Book Launch: The Place is Here

The Place is Here, The 1980s: Black Artists in Britain is a publication that takes as its starting point the international exhibition and research project The Place is Here (2016-17) that traced the urgent and wide-ranging conversations taking place between black artists, writers and thinkers in Britain during the 1980s. Across its different iterations (Van Abbemuseum, 2016; Nottingham Contemporary, the South London Gallery and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, all 2017), the exhibitions brought together over 100 works by 40 artists and collectives, spanning painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video and expanded archival displays, examining this critical decade for British culture. Richly illustrated, it includes larger thematic essays, close readings of works and a series of panel discussions, bringing together key scholarly, critical and artistic voices from the 1980s and today.

Join the editors and artists Rehana Zaman, Sonia Boyce, and Marlene Smith for an inter-generational dialogue around political and aesthetic debates. The Place is Here, The 1980s: Black Artists in Britain is edited by Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robbles and published by Sternberg Press and Van Abbemuseum.

Nottingham Contemporary’s public programme is jointly funded by Nottingham Trent University and The University of Nottingham.