Now&Them

Now&Them is a non-profit platform that promotes the importance of creativity in society. Created by Paper Stone Scissors, it supports the notion that creative thinking stimulates innovation, broadens perspective and encourages critical thinking. It is fundamental to the success of human development and transports ideas beyond their usual realm. It is often overlooked but its absence always noticed.

Through a series of events, we aim to stimulate ideas, increase awareness and engage conversation about creativity and raise much needed money for local charities. This year all proceeds will be donated to Lifeline.

The seemingly inexplicable and fascinating nature of life throws up interesting themes that deserve exploring. When conceiving this years exhibition theme we wanted to choose an idea that had a universal understanding but was rich in individual meaning. A theme that sits unassumingly within the everyday, but when delved into beneath the surface, reveals itself in an allegorical sense.

Our thinking led us to the idea of numbers and numerals. A system dating back over 40,000 years in the everyday evolution of humankind. Relevant across all cultures, a necessity in one form or another for all individuals; a system representing practical solutions as well as a symbolic narrative.

Why specifically the number '10'? Significantly, 10 seems to span culture, religion and gender and therefore creates the perfect vehicle to base a collaborative exhibition. It carries enough meaning to be inspirational and at the same time creates a defined framework to challenge our artists.

Now&Them by its very nature requires our artists to interrogate the world that surrounds them. We invite you to experience their journey of investigation and in doing so enjoy exploring your own.

All proceeds from 'In Ten' exhibition will go to Lifeline, helping to continue the fantastic work they do.

We live our lives in terms of the stories we tell and the stories we listen to. Stories can give us meaning by expressing our values, teaching our young, and conveying the intricacies of the cultures we experience throughout our lives. Individually, stories often connect elements of one’s own experience, providing a sense of wholeness and a comforting idea that all the pieces of our life fit together and add up to something meaningful.

On the other hand, stories can sometimes simply be entertaining and as interactive as

a conversation.

This framework of telling a yarn or a myth or a simple narrative is something that has happened since the beginning of time, across all cultures and age groups and has evolved from an oral tradition over 50,000 years. Fast forward to today and now - in the age of telecommunications, storytelling takes on a further transformation. Immediacy, collaboration, critiquing and access to a wider knowledge base all play a part in its evolution.

Titled ‘Chinese Whispers’, this exhibition features collaborations between writers and visual artists, revolving around the theme of storytelling.

Our brief for the writers was to continue on from the chapter before them and write the next part of the story, expressing their own individual style, while keeping the overall plot in mind. Each one was then passed onto hand-picked visualisers who created their own interpretation of each chapter. One tale created and visualised by many storytellers.

This social art experiment promotes creative thinking across different industries, professions and disciplines. Featuring a mix of people across all industries including, but not restricted to, a playwright, architect, fine artist, rock musician, children’s book author, art collector, barista…and even a comic book superhero. 40 people, 15 different countries, 27 professional occupations. Curated by Paper Stone Scissors.

All proceeds from the ‘Chinese Whispers’ exhibition were donated to the Library Project by Heart to Heart, providing educational support to children from low-income families in rural China.

Seeing situations in a new way, in every walk of life, is the basis of the Now&Them platform that champions the ideas of creative thinking in all its forms. Sifting through past ideas, filtering relevant components and linking vision to purpose and intention to goals.

This idea of linkage triggered the conception of Collab#1 to be the first expression of the N&T platform. Collab#1 taps into the community around us and links individuals to create a situation where we see collaboration giving power to an idea.

Today, time moves faster than ever before. We attempt to keep abreast of rapid advances in technology that affect the speed and breadth of communications, transient trends and our vision of tomorrow. How would it be therefore to consider the NOW? The images, forms. or ideas that represents the present? It's important to appreciate this moment in time before it passes us by.

In the autumn of 2014 in the city of Shanghai, China, we gathered a group of creatives from different industries. We invited 60 people from 19 countries across 5 continents and from 20 professional occupations. We challenged the to create a piece of work in collaboration with a partner outside of their filed of work. The brief was to create their version and understanding of what NOW is.

All proceeds from the ‘Collab#1’ exhibition were donated to the 'I Care Project' by Stepping Stones. Providing essential eye care to disadvantaged children in China.