We’re delighted to welcome artist Andrew Logan and designer Dame Zandra Rhodes for the first public in-conversation event of our new ‘Foundations’ series, delivered in partnership by Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham Contemporary.
Self-proclaimed maximalists Andrew and Zandra met in 1972 at Andrew’s inaugural Alternative Miss World contest, the alternative beauty pageant that him and his team still run to this day. The two soon became close friends and have since travelled the world together, collaborated with each other, and share many of the friends that were so influential in early 70s and 80s British culture and sub-culture.
Join us for the rare opportunity to hear these two iconic figures of art and design talk openly and candidly about the early and influential moments in each of their careers.
This event coincides with our current exhibition Andrew Logan’s The Joy of Sculpture.
Watch Foundations: Andrew Logan and Zandra Rhodes on YouTube.
Register for your free place to watch this event in person at Nottingham Trent University’s City Campus, or to tune into the livestream if you can’t make it to Nottingham.
Foundations explores the formative moments in practitioners’ careers. It’s about the relationship between artists, art schools and the wider world.
A new collaboration between Nottingham Contemporary and Nottingham Trent University, this series hosts conversations between acclaimed artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers and architects. Intended to both inform and inspire, Foundations will pose questions such as: Can art be taught? What next for cultural education? What do we mean by experimentation? What and how can we learn from artists? And vice-versa?
Building on the art-school tradition of open-ended dialogue and experimentation, these free events are open to practitioners, students and the public. We plan for all events to take place in person, and to be livestreamed and live captioned; audience contributions will play a central role.
Sculptor, painter and jewellery artist Andrew Logan is one of Britain’s most iconic artists, known for challenging convention, mixing media and playing with our artistic values. Andrew founded the Alternative Miss World contest in 1972, that soon became a meeting place for the leading cultural provocateurs of that time and subsequent years. Judges over the years included David Hockney, Ruby Wax, Leigh Bowery, Grayson Perry, and Zandra Rhodes.
Andrew has always maintained a prolific and dedicated artistic practice, reflecting his unrelenting, and infectious, passion, joy and energy. His established aesthetic utilises the transformation of smashed glass and found objects into flamboyant, colourful and glittering objects, of all shapes and sizes. Andrew has exhibited his work the world over, with several pieces now residing in major collections including the National Portrait Gallery and the Arts Council Collection.
Dame Zandra Rhodes has been a notorious figurehead of the UK fashion industry for five decades, celebrating her 50th year in fashion in September 2019 with a retrospective exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum – founded by Zandra – entitled Zandra Rhodes: 50 Years of Fabulous and a retrospective book published by Yale. Her notoriety as a print designer combined with an affinity for fine fabrics and colour has resulted in a signature aesthetic that is undeniably unique and continues to stand the test of time. A pioneer of the British and international fashion scene since the late 60’s, Zandra’s career has seen her collaborate with brands such as Valentino, Topshop and Mac Cosmetics. Continuing to collaborate with brands that inspire her, 2021 will see the launch of Zandra Rhodes x IKEA amongst many other exciting partnerships and projects
Image credit: Andrew Logan and Zandra Rhodes at Penny Stamp Lectures, photo by Chrisstina Hamilton
Join us in person or online for a free screening of The British Guide to Showing Off, a film documenting iconic artist Andrew Logan’s spectacular pageant The Alternative Miss World.
British artist and living legend Andrew Logan, loved the world over by celebrities and misfits alike, takes us under his glittering wing and inside his outrageous, anarchic and spectacular costume pageant: The Alternative Miss World. As the Show’s master of ceremonies and ringmaster, Logan is the high priest of an esteemed congregation. He describes the Show as his most important artwork; a fabulous living sculpture that spans forty years of arts and culture.
Combining observational footage, extensive archive material and exuberant animation, Jes Benstock’s fittingly outrageous documentary charts the mounting of the 2009 Show, interwoven with its history, the rise, fall and rediscovery, of both the event and the artist at its centre.
This free event accompanies the exhibition Andrew Logan: The Joy of Sculpture, which runs until 11 December 2021.
Take a glimpse into the glamorous past of the Alternative Miss World contests with a curated selection of original archival materials and never-before-seen footage, on display in the Bonington Vitrines.
Accompanying Andrew Logan’s solo exhibition The Joy of Sculpture in our main gallery, we are extremely pleased to present archive displays for the past Alternative Miss World contests in our Vitrines. A newly commissioned film by previous Bonington Gallery exhibitor and friend of Andrew, Dick Jewell, will feature alongside the displays, bringing together previously unseen footage (including rare 16mm film) of contests in 1985, 1991 and 2004.
Modelled upon the Crufts dog show, the Alternative Miss World contest is an art and fashion event founded and hosted by Andrew Logan. Andrew acts as both host and hostess for the show, as exemplified by the main promotional image for the exhibition taken by Mick Rock. This alternative beauty pageant has been held irregularly since 1972, most recently in 2018 in its 14th incarnation. Contestants and judges over the years have included David Hockney, Ruby Wax, Leigh Bowery, Grayson Perry, and Zandra Rhodes.
Special thank you to the Special Collections department at De Montford University, Leicester for the generous loan of archive materials.
Header image credit: Alternative Miss World poster, courtesy Special Collections department at De Montford University.
