elena cologni

Seeds of Attachment running from 1 September 2016 to September 2018, consists of:

-a research residency at Lowenfeld Library, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, to draw and design an object/sculpture in relation to the Lowenfeld book (1954) and Mosaic Box (1938);

– dialogic encounters, starting during  Art Language Location (10/29 October 2016) through the activation of the newly made nomadic sculpture, with parents around the city;

– the development of new body of work in collaboration with New Hall Collection, Cambridge (2017) for the exhibition ...and encounter.

Related talks: InDialogue 2016, Nottingham Contemporary, 1-2 December 2016;  Laser 17, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Westminster University, London 18 October 2016; Art Langage Location Symposium, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge 15 October 2016; New Hall Collection, 20 October with Eliza Gluckman, Susan Buckingham and Jenny Bavidge; Freud Museum, London, January 2018, and September 2018 with Susan Buckingham, introduced by Jamie Ruers; College Art Association, New York, February 2019. Further iterations are planned and will be added as well.

The activities aim at understanding the emotional, psycho-geographical condition of motherhood, and its possible economic implications in society. Seeds Of Attachment ultimately points to the crucial role of various forms of dialogue (even prelinguistic, non verbal and tacit) in the construction of identity in relation to places (attachment and belonging) and the experience of infant-mother attachment. A very basic and yet crucial stage in people’s lives, their relation to their land in the everyday, is currently becoming ever so unstable for so many. A mass migration of unprecedented dimensions, the impact of which is difficult to predict, but we can try to understand as most of us might have moved away from the very first place they knew, to another city, county, region or country. This activity will widen and consolidate the scope of a consistent artistic practice into place attachment (individual’s experience) and belonging (the others’ perception), in sculptural formats to also underline the importance of physically sharing artistic processes and experiences, from a woman’s viewpoint.

The project is awarded a Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England, and generously supported by all partners involved