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We’re aware that Nottingham’s Art contingent is making a big splash locally, nationally and internationally in the wake of the opening of the Nottingham Contemporary. Yet swimming strongly in the undercurrent of this new beauty, has been a surge of art collectives and studio groups that have helped provide the foundation for its welcomed reception. Notts has been cultivating an enviable arts scene for some time…
Amidst this surging wave of East Midlands expressionism is one other fresh shoot emerging from the Forest; Prussian Projekte based on Haydn Road, Sherwood. I went to see the preview of their debut exhibition, launching Darren Banks’ ‘It’s not the end of the world’ on 9th October 2009, 6 – 9pm. The show ran from 10th – 11th October.
This is what I found:
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On arriving, I met a chatty excitable crowd loitering outside Unit 3, who were joyously consuming the generous refreshments. Above us in one of the 1st floor windows was a laser like animation of light beams. This was the first piece of Darren’s work we were introduced to, entitled Palace Video - and I loved it. Projecting this film, at night and in a window of urban Sherwood, gave it an immediate cinematic quality, like a shard of Gotham city (pretty dramatic but true). This seemed to draw in a pack of hooded young lads, who seemed as curious by this, as they were by the scent of free booze.
The cinematic is what helps makes this place special, given that the building was actually once a cinema and therefore primes itself as a platform for creative spectacles.
Once in, I walked up a wide stone staircase and blindly bypassed the second piece of work obscured by a crowd, heading straight toward the main projection. Before entering, you walk through a tiny room, coolly lit by a blue bulb. This really resonated with me, so I’m hoping this might be a regular fixture. Again this gave over to a cinematic, hyperreal experience, which felt really exciting.
Into the main projection room, It’s Not The End Of The World, ran like a mash-up of B/disaster movies intertwined with other imaginative reels, mixing new and re-worked footage of sci-fi, phenomena and creatures of the deep. This film gave out intermittent hits of terror and panic to therapeutic lulls of delicate sea life, all jittering to a soundtrack both incongruent yet incredibly poignant. Watching this was an emotional, disturbing, but equally ‘funny’ experience.
It’s a shame if you missed this exhibition, but given the show was the definitive ‘launch’ of 3rd Space Galleries, this seemed just the start of something great.
Darren Banks’ ‘It’s not the end of the world’ is the first of a curated programme of video and film works by both emerging and established artists as part of Prussian Projekte Gallery at 3rd Space Studios, Haydn Rd, Sherwood, NG5 2LB.
