Best of Nottingham: Nottingham Contemporary

Nottingham has a rich independent and creative scene; Nottingham Contemporary plays a big part in this showcasing the work of some of the most interesting artists around.

Opening its doors in 2009 Nottingham Contemporary was purpose built to become one of the leading centres for contemporary art in Britain. It has recently housed shows from contemporary artists such as Mark Lecky, Simon Starling, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and Francis Uptrichard as well as exhibitions reflecting on artists and works from the past that inform current ideas and issues within fine art, politics, the environment and local history.

The building itself was designed by architects Caruso St. John that is built on one of the oldest sites in the city. They made sure to include some of Nottingham’s lace industry heritage too with the outside concrete panels having a lace pattern cast into them.

Nottingham Contemporary hold all sorts of events from gigs, tours, talks and their private views are the place to be when a new show opens for the first time, best of all it’s all free!
As supporters, we are invited to Director’s talks before the shows open to the public to hear more about how the exhibitions came together and meet the artists involved.

Recently we enjoyed a live performance: Remko Scha’s The Machines presented by TG Gallery (where we met Tom and Josh who modelled for us earlier this season). The ‘Machines’ were a group of dials that controlled the intensity of jigsaw power tools that were linked to lengths of rope across a frame to play suspended electric guitars. Over an hour they had surprisingly produced atmospheric sounds and rhythms that you would have thought would be coming from a human played instrument.

It is well worth a visit even if you aren’t into modern art, they make sure there is something for everyone.


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