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NN NIGHTS
August 31 @ 2:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Sunday 31 August 2025 | 2 pm–9 pm | Various Locations, Northampton
NN Contemporary Art is thrilled to announce the return of NN Nights, a vibrant, town-wide celebration of arts and culture, taking place on Sunday, 31 August 2025. Following the success of last year’s event, this edition promises to be bigger and bolder, featuring over 50 artists presenting exhibitions, performances, and participatory projects across Northampton. NN Nights was devised in 2024 by NN Associates, a professional development programme initiated by NN Contemporary Art, aiming to foster creative skills and community in the town. This year’s event, proudly built on the work established by NN Associates, now marks a significant fixture in Northampton’s cultural calendar.
“We are excited to bring NN Nights back for another year of creativity, collaboration, and community engagement,” said Richard Harrison, one of the event’s producers. “The event has grown significantly, and we can’t wait to share the incredible talent and energy of our local artists with the community once again.”
The festivities will kick off with the Lightning Bolt Drawing World Championship by Northampton-based artist Bill Pollard at the Racecourse. In this community-focused event, participants are invited to draw chalk lightning bolts on the pavement in a celebration of collective creativity. From here, visitors are invited to explore the NN Nights art map trail, a curated series of exhibitions and performances taking place at partner venues throughout Northampton. This year’s edition features a series of artist projects commissioned through a town-wide open call, some responding to the anniversary of The Great Fire of Northampton. Among them, Michelle Woolley presents a performative walk through the town, creating a shamanic drawing from burnt materials that reflects on medieval English heritage and fire traces.
See all the events, the trail and the interactive map at https://nnights.xyz/
Other Programme Highlights Include:
Watch a Garden Grow, organised by artist-curator Richard Harrison, is a temporary outdoor group show inspired by a Derek Jarman painting, Landscape with Marble Mountain in the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery collection. The exhibition is structured by a public participatory chalk-flower drawing event by Bill Pollard, which will evolve into a ‘secret garden’ throughout the day. Other contributing artists include Macy Wong Prior, Madeleine Wilkie, Dinosaur Kilby, Leah Hickey, Kristina Hall, Sophie Mackfall, Ethan Caflisch, Johanna De Verdier, Campbell McConnell, Ciara Callaghan, Joe Highton and Shepherd Manyika.
The event will debut the ‘We Used To Be Friends’ Bar, a new participatory public artwork and pop-up installation by artist and designer Giles Round. Situated beneath a pink neon sign, the bar created in partnership with Queer Brewery, intervenes in spaces coded by heteronormative nostalgia. A collaborative, specially-editioned beer will be on sale for the duration of the event, temporarily activating the Giles Round-designed kiosk bar space at 24 Guildhall Road before opening fully in the new year.
Landscape photographer James Smith’s exhibition A Study of New and Expanded Towns of Southeast England and Memorability as an Image, inspired by Rayner Banham’s theory of New Brutalism, will open at Photomafia Studios.
Local wine bar V & B will host three presentations: in the courtyard space, Merlin Summers will show ‘Mr. Reece. I. Kul’, a sculptural performance composed of found and repurposed materials; photographer Maksim Podorozkin’s work chronicles the town’s industrial architecture, whilst NN/A present Gleam, a group show of new work and live painting exploring light as both subject and medium.
From 7 pm, Coconut Paradise Cafe will be serving drinks and their signature Caribbean cooking with DJs to keep the party going into the evening.
NN Nights 2025 is generously supported by Arts Council England, Click Arts Foundation, Northampton Town Council, pHp Architects, Michael Jones Jeweller, Yellow Bourbon Coffee Roasters
More information on all of the events, along with information about NN, can be found at: www.nncontemporaryart.org.
