Mutable Solutions by CJ Mahony at One Granta, Cambridge

CAS *Consultancy was appointed by BioMed Realty to deliver a public art commission for One Granta, Granta Park’s latest state-of-the-art research building at the Cambridge campus. BioMed was interested in commissioning a local artist to develop an artwork that could humanise the space, creating a sense of welcome with a work that explores life sciences research.

Cambridge-based artist CJ Mahony has developed a site-responsive work for the building atrium. Mutable Solutions draws on Mahony’s research into crystallography and its relationship to life sciences.

Taking the form of two large aluminium panels into which crystal forms have been partially laser cut and then hand-manipulated, the work presents a faceted relief surface that catches the light in the atrium, casting shadows that suggest shifting three dimensional forms. The commission brings themes from the artist’s practice, such as folding and unfolding spaces, crystallisation, and transitional states, into dialogue with the multiple vantage points offered by the atrium space and the scientific activities abundant across Granta Park. 

Granta Park is an important estate in one of the world’s most dynamic life sciences clusters. Home to leading companies including Gilead Sciences, Altos Labs, Illumina, Pfizer and PPD, the current estate offers 120 acres of inspirational surroundings in rural Cambridgeshire for a population of over 2,500 people working at the cutting edge of biomedical research.   

Mahony’s practice includes installation, object-making and speculative fiction. Their work aims to decentralise the viewing subject, shifting them to the side to allow other agents and agencies to slide into and out of view and grasp. As the viewer moves in relation to the work, alternative modes of being present and relating are suggested, and new spaces open up to imagine the hidden life of the visible world. 

CJ Mahony lives and works in Cambridge, having studied Sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art and completing their MA at Camberwell College of Art in 2012. They have undertaken a large number of publicly funded commissions, including Tate, National Theatre Scotland, ITV, National Trust, Cambridge Junction and Opera North. Their work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions internationally and the UK. In 2010, CJ co-founded Aid & Abet, an artist-run project space in Cambridge, which they co-directed until 2014. CJ works as a tutor, mentor and lecturer, and has a studio at Wysing Arts Centre.