Twilight at the Museums is an annual event organised by the University of Cambridge Museums and supported by funding from Arts Council England. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Twilight in 2016, there was a special animation projected on to the walls of Cambridge museums. This art project was supported by S106 funding from Cambridgeshire City Council and was delivered by the University of Cambridge Museums in partnership with Babylon ARTS, artist Zoe Chamberlain and animator James Baker.
Twilight at the Museums is a free after-hours event for families offering a range of drop-in and bookable hands-on activities. The evening aims to provide young visitors and their families with a different and inspiring way to explore museums. The experience is very much about travelling from one museum to another, to try and see new things. With this in mind time spent outside is equally important.
This animation project involved working with targeted primary schools to develop an animation that was projected onto the buildings as part of Twilight at the Museums programming.
Working with local animator James Baker and public artist Zoe Chamberlain, the school groups visited the museums and created artworks based on the hugely diverse collections, from planetariums to penguins. The children’s work was developed into an animated film that was projected onto the buildings in a roving light installation between the museums. Cambridge’s facades were temporarily transformed into lively gallery spaces with the museum collections stepping out of the confines of the buildings, and onto the streets in the form of the children’s artwork.
Babylon ARTS provided the bespoke bike projector that was developed as part of the KickstART project, extending the resources and experience that were gained through this work. The projection will take place on the evening of Twilight at the Museums 2016, to which all the children and their families will be invited.
The aim of this project was to excite and inspire children who have limited access to Cambridge’s ‘cultural offer’ and engage them in an outreach programme as part of Twilight at the Museums.
This project brought together schools, cultural organisations and creative practitioners in order to provide children with the opportunity create a piece of public art and be part of a city-wide cultural event.
