Join us for the first-ever online Nicer Tuesdays

We are extremely excited to announce that, for the first time, Nicer Tuesdays will be taking place online, opening up the event to speakers and viewers from across the globe.

Nicer Tuesdays is an event where we bring together four speakers from the creative world to give a ten-minute talk on a recent project. We’ve been running it since 2013 and it’s something we’re really proud of. In that time, it’s grown from an intimate evening event to a 400-person audience in east London’s Oval Space. And we’ve welcomed some incredible creative talent to the stage during that time as well – but it’s never before been accessible to those outside London.

As you may already know, we took the decision to postpone March’s Nicer Tuesdays in light of government advice relating to Covid-19, and that event will be taking place as planned but on 15 September. Since making that decision, we’ve been working hard on creating a version of Nicer Tuesdays which we can all enjoy, even in isolation, and so we’ll be running a live-streamed version of the event via Zoom on 28 April.

Joining us for this web-based event, to kick-off a new chapter for Nicer Tuesdays is: Jean Jullien, Richard Turley, Liz Johnson Artur and Ruohan Wang. It’s an incredible line-up; we can’t wait to tune in and we hope you will too. Below, you can find out a bit more about what each speaker will be talking about, but first here are the details for the event.

Taking place on 28 April, the event will begin at 6.15 PM BST and will follow our usual format: Matt, our editor, will be hosting the evening and each speaker will be talking through a recent work over ten minutes. We will then conclude with a brief Q&A. You will be able to submit a question to any of our speakers when you sign up for a ticket and we will select some of the best to put to Jean, Richard, Liz and Ruohan.

For April’s event, we are operating several payment tiers, a kind-of pay what you can approach. There are five tiers available, ranging from £1 to £10. This is because we want to keep this event accessible to all, and understand that right now, money is short for some. However, we want to continue our mission to support the creative community and so will continue to pay all of our speakers. We, therefore, need to cover these costs. We hope that this approach will work for everyone and allow you all to join us on 28 April, no matter where you are or what your current situation is.

So go grab yourself a ticket and then pop back to find out more about our speakers.

Jean Jullien

French illustrator Jean Jullien needs little introduction. His portfolio at-large is full of iconic works, all executed in his signature hand-drawn style. Whether done digitally, on canvas or as 3D objects, Jean’s imagery is whimsical and often poetic. During his Nicer Tuesdays Online talk, Jean will be telling us more about his illustrious career and how he creates his playful works.

Richard Turley

Originally from the UK but now based in New York, Richard Turley is one of the most recognisable names in the graphic design world. Many will know him as Wieden+Kennedy New York’s executive creative director, as MTV’s previous creative director, the person who revamped Bloomberg Business Week or perhaps as the person who relaunched Interview magazine and launched Civilization (a “newspaper-cum-support-group” for New York City).

It’s the latter which will form the basis of Richard’s Nicer Tuesdays talk and he will be taking us through a project he and fellow Civilization founder Lucas Mascatello have been running during isolation. For the small sum of $3, they have been sending New Yorkers personalised letters as a distraction from quarantine and in homage to pop artist Ray Johnson.

Liz Johnson Artur

Based in London, Liz Johnson Artur is a photographer who, over the past few decades, has captured the multiplicity of everyday life in Africa, Europe, North America, and the Caribbean. Her images – which are often street-style but also exist in a fashion context have appeared on the pages of multiple magazines, in an eponymous book and several international exhibitions – form a photographic representation of people of African decent.

At Nicer Tuesdays, Liz will be talking us through the process for producing work she currency has showing in the Barbican, as part of its Masculinities: Liberation through Photography exhibition.

Ruohan Wang

Last but by no means least is Ruohan Wang, an illustrator based in Berlin. A graduate of Berlin University of the Arts, she’s kept us hooked over the years with her chaotic, colourful drawings, animations, and public art installations, all of which culminated in a project at the end of last year in which Ruohan collaborated with Fisk-founder Bijan Berahimi for our Dropbox: Call for Collaboration project. The result was a T-shirt encouraging us to interact with nature which can be spotted several times during any given week in the It’s Nice That studio.

Not limited by scale or media, Ruohan’s works are notable for their diversity and have appeared everywhere from Shanghai to Jerusalem. At Nicer Tuesdays, Ruohan will be giving some insight into her multi-disciplinary practice, her distinctive characters and the existential philosophical inspirations behind her portfolio.