Editorial

Many people may ask, why create a magazine specifically for and about the Nottingham visual art scene?  And why now?

Nottingham is undergoing a cultural renaissance, with the advent of two bespoke contemporary art centres and a plethora of artist led activity. New waves of studio groups who form with every graduating year are choosing to stay here and establish their practice. This perceived golden age we are entering into has its roots in the very foundations of every Nottingham arts institution, historically and emotionally linked to the days of the Midland Group and the Nottingham Festival. Nottingham Visual Arts will plot the natural trajectories that course through the veins of this ever-expanding creative city. We want to celebrate and record this blossoming as it happens, and talk to people about their own personal journeys as artists, writers, curators, educators and interested audiences.

With the launch of Nottingham Contemporary later in the year, and with the British Art Show launching here in 2010, Nottingham will be under the visual art spotlight more than ever before with many well-known household name artists engaging with Nottingham audiences, and the magazine website will be on hand to see how the city rises to the challenge.

Building on the success and communal spirit of The British Art Show and its fringe, ‘Sideshow’ in 2006, artists here are already gearing up for some serious engagement. As in New York, East London and Glasgow before us, exciting and energetic artist-led activity is spawning from a place where industry has absented, and from the factories which once echoed with the whir and click of lace production a new form of commerce and regeneration is being established through social engagement with contemporary art. It seems every few months, ad hoc venues spring up and flourish to present our very own homegrown art exhibitions. And it’s not just in our own back yard, Nottingham artists have work commissioned and exhibited both nationally and internationally. The magazine will provide up to date information for things happening both home and away.

Alongside a stoical and fierce independence evident in the developing Nottingham artist community, much cross pollination and collaboration is able to naturally occur in a city which is also known for its independent filmmakers and writers. For a relatively small place, Nottingham is able to hold its head high against the big boys of Manchester and London, and able to present a close knit and dense survey of many different kinds of art.

We will document, record, showcase and critically examine art in this city and beyond, both as it is produced and as it is exhibited. We will publish features on artists, studios, galleries, reviews and previews of shows in the city’s proliferating venues (including international artists’ work being shown at New Art Exchange, Lakeside, Nottingham Castle, Broadway and elsewhere, as well as at Nottingham Contemporary in the not-too-distant future); plus opinion pieces and lots of original commissioned art and creative writing.

We are confident this is going to be an exciting and eclectic mix, and we want the magazine to become a kind of meeting point for everyone involved in the arts scene, whether as spectators, creators, curators or observers. We’re also pleased to announce our collaboration with ARTNOT, the new printed listings sheet for Nottingham visual arts venues which will be compiled quarterly with artists Chie Hosaka and Charlotte Osborn from Tether and Backlit studios respectively. Together we will provide a more regular elistings service for those who wish to sign up for reminders.

We want as much participation as possible and we are open to great ideas from all sources.  Please contact us with proposals for work, suggestions, news, information or comments.

Andrew Cooper & Jennie Syson