‘What or Who is Your Travelling Companion?’ Seminar held in conjunction with exhibition ‘Travelling Companions’ University of Cambridge, March 2020


Art at Alison Richard Building, University of Cambridge
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Science meets humanities in this seminar that explored the notion of ‘travelling companions’. Held in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Travelling Companions’ by Fay Ballard and Judy Goldhill in the ARB gallery space, this seminar invited the public to join an interdisciplinary panel to discuss how familiar objects can act as emotional and intellectual travelling companions, both in actual time and as remembered (internalised) objects, their function and the stories they tell changing over the course of a life time. From a personal belonging charged with significance to a star guiding us across the globe, the seminar investigated this theme. Speakers comprised:  

Dr Ro Spankie: Curator of ‘Travelling Companions’. Designer, teacher and researcher and a Principal Lecturer at the University of Westminster. Ro is author of ‘An Anecdotal Guide to Sigmund Freud’s Desk’ (Freud Museum London).

Judy Goldhill: Artist ‘Travelling Companions’: Judy is a photographer, maker of films and artist’s books and artist in residence at the Physics and Astronomy Department, University College London. Recent exhibition ‘Breathe’ Freud Museum London 2018, and ‘R’akia’ screened at the Venice Biennale as part of the ‘Alive in The Universe’ project, 2019.

Fay Ballard: Artist ‘Travelling Companions’: Fay makes drawings and recent exhibitions ‘Breathe’ Freud Museum London and ‘Transylvanian Florilegium’, National Gallery, Romania, 2018. Fay was Visiting Artist Hammersmith Hospital 2017 & 2018, and sits on Arts & Health Committee, Imperial NHS.

Sarah Pickman: BA Anthropology, University of Chicago and MA Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, Bard Graduate Center, USA. Sarah is currently researching material culture of exploration and travel based at Yale University. 

Revd Dr Ayla Lepine: Assistant Curate, St James’s Piccadilly, London, a former curator at the National Gallery, and lecturer in art history and architectural history (Courtauld Institute of Art and Nottingham University). Ayla trained for priesthood at Westcott House Cambridge and was ordained in 2019. 

Dr Ana Araujo: Architect, teacher and researcher at the Architectural Association, she completed her PhD at UCL in 2009 and is interested in the relationship between architecture and psychoanalysis.  Ana is currently working on a book on the American designer Florence Knoll.

Stephen M. Pompea:  Observatory Scientist, NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, Tucson Arizona. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Leiden and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Arizona. 

Benjamin Weil: PhD candidate researching blood donor activism surrounding the exclusion of men who have sex with men (MSM) from blood donation at University College London. Interests include; Science and Technology Studies; Queer Studies; Queer Science and Technology Studies; HIV/AIDS; Risk; Sex and Porn Studies; Citizenship Studies; Affect/Emotions; Social Movements.