Kettle’s Yard Welcomes Visitors via Webcam

Cambridge’s celebrated Kettle’s Yard House and Gallery, the former home of founder Jim Ede, has installed a webcam to provide a live stream of the property.

With the house and gallery currently closed to the public, the webcam will also people to ‘visit’ Kettle’s Yard virtually and in real-time for the duration of its closure.

The webcam is situated on the first floor of the Kettle’s Yard cottages, in the area known as the ‘bridge’. Here, Jim Ede created a small conservatory filled with plants, spherical glass fishing floats (used for holding up nets), pebbles, shells and artworks.

In the sitting room adjacent to the bridge, Ede also installed a spiral staircase illuminated by a double-height window. This part of the House is both shadowy and light-filled, enabling virtual visitors to trace the light changes throughout the day. The webcam will broadcast one frame every eight seconds, from 5.30am until 8.30pm daily.

The wide-angled shot takes in a number of artworks and objects, including Gregorio Vardanega’s suspended Perspex Disc, which refracts light and rotates with subtle movements of the air, as well as his smaller Spherical Construction, nestled among the plants in the top right corner. To the left is a tall pot by William Staite Murray, called The Heron, and a small still-life by Ben Nicholson, titled 1944 (mugs).

Visible in the sitting room beyond is an ancient amphora, bought in the Sahara desert when Ede was living in Tangier, and a Japanese silk lantern. In certain light levels it will also be possible to see two new glass works by Linder that were installed as part of the exhibition ‘Linderism’, which opened at Kettle’s Yard on February 15, 2020.

The initiative was developed in response to an Instagram comment from a member of the public and sits alongside Kettle’s Yard’s existing virtual tour of the House.

Andrew Nairne, Director of Kettle’s Yard, said, “We hope audiences, existing and new, will enjoy this ‘live’ glimpse into the Kettle’s Yard House. The play of natural light and the many plants in the House mean it is ever changing and alive, even when visitors are not animating these special rooms.”