Taking place between 9 - 27 July 2024, 'learn from a bird' was a rare opportunity to discover more about the unique creative collaborations taking place between artists, researchers, students, and staff, from the University of Exeter and Falmouth University at the Penryn Campus.
You can download and read the full programme with further notes about all the exhibitions here.
learn from a bird featured an engaging mix of photography, video, audio, textiles, sculpture, and visual art, as each week Grays Wharf Gallery in Penryn showcased a new collaboration by researchers and students from the University of Exeter, Cornwall and Falmouth University.
Week One: 9th - 13th July
Mapping Emergence
FX Creative Exchange '23
By Dr Catarina Fontoura and Dr Thomas O'Shea-Wheller
A captivating series of photographs and film from the 2023 FX Creative Exchange Mapping Emergence which brought together Dr Thomas O’Shea Wheller from the University of Exeter’s Environment and Sustainability Institute, and Dr Catarina Fontoura from the Falmouth University’s Institute of Photography. The project combined artistic and scientific approaches to create collaborative artworks with a diverse array of ant species across Cornwall, using non-toxic inks to visually represent behavioural traces produced by colonies.
Week Two: 16th - 20th July
Movement is Natural
By Iman Datoo
During week three, Grays Wharf played host to Movement is Natural, an exhibition of work by artist Iman Datoo incorperating video-work, sculpture, maps, and audio, to challenge misconceptions about soil health in Cornwall’s mining tips and pits. Work exhibited included commissions from the University of Exeter’s Environment and Sustainability Institute and Radical Ecology, in addition to those stemming from the research residency titled Making Kin with Soil, undertaken in collaboration with the Eden Project and University of Exeter, Cornwall.
Week Three: 23rd - 27th July
FX Creative Together '24
By Joern AW, Catrin Dunn, Chloé Eathorne, Isabella Field, Ben Pisacane, Sky Shah, Nao Szulc and Georgina Umney
FX Creative Together '23
By Ed Hart, Joseph Mathers, Vee Moretti and Toby Sadgrove
Rounding off the month-long exhibition, the Arts and Culture team showcased creative outputs from one of their newest programmes FX Creative Together. Since 2023 the team have supported six collaborations between Exeter and Falmouth University students in partnership with Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS Cornwall), The Centre for Ecology and Conservation (CEC), and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DEES) University of Exeter, Cornwall.
Capitalising on the rich inter-disciplinary environment of the Penryn campus, the theme for 2024 was 'Living Systems'. The exhibition showcased creative outputs generated as a result of collaborations between a Human Sciences student and a Drawing student, a Marine Biologist and a Journalism and Creative Writing student, a Zoologist is collaborating with a sound specialist from BA Film and a Business and Environment student worked with a Dancer and Choreographer. Also on display were products of last year's collaborations between a Politics and International Relations student and a Music Technologist, together with a Fashion student and a History and Politics student.
Finding new and creative ways to work together is the aim and both the FX Creative Exchange and FX Creative Together are opening up wonderful new conversations for researchers and students alike. We hope very much for these projects to continue to flourish.
Throughout the three week exhibition, audiences were also able to see work related to Tender Acts, a year-long project, commissioned by Arts and Culture, University of Exeter, designed to invite curious acts and to connect people who study or work on Penryn Campus. The title of the month show was taken from one of their artworks.
Collaboration is hard, many of us find it hard to compromise, but these exhibitors have all found a way to connect through creativity. At the opening events, when the artists and researchers talk about their work, we have the chance to tune into their secrets to success or understand their struggles as well as find out about their creative, intellectual and emotional processes – how did they combine their passions, imagination and skills to make work together?
learn from a bird was curated by the University of Exeter’s, Arts and Culture team in Cornwall in partnership with the Environment and Sustainability Institute and Falmouth University.
University of Exeter
Room 153, Queen's Building
The Queen's Drive
Exeter EX4 4QH
