John Newling

John Newling studied at North Staffs Polytechnic doing Fine Art and Sculpture. Then he went to Chelsea to do an MA. He was given a fellowship at Wolverhampton in the 70's for 3 years. Newling has always been very lucky, discovered in London by well known art critics. This recongnition gave him the opportunity to live in America for 9 months where he produced work on the streets. Currently based and living in Nottingham, Newling is an international acclaimed installation artist and pioneer of public art, exploring the natural world and heavily inspired by the social and economic systems of society – such as money or religion. So the way in which Newling works and what ideas and materials he works with, he aims to combine radical new thinking with practical action to deliver positive social change.

The first section of the exhibition plays with these two ideas, exhibiting replicas of high street cash machines made in copper, large glass bowls stained with the dirt and debris cleaned from the surface of 50,000 two pence coins and glass cabinets that confine items inside which relate to the act of taking communion in the Christian church.

His second section features new artworks inspired by the natural world and its ecological systems. He grew and harvested over 80 cabbages, and used these to create sculptural artworks through horticultural processes. These can be seen to change physically over the course of the exhibition, as they dry and harden, which is one of the reasons Newling became interested in their use value, they don't stay the same forever because it is a living breathing object. This is perhapse what he is trying to suggest in this piece to the right; the cabbages metaphorically represent a pair of lungs, and are presented on a lightbox on the wall, suggesting an x-ray. His message is probably trying to show the environmental issues of today; we are destroying plant life, and plant life is what breathes oxygen into the world. See, the leaves overlap and have dried out by the time I had visited this exhibition in Nottingham Contemporary, suggesting the death of oxygen as we continue to destroy trees and the environment, whether it be an increase in CO2 emissions or urban development. There is less oxygen. The lungs are shriveling up as a result. The work of Newling is inspired by and clearly deals with current issues of today such as social, environmental and economic systems of todays society, expressing through very simple sculptures and framed pieces. I think the simplicity is what strikes the audience, but for me, I personally like the idea and the message Newling is trying to show. It does make you think really hard at first to understand what this message is. Then I suppose sometime art isn't supposed to be understood or got, it is supposed to touch you, to move you. But I am not moved by the work of newling. I find his work to be too much of a scientific experement than a finished piece of work. Though the lungs on the light box have reason to be there, they have significant purpose. It does make you think and the message touches me. For the rest of his work, it failes to interest me and I just didn't take anything away from his work, but the pair of lungs.

Iain Simons

Based in Nottingham, Iain Simons is the director of Game City Festival, which he founded in 2006, where Richard Jacques performed a candle-lit piano recital of hit SEGA tunes. The main aim of this free event is to engage technology and culture, involving people in a screen based art, bringing video games to life, even by setting up scenes from games with the help from theatre designers. Game City involves a wide variety of professions in the creative industry such as musicians, designers, stage light technicians, theatre/costume designers to name but a few. "A lot of people think our event is basically a big arcade, but it's a lot more than that" he says, but you don't have to be interested in video games to come along to this event.
 He  is a very interesting man when it comes to his C.V. His first job was as piano player in a pub, which he goes on to advise that music is an extremely important skill to have in the game industry as a lot of musicians are needed in games. He then worked at McDonald's on the grill, he laughs, "well, the opportunity was there. And I was really fast." He landed at a theatre next, working as a casual technician which gained him some decent skills and an insight into production. In 1994 he graduated from university then took part in directing events and continued as a musician for a while. He basically continued to jump at any and every chance he got in the game and directing industry, performing, taking part in holding workshops and even wrote a few books, "just write a book. It doesn't even matter if it isn't any good, I have found that if you have written a book people suddenly start listening to you", Iain advises, "get involved in summer camps or theatre, you learn a lot more about production than anywhere else ." Iain began writing about video culture to a range of audiences in magazines and so on, and worked as a programmer and designer before becoming a part time lecturer as he realised it was time that he needed to make a steady income and get a bit of money behind him, later becoming a company director/creative director which gave him the essential skills for working as a game critic, event producer and of course, his current role as a festival director for Game City. Other projects Iain is working on is Game City Nights, Game City Prize, Woodthorpe Grange/ Takahashi Playground, National Video Game Archive and Save The Video Game

Iain's Advice For the Creative Industries:

1. When you first start out, you will have to 'volunteer' and do a fair amount of unpaid work for people. However, when you begin to gain experience and you can finally tell your contacts that you have wrote/been mentioned in a column for this magazine and that magazine, or produced a music video for this band, directed this and that event, performed here and there, designed the costume for this theatre production and so on...START CHARGING ASAP! It is very important to get paid for what you do as soon as possible, or you won't get anywhere very fast, because "if you are paid for something then you are a professional."
2. "Writing an invoice is not the same as being paid." You may still find yourself having to keep reminding the person or company to pay you, because at first, very rarely is it done and dusted when you send of an invoice.
3. "Look after your contacts." It is really important that you "keep them happy." These are the people who pay you," and talk about you to other useful people.
4. "People are surprisingly simple."
5. "Write a book. It makes you look valuable!"
6. "It's easier to apologise than to ask for permission." Just ask people, and if they turn your work down, ask another person. He says don't worry if you make a mistake or get turned down, "you might actually be surprised," he goes on to talk about his own experience on emailing the editor of a games magazine, he asked for permission to write a column in their magazine, and they were more than happy to let him.
7. "Be nice. It really is that  simple. Don't get drunk and write something horrible about your contacts, as tempting as it is, you must protect your contacts. They are everything."
8. "Get good at apologising." then it will be so much easier when you make a mistake.
9. "Most people are frightened in case they fail." fear of failure will get in the way of your success, you might be surprised if you just try, "but prepare yourself to fail." 
10. He advises to always share your ideas, "they are the most valuable thing," even if you think your idea sounds stupid, "not everyone else can have the ideas you're having."

Take a look at Game City!!!