found the talk quite rewarding as it gave me an insight into public works of art. It opened my eyes to the fact that public art industry is no longer just traditional sculptures but can take on many other forms of mediums from lighting through to integrating new technologies. Public art is moving away from traditions to more experimental and contemporary pieces. It was also fascinating to find out that any new large scale building that uses outdoor public space need to allocate 10% of their budget in to creating art as an integral part of the architecture. This is really good news for artists all around the country because it encourages artists to create new and interesting works of art, new creative ideas are having to be developed as new construction is developing. Before our talk from a couple of members of Aid and Abet I didn't realize quite how experimental and conceptual public art is now. I appreciate the beauty of contemporary sculptures with in public art and like some of the new ideas this company's artists are developing however I don't think Aid and Abet's work necessarily translate very well into public art because it is too experimental and conceptual in some areas where the sculptures are not visually pleasing or provoke a response from the public like other contemporary artist I like such as Antony Gormley or louise bourgeois.