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39-41 Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham, United Kingdom
www.thenewartexchange.org.uk/ This blog is for all New Art Exchange audience members to give their opinions and reviews, and to discuss exhibitions & events. Got something to add? Email: laurajade@nae.org.uk

22 October 2012


Thoughts from the Editor…





Study of Kin

Marcia Michael
 

‘…images showing positive representations of black subjects were not evident in the British national archives.’

Shocking I thought. But true, according to artist and photographer Marcia Michael who is currently exhibiting in New Art Exchange’s Central Space (28th September 2012 – 5th January 2013).

Michael’s photographs are intended to ‘record and reveal the authentic’ portraiture of black identity. She uses her own family in the series ‘Study of Kin’. I would usually find this hard to engage with, as artists can sometimes make their work too personal for a viewer to truly understand. However in Michael’s photographs there is no air of standard ‘family photographs’, instead she offers a collection of documentary photography, with an incredibly delicate edge.

The photographs have a great sense of stillness, made by the ‘studio type’ backdrop and their beautiful ordinariness. So much so, learning that historic representations of black identity throughout history has been affected by political circumstance - to the point that photographs were mainly taken to present negative stereotypes of the Black community -  gave this work a huge feeling of dignity; which the subjects in the photographs certainly compliment.

Each of the photographs deserves time for reflection, but I personally found the photographs of the subjects turned away from the camera to be particularly poignant. You may be expecting me to say something conceptual about the meaning of the subject turning away, but I daren’t taint these photographs with such empty words. These particular pieces are just simply stunning, and achieve what Michael’s points out - a true documentation of skin without the attachment of stereotypes.

19 October 2012

Drawing your Family History Workshop


*photographs by Laura Millward

Photographer Jon Legge hosted another brilliant workshop here at New Art Exchange last month. Families were invited to bring along some family photographs to turn them into drawings!

Jon placed each photograph into a projector called an epidiascope which then projected the image onto the wall, where large pieces of paper were hung to act as a canvas for the drawings. Children could then trace around the images of their relatives, creating an outline drawing which was a fun and easy way to create a family portrait. Another projector was set up to create a shadow of the person posing, creating a silhouette to draw around.






If you would like to attend a family workshop why not come to the next one, this Saturday 20th October, when we are hosting a drawing event for the Big Draw. It runs from 2-4pm and all are welcome to attend and help to create a collaborative drawing inspired by NAE's current exhibition.

18 October 2012

**TONIGHT**


Award Winning Jazz and Hip Hop Star brings Seven Deadly Sins to Nottingham

 
Award-winning jazz alto saxophonist and hip hop star Soweto Kinch will be presenting all new material this Thursday night when The Legend of Mike Smith tour comes to the New Art Exchange, Nottingham, in anticipation of a new album of the same name to be release in early 2013.

 
The performance draws on Dante and The Seven Deadly sins, telling the tale of a young MC caught in a very modern world of temptation. Featuring a core trio including Karl Rasheed Abel on bass and Shaney Forbes on Drums the subject matter allows Kinch to explore the full breadth of human emotion in Hip Hop and jazz form.


Soweto Kinch said he was excited about the upcoming tour, as the stripped trio format allows him more harmonic freedom and space to deliver lyrics.

 
“Moreover, I’m excited about integrating new things into the show, such as tenor sax and live looping,” he said.

 
Soweto Kinch is one of the most exciting and versatile young musicians in both the British jazz and hip hop scene and has amassed an impressive list of accolades and awards on both sides of the Atlantic including a Mercury Music Prize nomination and two Urban Music Awards. In 2007 he won his second Music Of Black Origin ( MOBO) Award, winning Best Jazz Act and fending off stiff competition from the likes of Wynton Marsalis.


His skills as a hip hop MC and producer have also garnered him recognition in the urban music world: having supported the likes of KRS ONE, Dwele and TY, and being championed by the likes of Mos Def, Rodney P and BBC 1-Xtra’s Twin B. Kinch’s projects also extend beyond recorded albums, having written the score for Jonzi D’s Hip Hop Theatre production Markus the Sadist (2010), and Sampad’s In The Further Soil (2010), a dance-theatre. Kinch also wrote and acted in the latter piece, which toured throughout India.

 
Most recently, he has collaborated with the BBC and Drum and Bass producer Goldie to create By Royal Appointment, a three-part prime time reality music show following Goldie, Soweto, Guy Chamber and Ms Dynamite as they discover and coach a group of 12 vulnerable young mentees towards their first live performance before HM Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace.


- Event details -
 

What: The Legend of Mike Smith tour, Soweto Kinch

When: Thursday 18 October, 7.30pm – 9pm

Admission:  £10 (£8 Concession)

Age Range:  All are welcome


Advanced bookings are advised.


To book tickets please call: 0115 924 8630 or e: info@nae.org.uk


For more information or to organise interviews please contact Emma O’Neill, Marketing and Communications Manager, New Art Exchange P: 01159248630 e: emma@nae.org.uk

 

-Editor’s notes –


About New Art Exchange: Launched in September 2008, New Art Exchange is a contemporary visual arts space with the objective of stimulating new perspectives on the value of diversity within art and society. Recent and forthcoming exhibitors include Zarina Bhimji, Rashid Rana, Christian Marclay, Elizabeth Price (British Art Show 7), Hetain Patel, Zineb Sedira, Leo Asemota, Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Raghu Rai and Harminder Singh Judge. The venue is a landmark arts facility that celebrates the region’s cultural richness and diversity, placing contemporary arts practice at the very heart of an international community.

 

11 October 2012

New Art Exchange judges at the Castle Open

 
Sardul Gill wins New Art Exchange's Prize at this year's Castle Open!
 
 
(photograph of judges and winners)
 
On the 29th September NAE representatives judged the Nottingham Anual Open Competition at the Castle (Nottingham) amongst other East Midlands Galleries - and chose Artist Sardul Gill out of 56 artists, to recieve a solo show at the NAE!

"The NAE prize at the Castle Open has truly reignited the fire in my belly to pursue my current ideas with greater confidence." - Sardul Gill

We'd like to congratulate Gill on winning the prize and look forward to working with him in the future!

The Open is open until the 28th October to have a look at the selection and the other winners artwork!





 
Get well soon wishes sent to our Project & Technical Assistant Ravi Abbott who broke his arm flying off his bike the other day!
 
(at least they didn't have to cut it off eh?!)

08 October 2012

Ring di Alarm: Premiered at BFI this September.. Experience the East Midlands premier at NAE


Ring Di Alarm
Premiered at BFI this September... Experience the East Midlands premiere at New Art Exchange this Thursday!
Thursday 11 October, 7pm – 8.30pm
(Presented in association with Stella Vision)
Dir: Various, 90 minutes.
 
 
Ring di Alarm premiered this September at the British Film Institute, London, to a fully booked audience. It was then shown at Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival later in the month. We are very privileged to have a screening at New Art Exchange this Thursday 7pm-8.30pm!
 
The series of feature films is a Caribbean co-production, jointly produced by Storm Saulter from Jamaica and the St Lucian, Michelle Serieux of New Caribbean Cinema (NCC). NCC is a fresh, pioneering approach to film-making in the Caribbean that proposes to present the world with a showcase of creative artistry from the regions up and coming filmmakers.
 
Ring di Alarm is comprised of seven short films by six Caribbean directors about life in modern-day Jamaica. The filmmakers include Desmond Young, Joel Burke, Kyle Chin, Michael "Ras Tingle" Tingling, Michelle Serieux, Nile Saulter and Storm Saulter. Even though every short film is different, they all present the point of views of young people living in the Carribbean.
 
Join us for this screening of short films which tell stories of morality, innocence, love, loss, vengeance, and redemption on the Island of Jamaica.
 
“Moving from the majestic Blue Mountains to the gritty ghetto to the stunning north coast, and spinning stories funny, suspenseful, thrilling and poignant, this is a cinematic mosaic as diverse and complex as the island that inspired it.” -  BFI
 
Admission: £4.50 (£3 Concession)
Age Range: 15+