To celebrate its fifth year at Number Nine Guildhall Road, NN is launching The New Archive. Since opening on 13 December 2012, NN has commissioned various artists from its past to contribute artworks to create a new archive. This exhibition is the culmination of the five-year project and features fragments of previous exhibitions, reworked ideas, documents – factual and speculative – by 21 artists working across a wide range of media. The project was inspired by a server crash in 2010 at NN’s previous home at Fishmarket. The loss of the organisation’s digital data in that crash inspired the creation of an archive made entirely by artists in keeping with NN’s artist-centred ethos.
The location of NN as a subject and wider geography of Northampton has been in part the inspiration for a number of the artworks. Emma Wilde undertook a micro-residency in NN’s Courtyard in 2013 as she made drawings and paintings of weeds before they were pulled up in the Courtyard’s renovation. Jessica Harby’s film for The New Archive details a timeline of Northampton, meanwhile, John Strutton’s film is, in part, a John Clare-inspired pub crawl. Kevin McCully and Vivienne Rattray’s works step back into NN’s more distant past whilst diSTRUKTURA’s quest to get a visa to attend the opening could be seen as a glimpse into the UK’s future.
Many of the artists revisited the ideas, characters and themes from the exhibitions in which they featured such as Vasco Araújo who continued the dialogue between his shoemaking characters. Yelena Popova sends us a postcard and Martyn Cross manipulates a hessian-framed portrait. Art Laboratory’s banner used documentation from their install in the windows at NN. James Smith’s print inspired an entire exhibition earlier this year and appears here in a different format. Filip Markiewicz’s vinyl record plays in the show alongside works by Heike Gallmeier and Joshua WF Thomson, whose blog documenting his time as Curator at Fishmarket also accompanies the exhibition. Pip & Pop (Tanya Schultz) is sending a piece of candy wonderland back to NN from the other side of the planet.
Freee art collective and Susan MacWilliam both used the opportunity to create publications that will be launched at the opening and available for sale throughout the exhibition in NN’s shop (or until stocks run out). Brud is reissuing a limited-edition print whilst Jamie Shovlin has recut Hiker Meat on VHS especially for the exhibition and Darren Banks created a bespoke archive called The Fairman Collection, a personal collection of artefacts representing the life and works of radio DJ, sculptor, horror film actor and sheep farmer Churton Fairman aka Mike Raven (1924–1997). Finally, print and tape work on paper by Kathrin Böhm brings together moments spanning the life of NN from its inception and refurbishment to date and this work will go on to form part of a wider personal archive project by the artist currently in development.
Events
Museums at Night
Thursday 26 October 2017, 8 pm–8 am following the exhibition and book launch from 6 pm
To celebrate its fifth year at Number Nine Guildhall Road NN is launching The New Archive with an opening night that lasts until breakfast! The opening night coincides with Museums at Night and so NN, for one night only, invites you for a sleepover in the gallery as the building revisits its original incarnation as Franklin’s Hotel! You’ll need to bring a sleeping bag, camping mat and a sense of fun as artists take us through the night with various activities including artist talks, ghost stories, marshmallow toasting in NN’s Courtyard, film screenings and wide games.
Family workshop: Captured and Connected
Saturday 28 October 11 am–1 pm
Join artist Emma Davies in this ‘friends and family’ workshop inspired by The New Archive exhibition.
In this workshop, participants will make Zines inspired by real or imagined timelines and memories. The Zines can be personal, factual, fictional or completely random and meaningless. They can incorporate drawings, writings, cut-outs from newspapers and magazines and ephemera such as bus tickets, notes and receipts. There is also the option of encasing them within re-purposed boxes, their very own archive box.
Suitable for ages 7+. All children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
Write Club: Funding applications
Thursday 16 November 2017, 6 pm
Join Catherine Hemelryk for a session on preparing funding applications. Bring examples of applications you are preparing and a pen, paper, laptop or tablet. Catherine will take you through different techniques for writing applications, how to answer funders criteria and other tips for professional communication.
From Art to Commerce
Saturday 18 November 2017, 11 am
These bi-monthly sessions, led by Tracey Clarke, are for anyone running a creative business or looking to start one. The first hour is a general workshop and the second hour consists of one-to-one short sessions. To book a one-to-one with Tracey please email Tracey@NNContemporaryArt.org. Spaces are limited so book early to avoid disappointment.
Twelve Monkeys
Wednesday 22 November, 9 pm at Errol Flynn Filmhouse
Dir: Terry Gilliam, USA, 1995, 124 mins, (15)
Bruce Willis stars in Terry Gilliam’s sci-fi thriller, playing a convict who is sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus, only to end up in the wrong year and hospitalised as insane. Brad Pitt received an Oscar nomination for his role as a fellow patient.
Work in Progress
25 November 2017, 2–4 pm
For artists by artists, bring your work in progress for friendly peer critique. WiP is led by Sayed Sattar Hasan and starts with a featured artist presentation before opening the conversation out to the regular peer critique. If you would like to be a future featured artist at WiP, email us at info@NNContemporaryArt.org.
Bumps & Babes
Thursday 30 November 2017, 2–3 pm
Get messy with your baby or pre-schooler in these crayon-fueled, finger painting sessions. Make sure you wear clothes that can handle paint!
Book launch and birthday party
Wednesday 13 December 2017, 6 pm
Join us for a party to celebrate 5 years at NN and the launch of a book documenting the artists and exhibitions to have featured #atNN since its opening at Number Nine Guildhall Road on 13 December 2012. This book will be available for sale alongside books by Susan MacWilliam and Freee art collective, which are launching at the start of the exhibition.
