Cornford & Cross are a collaborative pair of UK artists. Matthew Cornford and David Cross began working together while studying at

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...

in 1987, graduating from the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

in 1991. They have produced installations for City Limits, EAST International, and In the Midst of Things. Their project, ''Childhood’s End'', was produced by Film and Video Umbrella and purchased by the

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museum ...

br>
in 2001. Their work has been exhibited in the UK at the Bluecoat Gallerybr>
of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, the

Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA) is a contemporary art gallery which is based in Sunderland, England. The gallery focuses on producing exhibitions of new work by emerging and established regional, national and international artists. ...

, the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an modernism, artistic and cultural centre on The Mall (London), The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps a ...

The Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established ...

, and the

South London Gallery The South London Gallery, founded 1891, is a public-funded gallery of contemporary art in Camberwell, London. Until 1992, it was known as the South London Art Gallery, and nowadays the acronym SLG is often used. Margot Heller became its direct ...

. Their work has also been displayed in the United States at the Basekamp Gallery of Philadelphia, the Marcel Sitcoske Gallery of San Francisco, and the Nikolai Fine Art gallery of New York City. In 2000 they held an

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

residency at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, and in 2004 a

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

artists’ residency in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, China.

Selected works

Their 1996 work ''Camelot'', provoked local controversy after the artists erected steel security fencing around grass areas in Albion Square,

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

as part of a public commission. In 1998, for ''10'', they advertised in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

for contestants to take part in a beauty contest. A computer analysed photographs of the participants and picked out the most symmetrical faces. The enlarged images of the winners were put in order of their 'percentage of beauty'.Cutting Edge Women's Research Group, ''Digital Desires: Language, Identity and New Technologies'', I.B.Tauris, 2000, pp6-7.

References

External links

Cornford & Cross official site''The Lost Horizon'' exhibit (2003)''Where is the Work?'' exhibit (2005 - 2006)
Living people British contemporary artists British installation artists Art duos Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-artist-stub