Zata Banks FRSA and Joe Banks, The Act of CreationJon Cooper

Art, Language, Location (ALL) is a contemporary and experimental arts festival at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), held between the 13th and 29th October. Given that Cambridge is generally not well catered for in this regard, this little-known festival is a genuinely exciting, grassroots project that aims to create a space for innovative and experimental artists to exhibit in the city. The project is funded mainly by ARU, Cambridge Festival of Ideas and Art Council England, and it is sponsored by Cambridge Assessment.

I met Robert Good, Chair of the ALL2016 committee, to discuss the history and inspirations of the project, and to find out a little more about what would be exhibiting this year. Upon my confused entry to the ARU foyer, Robert took me through a labyrinth of corridors before we entered the School of Art, a further corridor where two students were filming a video, and the floor was covered in a mixture of charcoal and baby powder. The walls were a work-in-progress, with John Ruskin quotes in pencilled serif typeface ready to be painted. Robert hands out some coffee (prudently purchasing a white Americano for me), while somebody notices the floor has become a little slippery. After a short discussion of whether a caution sign might be necessary to abide by health and safety regulations, it was decided to cordon off the area via a red plastic sheet.

The room was redolent of my own eighties state comprehensive, harking back to ARU’s days as a polytechnic. But whatever it lacked in pomposity, it had in authenticity – a far cry from the disinterested glances at the recently-installed Henry Moore sculpture in the well-structured courts of my college, engaged and interested artists were repurposing space and seemingly having fun. A little scattered, not grand; but involved, participatory and meaningful – as we walk through to the main exhibition room at Ruskin Gallery, the scene begins to make a little more sense.

Daniel Cockburn, Roundtableartlanguagelocation.org

Having originally attended Oxford “about a million years ago”, Robert founded the ALL project in 2012, after graduating as a mature student at ARU. Interested in language, and tired of proposals being turned down, ALL was founded with no money and no space to the call its own. Call outs were requested via social media, and in its first year, works were scattered around the city with no fixed location. The point was clear: to bring experimental and contemporary art to Cambridge with a link to language – contextualised by its location, to keep it fresh, and “to make art, not become event managers”.

The emphasis here is definitely on art. Robert tells me that this is the first year pieces have been curated: spotting a power balance between the artist and creator, the aim had been to empower the former. This year, the festival is practicing what Robert calls “curation lite”, but expresses his concern about institutionalisation, with committee roles and having to turn people down due to an increasing number of submissions. Another risk comes from the festival now having a fixed home at ARU: while there was value of artistic interruption in the ordinary life of Cambridge residents, it’s now more accessible to see all of the pieces. The aim is to continue to keep the project fresh, relevant and grassroots, and it’s clear that despite changes, Robert isn’t prone to losing his vision.

Over forty artists are exhibiting at ALL this year. Rosanna Greaves, a Fine Art lecturer, tells me how she is making use of the entrance to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (part of the Cambridge Judge Business School) with text that is projected onto a gold leaf canopy, considering the social construct of currency and the illusion of monetary value being placed in the material, against digital currencies that transcend the material. Walking through the campus, we also bump into Chris Alton, who is installing a commemorative plaque on a bench in a courtyard, reading: “If it could, this sign would take you by the hand and speak to you in their voice”.

Mark Langley, mimic:chorusartlanguagelocation.org

Highlights of the exhibition include Daniel Cockburn’s Roundtable, a “polyphonic monologue” featuring simultaneous monologues delivered with synchronised syllabic rhythms, “hoping like a prayer to be heard”, a remote performance by Female Laptop Orchestra described as a “telematics sonic performance using Internet, bi-directional streaming, mobile streaming”, and a downloadable walking tour of Cambridge based on Japanese forest cemetery Okunoin by Kenji Lim. The point of these experimental arts is to be reflective about contemporary society. Les Monaghan will be showing portrait photographs from his community in Syria, while Ana Mendes will be conducting a performance on digital identity.

The performance side of ALL’s exhibits take place at the ShowTime! Symposium on the 15th October, a day event including both Female Laptop Orchestra and Ana Mendes, with other pieces including interactive digital projections and an “eco-opera” on a spiral staircase. The talks, discussions and performances will be moderated by writer and curator Tom Morton. In addition, over at ELAN (Experimental Local Area Network), a studio at Mill Park by the train station, Philip Cornett and Paul Kindersley (among others) will be forming a fictional estate agent, Lotusland Estates – combining mixed media, video and performance art to explore the relationships between land development and spaces for art in society.

The downside to Robert and the ALL team’s commitment to making and exhibiting art, rather than the nitty-gritty details of event management and publicity, is that this incredibly worthwhile and needed contribution to cultural life in Cambridge is easy to miss.

ALL runs from 13th – 29th October. Book tickets for the ShowTime! Symposium and find more info at: artlanguagelocation.org