On the opening weekend of his solo show here, Nottingham Contemporary presented a reproduction of the Riddler’s jacket by John Newling in the Broadmarsh shopping centre. The jacket – which is covered in question marks like the jacket worn by the iconic “baddy” in Batman - has an epic train of 50 metres long. It formed part of a performance by Newling, which he invited shoppers and passers-by to take part in.

Newling has continually explored what we ‘value’ in our everyday lives – regardless of economic value – throughout his career. For his Broadmarsh performance, individual question marks were cut from the coat and given to passers-by in exchange for a ‘value’ that they believe strongly in. It offered an opportunity for participants to discuss with the artist what they value and, in exchange, what he values. Through this exchange, Newling hoped to provoke an antidote to the relentless invitations to consume and gain a greater understanding of our collective values.

The list of values Newling compiled during the first performance will become a script for this live reading at Nottingham Contemporary.