Nottingham Contemporary facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Nottingham Contemporary |
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Nottingham |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 52°57′04″N 1°08′45″W / 52.9511°N 1.1458°W |
| Completed | 2009 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Caruso St John Architects |
| Structural engineer | Arup, Elliott Wood Partnership |
| Services engineer | Arup |
| Main contractor | Sol Construction Ltd |
| Awards and prizes | 2010 RIBA Award Winner |
The Nottingham Contemporary is a cool art center in Nottingham, England. It's a place where you can see amazing modern art. This gallery first opened its doors in 2009. It used to be called the Centre for Contemporary Art Nottingham (CCAN).
The gallery is located in an old part of Nottingham called the Lace Market. This area is famous for making lace a long time ago. The building itself even has a special design that looks like traditional Nottingham lace! Nottingham Contemporary is also a registered charity, which means it's a non-profit organization that helps the community.
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Art Exhibitions and Learning
Nottingham Contemporary hosts many exciting art shows each year. They bring artworks from famous artists around the world to Nottingham. These exhibitions help people learn about new ideas in art.
Past Exhibitions to Explore
The gallery first opened on November 14, 2009. Its very first show featured early works by the artist David Hockney. It also showed recent art by Frances Stark, an artist from Los Angeles. Some of these artworks came from the famous Tate art collection.
Since then, Nottingham Contemporary has had many important exhibitions. These include:
- The Place is Here (2017): This show looked at art made by Black British artists.
- States of America (2017): This was the biggest show of American photography ever seen in the UK.
- Glenn Ligon's Encounters and Collisions (2015): A special exhibition by a well-known artist.
- From Ear to Ear to Eye (2017–2018): This exhibition explored how listening and sound are important in the Arab world.
The Building's Design
The Nottingham Contemporary building was designed by architects from London called Caruso St John. It's one of the biggest modern art centers in the UK. It has over 3,000 square meters of space inside!
Unique Features of the Building
The outside of the building is covered in special green-blue panels. These panels have a wavy, scalloped shape and are embossed with a traditional lace pattern. There are also big windows that let you see inside from the street. The building is actually bigger than it looks from the outside. This is because a lot of it is built into the sandstone cliff that runs through the city.
Inside, Nottingham Contemporary has four main art galleries. It also has a space for performances called an auditorium. There's a special education space for learning and a study center. You can also find a café-bar and a shop inside the building.
Awards and Recognition
Many experts who study buildings have praised the Nottingham Contemporary. One critic, Ellis Woodman, said the building's outside design showed how well it fit with the city. Another critic, Owen Hatherley, even called it "the first masterpiece of British architecture of the twenty-first century."
Historic Location
Nottingham Contemporary is built on a very old spot in Nottingham called Garners Hill. This place has a long history!
A Glimpse into the Past
Long ago, this site had cave homes. Later, a Saxon fort was built there. In medieval times, a town hall stood on the spot. Then, in the Victorian era, everything was cleared away to make room for a railway line.
The gallery is in the historic Lace Market area. This was once a very important place for making lace. New inventions made it possible to produce lace for many people around the world. The building's lace pattern was created using a special concrete casting method right in Nottingham. Some of these panels are as tall as 11 meters!
See also
