WHEN: Friday 23 May 2025 | 10:30–16:30
WHERE: NN Contemporary Art, 24 Guildhall Road, Northampton, NN1 1DP
BOOKING: Booking essential. Free to attend, lunch included.
ABOUT THE FORUM
Contemporary Visual Arts Network East Midlands (CVAN EM) and NN Contemporary Art (NNCA) present a day-long forum exploring the growing role of artists as active agents in shaping our built environment and civic life. As artist-led practices extend beyond traditional exhibition formats into long-term engagements with architecture, public infrastructure, and systems of governance, this event convenes practitioners, commissioners, and communities to ask:
What does it mean for artists to make space physically, socially, and structurally in today's landscape?
Hosted at NNCA's newly redeveloped home at 24 Guildhall Road, this gathering considers how artists are increasingly working with developers, architects, councils, and communities to co-create public realm and reimagine civic infrastructures. Through embedded processes, artists are transforming the ways buildings are conceived, used, and shared. Speakers and contributors will share projects that recalibrate institutional structures, repurpose civic and cultural space, and propose artist-led frameworks for community engagement and spatial justice.
From interior commissions that reflect shared cultural identities to long-term embedded roles in design teams, this forum celebrates the artist as both catalyst and co-architect of more equitable, imaginative futures.
Recalibrating Space is delivered in partnership with Contemporary Visual Arts Network East Midlands (CVAN EM), as part of their Annual Forum programme.
CVAN EM's Annual Forum
CVAN EM's Annual Forum is a key event in the region's cultural calendar bringing together artists, curators, organisations, and cultural workers to explore current issues shaping contemporary visual arts. Each year CVAN EM works with a different regional partner to spotlight activity in a different locality and focuses on timely themes, amplifying diverse voices and fostering a more inclusive and sustainable arts ecosystem in the East Midlands. This year's Annual Forum has been organised by NNCA.
PROGRAMME
Presentations, screenings, lunch and contributions from: Sean Griffiths (University of Westminster/ Modern Architect) / Gavin Wade (Eastside Projects) / Emer Grant (AD & CEO NNCA) / Safiya Robinson (Sisterwomanvegan) / Maysa Phares (Studio Egret West) / Mat Jenner (TACO) / Ashley Samuels-Mackenzie (Coconut Paradise Cafe) / Colette Griffin (CVAN EM & CVAN WM).
SPEAKER BIOS
Mat Jenner
Artist-curator working across art making, curating, studio and the institution. Mat is the founder of TACO!, an artist-led space in SE London that centres artist practices in the way it works and grows, and supports a dialogue between artists, audiences, community, and place.
Gavin Wade
Artist-curator and Director of Eastside Projects in Birmingham. Gavin Wade's work rethinks the role of the gallery as a site of production, collaboration, and civic engagement. A long-standing advocate for artist-led models, Wade's curatorial approach embraces sculpture, writing, and radical frameworks for reimagining cultural institutions.
Safiya Robinson
Safiya Robinson is a self-taught vegan chef, podcaster and writer exploring wellness through food. Inspired by her Black American, Jamaican and English heritage she creates modern, plant-forward dishes, using food as a tool to foster community, connection and collective healing.
Ashley Mackenzie-Samuels & The Coconut Paradise Café
Ashley Samuels-McKenzie is the founder of Coconut Paradise, a vibrant Caribbean café rooted in community, culture, and connection. With a deep love for food and heritage, Ashley took on the mantle of Coconut Paradise to preserve a cultural hub for the Northampton community.
Sean Griffiths
Architect, educator, and co-founder of FAT (Fashion Architecture Taste), Sean Griffiths is known for his innovative, often playful approach to architecture that challenges mainstream aesthetics. Sean led the design team of artists and architects for 24 Guildhall Road.
Maysa Phares / Studio Egret West
Maysa Phares is a Senior Associate at SEW, where she brings a holistic and people-centered approach to urban design. Her work focuses on reimagining undervalued and overlooked parts of cities and urban fringes.
Emer Grant
Emer Grant is the Artistic Director and CEO of NN Contemporary Art, a National Portfolio Organisation based in Northampton and supported by Arts Council England. She currently leads NNCA's £4.7 million capital redevelopment of 24 Guildhall Road.
Screening
Considérant qu'il est plausible que de tels événements puissent à nouveau survenir
Directed by Sébastien Thiéry (PEROU) | 2013 | 28 minutes | HD video | French with English subtitles
Screening courtesy of frac franche-comté
A critical and poetic filmic intervention addressing the ethics and politics of displacement, citizenship, and urban exclusion.
About NNCA
NN Contemporary Art (NNCA) is a pioneering centre for contemporary art that has been shaping the cultural landscape of Northampton for two decades. Now it stands on the cusp of its most significant transformation yet: the £4.56 million redevelopment of 24 Guildhall Road.
About CVAN EM
CVAN EM is the free-to-access Contemporary Visual Arts Network for the East Midlands. We celebrate and support arts and culture in the region, fostering an inclusive long-term future for the sector. CVAN EM is hosted by New Art Exchange (NAE).
Accessibility
NN Contemporary Art is committed to ensuring the forum is accessible to all. The venue is wheelchair accessible, and accessible toilets are available. Please contact: emer@nncontemporaryart.org
Image Credit: The Northampton Rooms by Giles Round, 2024