The students represented in this catalogue are 14 individuals who by an unpredictable and complex chain of events have found themselves for a short time sharing the same bus. They are now about to continue their journey in some other way; independent, and subject to a new set of rules and contingencies. For most their onward journey is unclear, a state which must be both daunting and exciting. For this I wish them every luck and success, and hope that their time at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College has adequately prepared them for the challenges and rewards ahead.

In calling their exhibition SOUP they seem to be acknowledging their differences above their similarities, and the randomness of their coming together. And is this not the way of things? It is not what we choose but it is what happens. On the bed of chance surprises are conceived, discoveries made, tended and directed. We teach that there are no certainties, only questions. The cyclical movement from chaos to order to chaos is the order of the universe. For a moment in the uncontainable history of the cosmos, humankind is trying to take control and appears from time to time to be able to stand outside the natural order of things. But it is perhaps the artist who is first or most ready to let go and say I don't know and embrace a different view of the world.

SOUP is an exhibition of 14 explorations, testing and squeezing some kind of meaning or purpose from the world. 14 cosmologies. 14 butterflies beating their wings.

Alan Franklin Course Tutor