Nottingham Contemporary

The summer holidays are here, and we are more than ready to play! 🙌 You and your family are invited to join us to create, make, and play in a fun sensory soundscape. By exploring different ways of making sound, we will collaboratively find the beat and create the rhythm. 🔊 So, make sure you bring all your bruhaha, hullabaloo, and rumpus to add to the mix! Our workshops are drop-in; however, we invite you to book a space for your session as spaces are limited. 🎟️ And don’t forget about our Free Family Saturday Workshops happening throughout June & July. These are a series of directed workshops taking place in Gallery Zero with the theme of collaboration; exploring our galleries and creating with others. 💭 Summer Family Activities: Cattywampus! 📅 Tue 30 Jul – Thu 22 Aug 🎟️ Book your free place via the link in our bio Image Credit: Ismail Khokon [ID: Two children with a parent or carer and workshop facilitator are in the centre of the photo. They are chatting and playing in the middle of a family workshop. On the left-hand side of the photo, at the back of the room, an adult is playing with a toddler whilst sitting on a bean bag. There are seats, tables and toys spread out around the room.]

Some of our favourite prints in stock at Shop Contemporary Our print rack is full of beautiful artworks to brighten up your home, and we have a small curated selection available on our online shop too. If you’re a printmaker yourself, applications are open for our October Print Fair - find out more at the link in our bio! [ID: 1. A print of the Peak District by Dick Vincent 2.A print of Grace Jones by Kim-A-Tron 3. A print of The Life Aquatic poster byJoshua Budich for Wall Editions 4. A print of people with lemon heads by Edwina Kung]

Our galleries have been a hive of activity over the last few weeks with lots of events taking place within our exhibition spaces, bringing them to life in new ways. Tomorrow, NWAKKE will facilitate a creative sound and movement session inviting participants to make, move and listen in response to guided meditation and written prompts. This interactive set has a focus on giving and sharing space, presence and connection - come as you are or feel free to bring your own instruments to join in. 📅 Tue 2 Jul, 6.30pm–7.30pm 🎟️ Free tickets at the link in our bio [ID: a poster for iamlistening now with an image of NWAKKE seen from behind with bright pink and orange hair]

Dead Cat Bounce, a performance in collaboration with Gary Zhexi Zhang and Waste Paper Opera, is coming soon and we can't wait! Set in the strange light of uncertain times, "Dead Cat Bounce" narrates a tale of unpayable debts, entangled histories, and recurring jokes. Presented within a sculptural setting, the act unfolds as an oratorio, a baroque style of performance where instruments and vocals are used to convey a sacred narrative. Musically, the work is loosely based on Jomelli's "Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah," reimagined through Waste Paper Opera's method, which fuses the ludicrous with the sacred, blending spontaneous elements with composed segments. 💭 Feedback Loop: Dead Cat Bounce by Waste Paper Opera 🎟️ Book your free place via the link in our bio 📅 Thu 25 Jul, 6.30pm–8pm [ID: Title graphic and image, showing a photograph of a stage set up with several microphones on stands, speakers and musical instruments positioned across the stage. The stage is in a grand room showing two white pillars from floor to ceiling at either side of the stage. The photo has a blue tint and a gothic font of the title; Dead Cat Bounce in the middle of the image.]

In Focus: Hamid Zénati - Algerian Independence Hamid Zénati's birth country of Algeria endured 132 years of colonisation under French rule starting from the French capture of Algiers in 1830 and continuing until the end of the brutal 8 year revolutionary war in 1962. Hamid turned 18 the same year that Algeria won their independence and the nation set about forging a distinct Algerian identity and national culture after more than a century of European rule, and a new era of Algerian Modernism was born. There's a section of Gallery 3 exploring the context of Algerian independence, including a copy of Samia Henni's publication 'Colonial Toxicity: Rehearsing French Nuclear Architecture and Landscape in the Sahara' If you’d like to learn more about Algerian history and Hamid Zénati’s experience, join us for a special walkthrough with historian Sheyda Aisha Khaymaz who contributed some of the explanatory captions in this section of our galleries. 📆 Wed 24 July, 1pm 🎟 Book at nottinghamcontemporary.org [ID: a series of photos of Samia Henni's book 'Colonial Toxicity: Rehearsing French Nuclear Architecture and Landscape in the Sahara' on a plinth in a gallery. The images in the book show scenes from the Sahara]

You still have time to book your free ticket to the upcoming 1525 Collective event; The Lyceum 🙌 The collective have been preparing talks and conversational topics focused around arts in education, non-mainstream education, creative failure, activism, and much more for this two-part event series. The audience are invited to ask questions and share experiences, expanding the exploration of these topics. 💭 1525 presents The Lyceum, aimed at 15-25 year olds 📅Thu 18th & 25th July, 5.30pm-7.30pm 🎟️ Book your free place via the link in our bio Artworks: Sophie Lynn Carney 📸@sophielynncarneyart [ID: A close up image of paper collage with blue, orange and white textured paper layered on top of each other as the background to the poster. Text in a handwritten font outlines the themes, timings and location of the event.]

Free tickets for our summer holiday play and learn sessions will be available very soon, but in the meantime we've got the last few tickets available for our early years workshops. We'll be sharing a clothing swap-shop again with @sharewearclothingscheme alongside our free Early Years activities, so bring along any clothing your little ones have outgrown and trade it in for something new to you! 🎟️ Follow the link in our bio for more info on our Free Early Years sessions and to book your free space! 📅 Mondays 1, 8, 15 & 22 July [ID: Photograph of a children's clothing swap-shop set up with clothing items on a bench, set up against a plain white wall. In the middle of the photo placed on the bench is a hand-drawn a-board highlighting the swap-shop. A yellow Nottingham Contemporary tote bag hangs off the left corner of the a-board. There are plastic boxed and bags under the bench with extra clothing.]

Interested in finding out more about about current exhibitions? We've got 4 more fantastic walkthroughs coming up this season with experts from fields related to the themes in our current shows, as well as regular 12.30 talks every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, where members of our knowledgeable team give insights into their favourite aspects of the exhibitions. Find out more and book at nottinghamcontemporary.org/whats-on Photos: Lamar Francois [ID: 1. a large crowd of people standing in a gallery filled with colourful paintings on fabric and vases. 2. a group of three people standing together talking in front of hanging paintings on fabric]

Applications are now open for Print Fair Contemporary 2024! We are excited to be returning with our popular Print Fair this year, taking place across the weekend of the 12th & 13th October, with a Launch evening on Fri 11th October. We are looking for printers, illustrators and artists (independents or collectives) to join us to share and sell their work at Nottingham Contemporary. We accept a broad selection of styles, with a focus on quality and original design. Deadline to apply: 11:59pm Sunday 28th July 2024. For more information on how to apply visit nottinghamcontemporary.org/record/call-for-entry-print-fair-contemporary-2024 (link in bio!) Poster Design: Peter Duffy [ID: a graphic with text reading “print fair contemporary October 11-13. call for entry. deadline to apply 28th July”]

Things are feeling very Summery @shop.contemporary - we've got lots of gorgeous new products on the shelves. Have you been in lately? [ID: 1. a card with an illustrated coffee tin with a sunshine face and text reading "you are my sunshine. brighten up the morning coffee" by @theprintedpeanut 2. a hand holding 4 illustrated cards. the top one shows an outdoor scenes with text underneath reading "Adventure awaits" by @aimeemacillustration ]

You are invited to join us and our 1525 Collective for their next event; The Lyceum 🙌 This is a 2-part event series held in Gallery Zero, where talks will be hosted about non-mainstream education, creative failure, activism, and politics of art. The 1525 Collective hope to delve into conversation around what is lacking in education and to discuss the challenges young people currently face within the educational system. Ask questions, share your thoughts and get involved in the conversation. 💭 1525 presents The Lyceum, aimed at 15-25 year olds 📅Thu 18th & 25th July, 5.30pm-7.30pm 🎟️ Book your free place via the link in our bio Artwork by @sophielynncarneyart [ID: A close up image of a paper collage with blue, orange and white textured paper]

In Focus: Claudia Martínez Garay – WAKCHAKUNA / We Who Share Everything and Nothing The title of Claudia Martínez Garay’s exhibition is in two parts. The first part ‘Wakchakuna’ comes from the Quechuan word 'Wakcha' meaning to be poor. This isn’t meant in the monetary sense of not having means, that we might initially imagine, but more in the sense of something which is without family, belonging, or a community. Claudia sees the objects in her exhibition, which are based on items in British museums, which have been looted from Peru and removed from their original context, as orphans or “wakchas”. The subtitle of Claudia’s exhibition, We Who Share Everything and Nothing, is a direct quote from John Berger’s And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos. If you’d like to find out more about Claudia’s exhibition, join us for one of our free 12.30 talks every Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday, or book a ticket for a free exhibition walkthrough with Uncomfortable Cambridge on 7 Aug – link in bio. Photo: Lewis Ronald [ID: an installation of soil and rubble with ceramic objects and large prints on aluminium of a cojinova fish, a spondylus shell and a jaguar partially buried within it]