Students in Cambridge are ditching traditional posters and Blu Tack in favour of adorning their rooms with professional works of art.
For almost 70 years, Kettle’s Yard gallery in Cambridge has loaned framed art, from creatives like Ai Weiwei, to students from the city’s universities for a £20 fee.
Sarah Kleinmoedhie, 22, a Politics student at the University of Cambridge who was one of about 100 who collected a piece this year, said: “It makes for such a good conversation starter when your friends come to your room.”
The museum has said every piece has been returned despite some being brought back later than planned, including one borrowed by Stephen Hawking.
Naomi Polonsky, Kettle’s Yard assistant curator, said: “The reason we know he [Hawking] participated in this scheme is that he is listed in the log for late returns… it did eventually come back to Kettle’s Yard.”
The loan scheme was established by art collector and curator Jim Ede, who founded Kettle’s Yard in the 1950s.
He believed “young people could be at home unhampered by the greater austerity of the museum or public art gallery”.