Nottingham Contemporary's Blog

Perhaps it's apt that this initial post is coming at a time when we are in 'change-over' - a transitional moment when one exhibit clears out and another takes its place. During this process, never is there a time when the galleries become truly cleared. Never do the spaces revert to their original unadorned state where the architecture is laid-bare, when space becomes purely space; becomes pure potentiality.

This said there is perhaps no better moment to embark on a project such as this, or at least to begin with an informal introduction? If indeed these thoughts are ordinarily to transpire 'from the floor' then perhaps no time would have been found in which to state what in fact it is we hope to do? The purpose after all is to reflect on the works on display when the works are on display, to relate to the viewers reactions to the work when the work is being viewed. It stands then, that once an exhibition is installed there will be little time, nor reason, to talk about anything else.

At present the floors are strewn with the customary detritus of exhibition set up - giant rolls of bubble wrap, small piles of screws and picture hooks, multiple rolls of masking tape and accumulations of strange multicoloured foam blocks with a colouration reminiscent of Zap ice-creams. The only works to be found are draped in protective diaphanous veils or packed snugly in wooden crates. Sneak previews might be achieved from passing glances through the window when entering the reception area at works leant against gallery walls awaiting their allocation to the cohesive whole. But, of course, this might just ruin the big surprise.

Unfamiliar, or at least uncomfortable, with the domain of drills, fixings, pallet trucks and Genie’s (as in the aerial work platform as opposed to the ‘of the lamp’ variety) I’m left with little to say other than to offer a warm welcome to our blog. I hope you’ll enjoy the ramblings from myself and my colleagues and trust this alternate, insider’s view of the gallery and its exhibitions will be of interest. So, here’s to a moments reprieve, to gaining head-space from acquired physical space and here’s to beginnings.