Turner Prize winner to open new digital arts building in Nottingham

Turner Prize winner Simon Starling is set to open officially the new Design & Digital Arts (D&DA) building at Nottingham Trent University (NTU).

The artist – who graduated from NTU in 1990 – will take part in the official opening ceremony at the City Campus tomorrow (6 November).

Simon won the Turner Prize in 2005 for Shedboatshed, an installation that involved a wooden shed being turned into a boat and sailed down the River Rhine before being transformed back into a shed.

He was the first recipient of the Blinky Palermo Grant in 1999 and was short-listed for the Guggenheim’s Hugo Boss Prize for contemporary art in 2004.

In 2007 he was named NTU Alumnus of the Year and received an Honorary Degree from the University in 2017.

His works feature in the permanent collections of several distinguished museums including: Tate Modern, London; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Kroller Muller Museum, Netherlands; and Museum Folkwang, Essen.

Simon’s attendance is part of a series of ceremonial and academic events between 4 and 15 November to mark the building’s official opening.

Two digital artworks have been commissioned to be displayed inside the building and projected onto exterior glass facing Shakespeare Street.

The first commission, Every Part (makes the whole), is a real-time, immersive, generative and interactive digital artwork by artist Matt Woodham. Resembling depictions of nature under a microscope, it will allow visitors to collaborate via personal devices and alter the artwork live.

The second commission, with London-based creative practice Foxall Studio, will be in collaboration with more than 40 NTU design students. Working collaboratively and cross-course, the students will interact with the new technology in the building to generate digital content that relates to their work. Foxall Studio will then act as editors to compile and display this work in the form of a ‘digital zine’ across the building.

Both commissions are on display until 15 November and public tours of the artwork have been arranged, with limited tickets to be booked in advance only.

Meanwhile, a series of academic events will take place to mark the building’s opening, including discussion panels with distinguished guest speakers, student showcases, and a research and knowledge exchange event.

Professor Edward Peck, Vice-Chancellor and President of NTU, said: “We are proud to have Simon as a member of our alumni community and look forward to welcoming him back to campus as we take the next step in our prestigious 180-year history.

“This building will enable NTU to expand its contribution to rapidly growing creative industries and allow the Nottingham School of Art & Design, and the city as a whole, to become the most innovative hotbed for digital art and design talent in the UK.”

The D&DA building, which welcomed its first intake of students in September 2024, is part of an ambitious plan to build on NTU’s reputation as one of the leading art and design schools in the world.

The space will enable NTU to develop its credentials in filmmaking, animation, UX design, gaming, graphic design and illustration, together with traditional design practice.

It features one of the most advanced Virtual Production film suites in the UK – the same technology used to make Disney’s Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian – delivered in collaboration with leading audiovisual technology specialists Creative Technology and ARRI Solutions.

The building – which has been designed with the aim of achieving BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and DEC ‘A’ ratings – features a glazed ground floor entrance which can be used as an exhibition space, providing visitors with a sense of arrival and offering opportunity for collaboration within the university, industry, and the local community.

Michael Marsden, Executive Dean of the Nottingham School of Art & Design, said: “Our new artistic commissions go to the very heart of our aims and ambitions for the D&DA building – to give artists the space to consider, create, and collaborate in a digitally immersive and live environment.

“We are confident that our investment in these new facilities will empower more NTU graduates, like Simon, to leave university upon graduation and show the world how art and design has the power to change people’s lives.”