Sat 23 Mar 2024 (10am – 4pm) – Sun 24 Mar 2024 (11am – 4pm)
CCI are collaborating with artist Hilary Cox Condron and Cambridge Carbon Footprint to create an awesome space for community imagination in front of King's College, as part of this year’s Cambridge Festival.
Join us for a free weekend of stories, ideas, creativity and hands-on activities as we ask “What Would Nature Do?” to build a greener, fairer and more connected future together.
Nature has regenerated itself over billions of years - and our living ecosystems adapt, repair and build the future every day. Yet the pursuit of endless growth is putting the natural world upon which we all depend under extreme stress. So how can we be more attentive to the lessons nature teaches us to create a more balanced and sustainable life? Our Cambridge ecosystem is an interconnected community where we all - from fungus and families to trees and technicians - can make important contributions, BIG and small.
Come and be inspired as we seed ideas and root practical action alongside local experts. Watch everyday objects be regenerated in the Repair Cafe and cultivate connections with artists, campaigners and innovators as together we reimagine and build a future that’s teeming with life and guided by nature.
Timings
Nature inspired creativity supported by artist Hilary Cox Condron and colleagues, alongside immersive experiences including a specially created soundscape and mycelium inspired artwork created by Cambridge children and young people. Drop-in. Sat 10am - 4pm, Sun 11am - 4pm.
Nature’s Song - premiere of a new song by award winning folk group ‘Young Uns’. Created with children from Wilburton Primary School, the song describes the joy of discovering nature as an ‘Artscaper’, the practice of being creative outdoors pioneered by Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination. The song will be performed on Saturday at 2pm by Sean Cooney from the Young Uns and musician Emily Portman with children from the school.
Sean and Emily will also perform nine other songs written with Cambridgeshire children, as part of ‘When Cambridgeshire Sings’, a collaborative project supported by Historic England
Repair Cafe: Bring along your broken toys, bikes, electricals and all sorts of household items for a free repair. Book here (limited drop-in slots available). Sat 10am - 2pm, Sun 1pm - 4pm.
Pink Bin Dive: a guided session for children to dismantle discarded electronics, explore and repurpose their components. Drop-in. Sat 2.30 - 4pm, Sun 11am - 12:30pm.
The 11am sessions on Sunday will be part of the Festival's Access Hour.
The Imaginarium Takeover is part of the Cambridge University’s Cambridge Festival and is hosted and facilitated by Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination and artist Hilary Cox Condron. This is the fourth Imaginarium to be commissioned by the University of Cambridge - details of the past events and a new resource to help others host their own are here.
With thanks to King's College for welcoming us so warmly.
Fantastical Forest – a unique display of beautiful artworks created with communities
Displayed for the first time in Cambridge, this collection of hangings will be hung throughout the Imaginarium. Featuring extraordinary illustrations of our local natural world, the collection has been co-created with 20 communities and 8 artists over the last 3 years.
Nature’s Song - premiere of a new song by award winning folk group ‘Young Uns’.
Created with children from Wilburton Primary School, the song describes the joy of discovering nature as an ‘Artscaper’, the practice of being creative outdoors pioneered by Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination. The song will be performed on Saturday at 2pm by Sean Cooney from the Young Uns and musician Emily Portman with children from the school.
Sean and Emily will also perform nine other songs written with Cambridgeshire children, as part of ‘When Cambridgeshire Sings’, a collaborative project supported by Historic England
A Hidden World – a specially created soundscape
Immerse into the hidden sounds of the natural world recorded here in King’s College and across our City in this specially created soundscape.
The piece draws from the extraordinary collection of nature recordings by wildlife sound recordist William Seale, a Cambridge resident who has been listening to the natural world on his doorstep for over 45 years. Listen-in to an extraordinary world: from a burying beetle to the drumming of wasps, a Helvella fungus to peacock butterfly and many more. Each magical and mesmerising and now layered here to offer an extraordinary new sound experience. Created by sonic artist Jake Ziegler.
The World Beneath Our Feet
Scientist Dr Jen McGaley and her colleagues are bringing their microscopes so we can marvel at the extraordinary examples of tiny fungi that create an underground canopy of threads supporting life above ground.
Samples gathered in the gardens of King’s College by children and young people from Abbey, Arbury and King’s Hedges and from the paths and woods near Addenbrooke’s Hospital will also be shared, alongside creative work made in response. Over 80 people to date have been involved in these investigations of the underground threads that connect our city.
Meet the Regenerators
A collection of stories of local regenerators doing extraordinary work across our city and beyond. Gathered by artist-writers Gabby Arenge and Emily Dowdeswell.
The Connect Space
Come and chat to friendly people from: Parents for the Future & Cambridge Mothers CAN, Camcycle, South Cambs District Council’s Zero Carbon Communities Team, County Council’s Shared Waste Team, Cambridge Sustainable Food, Transition Cambridge, SHEDDIT - Library of Things, Cambridge Nature Network, Damitra the Home Upcycler, On The Verge Cambridge & Pesticide Free Cambridge, Flight Free UK, Cambridge Access Surgery Garden Project, Natural Cambridgeshire.
Reimagine and Regenerate
Inspired by all the wonders of The Imaginarium, Regenerator stories and the natural world around us - everyone is invited to join Hilary Cox Condron, Imaginarium Creative Producer, and fellow artist Selena Scott for some regenerative creativity as we reimagine a more balanced and connected future. We will be asking ‘What Would Nature Do?’ as we transform and recycle the everyday into a huge 3D artwork bursting with nature and regenerator hopes, ideas and stories . Because how can we adapt to a greener, fairer and more regenerative city if we can’t even begin to imagine it…