September 18–October 31, 2015
From September 18, this year’s Bloomberg New Contemporaries launches in Nottingham across artist-led spaces Backlit, One Thoresby Street, and Primary before it tours to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London from November 25, 2015 to January 24, 2016. The exhibition is supported by a programme of talks, events and tours in venue and at Nottingham Contemporary, New Art Exchange and Nottingham Castle Museum & Gallery.
From a record number of applicants, 37 artists have been selected from open submission by a panel comprising Hurvin Anderson, Jessie Flood-Paddock (New Contemporaries 2006) and Simon Starling (New Contemporaries 1994). These artists now join an illustrious roster of New Contemporaries alumni that includes Tacita Dean, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Mike Nelson and Laure Prouvost amongst many others.
Selected artists for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2015 are: Sïan Astley, Kevin Boyd, Lydia Brockless, U. Kanad Chakrabarti, James William Collins, Andrei Costache, Julia Curtin, Abri de Swardt, Melanie Eckersley, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Justin Fitzpatrick, Hannah Ford, Sophie Giller, Richard Hards, Juntae T.J. Hwang, Jasmine Johnson, Tomomi Koseki, Hilde Krohn Huse, Pandora Lavender, Jin Han Lee, Hugo López Ayuso, Beatrice-Lily Lorigan, Scott Lyman, Hanqing Ma & Mona Yoo, Scott Mason, Oliver McConnie, Mandy Niewöhner, Hamish Pearch, Neal Rock, Conor Rogers, Katie Schwab, Tim Simmons, David Cyrus Smith, Francisco Sousa Lobo, Aaron Wells, Morgan Wills and Andrea Zucchini.
Explorations of scale, materiality, form and process play a critical role in the selected works. Abject materials such as car parts, wax, expanding foam and plywood, as well as craft methods of production such as crochet and embroidery are used to question the value of labour and social hierarchies.
The exhibition also includes works that explore the legacy of conceptual art practices alongside others that draw upon painting's rich history of colour and composition. Whilst still and moving image works shown this year explore and challenge the expectations and perceptions of gender and socio-economic circumstance.
Complementing this year’s exhibition is a public programme of talks and live events.
Artist tours
Every Saturday at 2pm, an invited artist will offer a tour of one of the exhibition venues.
"An open discussion"
Wednesday, September 23, 6–7:30pm
Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery
Discussion with Tristram Aver, Samson Kambalu, Perminder Kaur, Ben Woodeson, Lotti V Closs, Nick Mobbs, and Kirsty Ogg
"Who Will Go To Art School?"
Thursday, September 24, 6:30–8:30pm
New Art Exchange
Discussion with Emma Cocker, Anna Colin, Paul Goodwin and Emily Pope
"All Consuming: Perfect Peaches, Piled, Awaiting Pressing Fingertips"
Tuesday, September 29, 6:30–8:30pm
Nottingham Contemporary
An evening of performances with New Contemporaries alumni Hannah Regel and Lauren Godfrey
"Archive: in the making"
Saturday, October 3, 9:30am–4:30pm
Nottingham Contemporary
Seminar exploring artists' use of archive and memory as material, and mode of production
Event organised in collaboration with Primary and The Syllabus
"Tall Tales and Wayward Narratives"
Wednesday, October 7, 6:30–8:30pm
Nottingham Contemporary
An evening of performances and readings with New Contemporaries alumni Beth Collar, Matt Copson, Patrick Coyle and Heather Phillipson
Peer mentoring sessions
Saturday, October 24, 2–5pm
Backlit
Workshop exploring the many different formats and benefits of peer mentoring
Session organised by Artquest
"The Shy Convention" by Gillian Wearing
Saturday, October 31, 6:30–10pm
Backlit
Gillian Wearing and Backlit will be hosting an afternoon of creative sessions exploring confidence, writing, music and language leading to an evening of audience-led personal karaoke.
For more information visit www.newcontemporaries.org.uk and www.newmidlandgroup.co.uk.
New Contemporaries is a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) and registered charity.
