Since opening in 2009, we have welcomed two million people and presented more than 50 exhibitions. We have become renowned for our innovative research and learning programmes, and our building has been hailed as an architectural triumph.

Nottingham Contemporary grew out of Angel Row Gallery, which presented more than 200 exhibitions between 1991 and 2007. Nottingham Contemporary and our iconic purpose-built venue, was made possible through capital funding from Arts Council England, Nottingham City Council, East Midlands Development Agency, Greater Nottingham Partnership

Our green and gold building is iconic in Nottingham. Designed by Caruso St John Architects, our RIBA Award-winning building is one of the largest contemporary art institutions in the UK.

Celebrating Nottingham’s heritage, our building takes inspiration from the historic Lace Market quarter of the city. It references the bold, elegant design of the warehouses that serviced Nottingham’s famous lace industry. The concrete facade is embedded with a mid-19th-century cherry blossom lace design by Richard Birkin, which was discovered in a time capsule buried on our building’s site.

Nottingham Contemporary is sunk into sandstone cliffs, giving it an irregular structure, and a sense of being much larger on the inside than on the outside. By maximising the use of the available land, our building sits within the existing city skyline, nestled among the red brickwork of neighbouring Georgian townhouses. We’re based in the oldest site in the city – the site of a Saxon fort, a medieval town hall, and a late Victorian railway cutting.