Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (also known simply as (the) Baltic, stylised as BALTIC) is a centre for
contemporary art
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
located on the south bank of the
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
in
Gateshead
Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
,
Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...
, England. It hosts a frequently changing variety of exhibitions, events, and educational programmes with no permanent exhibition. The idea to open a centre for contemporary arts in Gateshead was developed in the 1990s, which was a time of regeneration for the local area—the
Sage
Sage or SAGE may refer to:
Plants
* ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb
** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family
** ''Salvia'', a large ...
and
Gateshead Millennium Bridge
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne between Gateshead arts quarter on the south bank and Newcastle upon Tyne's Quayside area on the north bank. It was the first tilting bridge ever t ...
was also being conceived of in this period.
Baltic opened in July 2002 in a converted flour mill, which had operated in various capacities from 1950 to 1984. The architectural design of Baltic was devised by Dominic Williams of Ellis Williams Architects, who won a competition to design the new contemporary arts centre in 1994. The building features exhibition spaces, a visitor centre, a rooftop restaurant and external viewing platforms which offer views of the River Tyne. Baltic's current director, the centre's fifth, is Sarah Munro, who joined in November 2015. As of January 2022, Baltic had welcomed over 8 million visitors.
Development
Baltic Flour Mills
Baltic Flour Mills was built by
Joseph Rank
Joseph Rank (28 March 1854 – 13 November 1943) was the founder of Joseph Rank Limited, once one of Britain's largest Flour milling and bakery companies. He built his company into a leader in all aspects of the industry including the operatio ...
of
Rank Hovis
RHM plc, formerly Rank Hovis McDougall, was a United Kingdom food business. The company owned numerous brands, particularly for flour, where its core business started, and for consumer food products. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange an ...
to a late-1930s design by
Hull-based architects
Gelder and Kitchen. The first foundations were laid in the late 1930s, and although construction ceased during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the mill was completed and started operating in 1950. Known locally as "the pride of Tyneside", 300 people were employed by the mill at its height.
[Guest, 2008: 4] The building was composed of two parallel brick façades running east to west, sandwiched between a foundation of concrete silos.
The structure could store 22,000 tons of grain. The design of the building also featured a larger silo in which to store and clean wheat.
The site was extended in 1957 by the addition of Blue Cross Mill which processed animal feed. In 1976, a fire forced both mills to close, but the silos remained in operation until 1984 to store a portion of the grain owned by the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
.
[Guest, 2008: 4] Baltic Flour Mills was one of a number of mills located along the banks of the Tyne, all of which, due to their size, were prominent local landmarks. The Spillers mill just downstream from Baltic on the north bank of the river was demolished in 2011. Another large mill was owned by the CWS and was located just upstream of
Dunston Staiths
Dunston is particularly known for wooden coal staiths, first opened in 1893 as a structure for loading coal from the North Durham coalfield onto ships. In the 1920s, 140,000 tons of coal per week were loaded from the staiths, and they continued to ...
.
Arts centre inception
![Newcastle Quayside with bridges](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Newcastle_Quayside_with_bridges.jpg)
The opening of Baltic as a designated centre for contemporary art was part of the revitalisation and post-industrial regeneration of Gateshead's riverside. The regeneration began in the early 1990s and transformed the
Quayside
The Quayside is an area along the banks ( quay) of the River Tyne in Newcastle upon Tyne (the north bank) and Gateshead (south bank) in Tyne and Wear, North East England, United Kingdom.
History
The area was once an industrial area and busy co ...
into a centre of modern architecture, including the Sage and Millennium Bridge.
In 1991, Northern Arts (now part of
Arts Council England
Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...
) released a five-year plan in which it stated its intention to create "major new capital facilities for the Contemporary Visual Arts and Music in Central Tyneside". Northern Arts were keen to convert an old building into a centre for art, rather than build a new one, and the
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
-run Gateshead Council expressed interest in converting the old Flour Mills. This was in contrast to the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
-run
Newcastle City Council's approach to development, which saw private firms develop mainly flats, hotels, and offices. Gateshead Council purchased the Baltic Flour Mills silo building, and in 1994 they invited the Royal Institute of British Architects to open a competition which would find an architect to design the new arts centre.
Architecture
![Baltic mills](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Baltic_mills.jpg)
In 1994,
Gateshead Council
The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It includes Gateshead, Rowlands Gill, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Felling, Pelaw, Dunston and Low Fell. The bor ...
invited the
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
to hold a competition to select a design for the conversion of the Baltic Flour Mills. The objective of the competition was to "provide a national and international Centre for Contemporary visual arts".
[Jodidio, 2006: 86] The brief cited a number of similar examples of old buildings which had been converted into arts centres around the world, including a converted flour mill in
Porto, Portugal
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
and the
Bankside Power Station
Bankside Power Station is a decommissioned electricity generating station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in the Bankside area of the Borough of Southwark, London. It generated electricity from 1891 to 1981. It was also used as ...
in London (now the site of the
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...
). After evaluating a total of 140 entries, Dominic Williams – a relatively unknown architect who had only been working for three years – won the competition. He entered the competition with Ellis Williams Architects, his father's firm. Andrew Guest remarks that this "simple, honest, industrial"
[Guest, 2008: 19] design was an example of architecture which recognised the designs and context of the past.
Williams and Ellis Williams Architects stated their intention to "retain as much of the existing character and fabric of the building as possible" while also clearly presenting the structure's new purpose as an art gallery.
![Viewing_platform_at_Baltic_-_Newcastle_Gateshead_Quayside](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Viewing_platform_at_Baltic_-_Newcastle_Gateshead_Quayside.jpg)
The conversion of the flour mills was a complex and technically challenging task. The grain silos were removed, leaving the brick façades unsupported, and a 1,000 tonne steel frame was required to support the remaining building. Four new main floors were inserted into the building supported by a row of pillars. Intermediary floors made out of steel frames and thin concrete were also inserted. These were designed to be removable as to adapt the building and create variable spaces for art.
With 13 separate levels in total, Williams claimed he purposefully wanted to create a sense of disorientation for visitors within the building and allow an element of discovery.
A spiral staircase winds up the building towards an open-plan office for staff. An efficient
ductwork
Ducts are conduits or passages used in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to deliver and remove air. The needed airflows include, for example, ''supply air'', ''return air'', and ''exhaust air''. Ducts commonly also deliver '' ...
system was installed within the beams which carries heated or chilled air throughout the building.
[Guest, 2008: 16-19] Such a design, conceived of by environmental engineers Atelier Ten, was uncommon for the time. The north and south elevations of the original building were retained along with the original ''BALTIC FLOUR MILLS'' lettering
and red and yellow bricks. The east and west sides were fully glazed, capturing natural light and allowing views of the River Tyne. Additionally, service towers in the corners of the building, a rooftop viewing box, and a low-rise visitor centre were completed—these now comprise part of the building's major elements.
The building stands at tall. Glass elevators situated close to the exterior offer views of Newcastle, Gateshead and the River Tyne.
A restaurant sits at the top of the building, built in a manner which still allows natural light to reach the top gallery floor.
[Guest, 2008: 9] The building's interior largely features glass, concrete, aluminium,
Welsh Slate
The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then expanded rapidly until the l ...
,
'Cor-Ten' steel, and Swedish pine. The furniture, purposely built to be flexible and adaptable, was designed by Swedish designer Åke Axelsson.
[Guest, 2008: 19]
Awards
Baltic won a
RIBA
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
award in 2003, a
Civic Trust Award
The Civic Trust Awards scheme was established in 1959 to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment.
As the longest standing built environment awards scheme in Europe, since 1959, more than 7000 projects have ...
in 2004, and in 2006 was selected as one of the top 10 most outstanding arts and culture schemes in the UK as part of the
Gulbenkian Prize Gulbenkian Prize is a series of prizes awarded annually by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The main Gulbenkian Prize was established in 1976 as the Gulbenkian Science Prize awarded to Portuguese individuals and organizations.
Starting 2012, th ...
. In 2012, it won the
National Lottery Awards prize for Best Arts Project.
File:Centre Baltique Gateshead 8.jpg, alt=Picture of the brick façade of Baltic with its distinctive red and yellow bricks and original lettering., The brick façade of Baltic with its distinctive red and yellow bricks and original lettering.
File:From the 5th floor of the Baltic, down the stairwell - geograph.org.uk - 752501.jpg, alt=Picture looking down the stairwell of Baltic. The building has five main levels and 13 floors in total., Looking down the stairwell of Baltic. The building has five main levels and 13 floors in total.
File:View from BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.jpg, alt=View from the west-facing window of Baltic. The Sage, Gateshead Millennium Bridge, and Tyne Bridge are all visible., View from the west-facing window of Baltic. The Sage, Gateshead Millennium Bridge, and Tyne Bridge are all visible.
Management
![Sune Nordgren in 2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Sune_Nordgren_in_2018.jpg)
The founding director,
Sune Nordgren, was appointed in 1997. He oversaw the period prior to Baltic's opening, including the construction of the gallery. After almost six years, Nordgren left to take up a new post as founding director of the National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design,
Oslo, Norway
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of i ...
.
At this time, Baltic was facing financial problems. After Nordgren's departure, a former Baltic chairman accused the centre of overspending on commissions during Nordgren's tenure. Baltic's situation was described by Arts Council England as having "serious inadequacies in financial procedures".
Nordgren was briefly succeeded by
Stephen Snoddy
Stephen Snoddy (born 1959) is a British artist and gallery director.
Career
Snoddy trained as a painter at Belfast College of Art where he graduated in 1983 with an MA in Fine Art.
Snoddy moved to Manchester in 1986 and graduated with a Post ...
, who had previously run a new gallery in
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...
. Snoddy only remained with the organisation for 11 months, citing difficulties in leaving his family behind in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
while working at Baltic.
He was succeeded as director by
Peter Doroshenko
Peter Doroshenko (born 1962 in Chicago, Illinois, United States) is the director at The Ukrainian Museum, New York, New York, United States.
Life and career
Before his arrival in New York, Doroshenko was the Executive Director at Dallas Conte ...
in 2005. Doroshenko's previous institutions included the
Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst and the Institute of Visual Arts in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
.
He was brought to Baltic to increase visitor numbers and resolve the centre's financial situation, which was criticised by Arts Council England and an insider as being chaotic.
Doroshenko organized several exhibitions during his time at Baltic, including ''Spank the Monkey''.
In November 2007, Doroshenko left the gallery to head up the
PinchukArtCentre
PinchukArtCentre is a private contemporary art centre, located in Kyiv with a collection of works by Ukrainian and international artists. The museum was opened on 16 September 2006 by the steel billionaire Victor Pinchuk.
The mission of the Pinc ...
in Kiev, Ukraine. He stated that he believed he had made Baltic a more "approachable and visitor friendly place." However, ''
Design Week
''Design Week'' is a UK-based website, formerly a magazine for the design industry. It was first published in October 1986 by Centaur Communications. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations primary circulation for 2007 was 8,074. In 2011, ...
'' reported that there were claims that Doroshenko did not deliver the expected "international programme of artistic excellence." Additionally, staff at the centre had complained about his "intolerable" and "bullying" management style.
Godfrey Worsdale Godfrey may refer to:
People
* Godfrey (name), a given name and surname
* Godfrey (comedian), American comedian, actor
Places In the United States
* Godfrey, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Godfrey, Illinois, a village
* Godfrey, Kansas, ...
, founding director of the
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
MIMA, or Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, is a contemporary art gallery based in the centre of Middlesbrough, England. The gallery was formally launched on Sunday 27 January 2007; since 2014 it has been part of Teesside University.
Hist ...
, was appointed as director of Baltic in 2008. Worsdale oversaw the 10 year anniversary of Baltic and the hosting of the
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...
in 2011.
He was awarded an honorary degree from
Northumbria University
, mottoeng = A lifetime of learning
, established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status
, type = Public
, budget = ...
in 2012 in recognition for his work on contemporary art after being on the judging panel for the Turner Prize. He departed in 2015 to take up a new post as director of the
Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the arti ...
. Sarah Munro became director in November 2015. She was previously artistic director of
Tramway in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
and head of arts for Glasgow Life.
History as arts centre
Pre-opening events
During the four-year construction of Baltic, the new organisation arranged a series of events, publications, and artists in residence in anticipation of the centre's opening. In 1999, after the silos had been removed and before the new floors were inserted, the shell of the building was used to house an art installation by
Anish Kapoor
Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor (born 12 March 1954) is a British-Indian sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the elite all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the UK ...
. ''Taratantara'' was a trumpet-shaped installation of
PVC long and was situated within the centre of the mill.
[Guest, 2008: 61] This installation drew 16,000 visitors and marked a turning point between the building's old purpose and its new life as a centre for art. In October 2000,
Jenny Holzer's ''
Truisms A truism is a claim that is so obvious or self-evident as to be hardly worth mentioning, except as a reminder or as a rhetorical or literary device, and is the opposite of falsism.
In philosophy, a sentence which asserts incomplete truth conditio ...
'' – a series of aphorisms and slogans – were projected onto the side of the building.
Kapoor and Holtzer's works were intended to engage casual passers-by in an artistic dialogue.
The identity of Baltic was also solidified by the publication of 16 newsletters between October 1998 and July 2002 when the centre opened to the public. A significant part of this branding was the use of the now registered
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.
There are list of type ...
''BALTIC Affisch'', designed by Swedish designers Ulf Greger Nilsson and Henrik Nygren and based on the ''BALTIC FLOUR MILLS'' lettering on the building's brick façade.
Opening
![Gateshead Millennium Bridge - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Gateshead_Millennium_Bridge_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1244794.jpg)
After ten years in the planning and a capital investment of £50m, including £33.4m from the Arts Council Lottery Fund, Baltic opened to the public at midnight on Saturday 13 July 2002.
The novelty of opening the new building at midnight was intentional: founding director Sune Nordgren sought a dramatic gesture to herald the beginning of the new centre for arts.
The inaugural exhibition, ''B.OPEN'', had work by
Chris Burden
Christopher Lee Burden (April 11, 1946 – May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance, sculpture and installation art. Burden became known in the 1970s for his performance art works, including ''Shoot'' (1971), where he arranged ...
,
Carsten Höller
Carsten Höller (born December 1961) is a German artist. He lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.Alice Rawsthorn (January 2012)"Cliff Hanger - The Ghanaian home of artists Carsten Höller and Marcel Odenbach goes above—and beyond" ''W Magazi ...
,
Julian Opie
Julian Opie (; born 1958) is a visual artist of the New British Sculpture movement.
Life and education
Opie was born in London in 1958 and raised in the city of Oxford. He attended The Dragon School and then Magdalen College School, Oxfor ...
,
Jaume Plensa
Jaume Plensa i Suñé (; born 23 August 1955) is a Spanish visual artist, sculptor, designer and engraver. He is a versatile artist who has also created opera sets, video projections and acoustic installations. He worked with renowned Catalan th ...
and
Jane and Louise Wilson
Jane Wilson and Louise Wilson (born 1967 in Newcastle upon Tyne) are British artists who work together as a sibling duo. Jane and Louise Wilson's art work is based in video, film and photography. They are Young British Artists, YBA artists who w ...
.
Opie, who had previously assisted Dominic Williams with aspects of the building's conversion design, contributed an installation consisting of nude outlines on the walls of floor of the gallery. Plensa's installation featured a room filled with
gong
A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...
s which were available for the audience to play.
Plensa also contributed ''Blake in Gateshead'' – a beam of light which stretched around into the sky.
The installation was placed through the glass doorway of the ground floor.
[Guest, 2008: 26] Burden constructed a 1/20th scale replica of the Tyne Bridge out of
Meccano
Meccano is a brand of scale model, model construction system created in 1898 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England. The system consists of reusable metal strips, plates, Structural steel#Common structural shapes, angle girders, wheels, axles and ...
.
[Guest, 2008: 62] Jane and Louise Wilson created ''Dreamtime'', a video of a rocket launch.
An early exhibit by the Japanese artist
Yoshitomo Nara
is a Japanese artist. He lives and works in Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, though his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara has had nearly 40 solo exhibitions since 1984. His art work has been housed at the MoMA and the Los Angeles Coun ...
was also included. The ''B.OPEN'' event attracted over 35,000 visitors in the first week.
[Baltic Website](_blank)
A live art performance, including Tatsumi Orimito's ''Bread Man'' and Anne Bjerge Hansen's ''Moving Bakery'', took place during the opening weekend, in which bread was handed out to passers-by in memory of the Baltic Flour Mill's history.
[Guest, 2008: 62] When BALTIC opened, there was a target set for 250,000 visitors a year.
It achieved one million visitors in its first year, and by its 10-year anniversary in 2012, 4 million people had visited.
Notable events
''Thanksgiving''
On 20 September 2007, Baltic management contacted
Northumbria Police
Northumbria Police is a territorial police force in England. It is responsible for policing the metropolitan boroughs of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and the City of Sunderland, as well as the ceremonial county ...
for advice regarding whether or not a photograph should be displayed as part of the ''Thanksgiving'' installation, a forthcoming exhibition by American photographer
Nan Goldin
Nancy Goldin (born September 12, 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is '' The Ballad of Sexual Depe ...
. The photograph, along with the rest of the installation, is part of the
Sir Elton John Photography Collection. Entitled ''Klara and Edda belly-dancing'' features two naked young girls and had previously been exhibited around the world without objections. The installation, which had been scheduled for a four-month exhibition, opened with the remaining photographs whilst ''Klara and Edda belly-dancing'' was in possession of the police. However, it closed after just nine days at the request of Elton John. Although this had a determinantal effect on Baltic's reputation in the short-term, Graham Whitham argues in ''Understand Contemporary Art'' that it may have given it a higher profile and greater publicity in the long-run.
Beryl Cook
In 2007, the largest survey of artist
Beryl Cook's work to date was featured in an exhibition at Baltic.
Cook enjoyed widespread recognition of her art towards the end of her life; the exhibition at Baltic took place one year before her death. Her paintings depict everyday and familiar social situations in a playful, colourful, and "portly" style. Peter Doreshenko, the director of Baltic at the time of the exhibition, was keen for the gallery to reject the seriousness audiences may associate with it. The exhibition of Cook's work was part of this populist effort to attract new audiences to the then financially-struggling gallery, whose visitor numbers had dropped to less than 500,000 and whose reputation was decreasing.
Adrian Searle
Adrian Searle (born 1953 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire) is the chief art critic of ''The Guardian'' newspaper in Britain, and has been writing for the paper since 1996. Previously he was a painter.
Life and career
Searle studied at the St ...
of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reviewed the exhibition and, whilst acknowledging that fans would enjoy it, commented "look too long and you may feel a bit queasy".
Turner Prize
In 2011, Baltic was the venue for the Turner Prize. This was the first time the event had been held outside of
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
or
Liverpool Tate. The Turner Prize exhibition at Baltic attracted 149,770 visitors to the gallery – almost double the average attendance in London. The event at Baltic was also free, whilst Turner exhibitions at Tate Britain had always previously charged for entry. The winning exhibit was by
Martin Boyce
Martin Boyce (born 1967) is a Scottish sculptor inspired by early 20th century modernism.
Boyce was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire and educated at Holy Cross High School in Hamilton. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art, graduating with ...
with the runners-up being
Karla Black
Karla Black (born 1972) is a Scottish sculptor who creates abstract three-dimensional artworks that explore the physicality of materials as a way of understanding and communicating the world around us.
In 2011, Black was nominated for the Turne ...
,
Hilary Lloyd and
George Shaw George Shaw may refer to:
* George Shaw (biologist) (1751–1813), English botanist and zoologist
* George B. Shaw (1854–1894), U.S. Representative from Wisconsin
* George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Irish playwright
* George C. Shaw (1866–196 ...
.
Judy Chicago
The first major retrospective of American artist
Judy Chicago's work was exhibited in Baltic from November 2019 to April 2020. The exhibition included her abstract paintings, records of performance pieces, and began and ended with a four-metre tapestry which portrayed the creation the world from a woman's perspective.
At the time of the exhibition, Chicago was in her 80s. Hannah Clugston of ''The Guardian'' noted that the more recent featured works embraced the theme of death, particularly ''End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction'', which is based on the
stages of grief.
''Baltic Open Submission''
In March 2020, Baltic announced it would be closing due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
until further notice. In May 2021, it reopened to visitors with four exhibitions. ''Baltic Open Submission'' featured works created during lockdown by 158 artists from the North East. The 158 artists were chosen from over 540 original submissions and selected by a panel of three North East-based artists. The final pieces included paintings, drawings, and sound and video installations.
Community and cultural impact
At the opening of Baltic, director Sune Nordgren outlined the role of the arts centre within the public sphere. He stated that Baltic should be "a meeting place, a site for connections and confrontation between artists and the public."
[Marsh, 2004: 100] In an October 2002 lecture at the Power Plant Gallery in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Nordgren reaffirmed the importance of local outreach and explained his intention for Baltic to regard the local history and culture, comparing his intention to examples of modern art museums where this was not considered, such as the
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. The museum was inaugurated on 18 October 1997 by King Juan Carlos I of Spa ...
(designed in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and placed in Spain). From its inception, Baltic emphasised the importance of artist-public relationships and its role as a community hub. "Participate" initiatives encouraged people in the local community to interact with resident artists. A media learning centre in a local library was set up as an extension of Baltic's community resources.
![University of Northumbria (geograph 2056156)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/University_of_Northumbria_%28geograph_2056156%29.jpg)
In a 2016 talk on Baltic's 10-year strategic plan (officially named ''Untitled''), the current director of Baltic – Sarah Munro – emphasised that the North East of England "has always led, not followed" the agenda for contemporary arts, and that Baltic had been a big part of this trend. She argued that the visual arts can be used to further the economic and social growth of the area, even amidst the backdrop of political issues and
austerity
Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...
. Baltic also launched an international award for emerging artists in 2016, which offered a £30,000 commission and an accompanying exhibition to four recipients. It was the first such competition in the UK to be judged entirely by artists: in 2017, they were
Monica Bonvicini
Monica Bonvicini (born 1965 in Venice) is an Italian artist. In her work, Bonvicini investigates the relationship between power structures, gender and space. She works intermediately with installation, sculpture, video, photography and drawing me ...
,
Lorna Simpson
Lorna Simpson (born August 13, 1960) is an American photographer and multimedia artist. She came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as ''Guarded Conditions'' and ''Square Deal''. Simpson is most well-known for her work in c ...
,
Pedro Cabrita Reis
Pedro Cabrita Reis (born September 5, 1956) is one of the foremost visual artists of his generation and also one of Portugal’s most internationally renowned artists. His work features a wide variety of media – painting, sculpture, photography ...
and
Mike Nelson. Munro commented that the award was to foster "a dialogue with our audiences at a local, national and international level."
Local university partnerships and graduate internships are also important to Baltic's community and cultural influence.
[Marsh, 2004: 100] In 2011, Baltic and
Northumbria University
, mottoeng = A lifetime of learning
, established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status
, type = Public
, budget = ...
established an artistic partnership through the BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art, a centre for artistic and curatorial research.
Christine Borland was appointed as Baltic Professor. A designated gallery space, known as Baltic 39, was established on the top floor of refurbished Edwardian warehouses at 31-39 High Bridge in Newcastle. It was designed by Viennese architects Jabornegg & Palffy and housed artwork from students at the university. Baltic 39 was based at High Bridge from 2012 to 2021.
Their annual Self-Publishing Artists’ Market (aka S.P.A.M.) takes the form of a lively programme exploring print culture and practice through talks and workshops with over 50 stalls selling zines and artists’ books. S.P.A.M. Spreads reimagines the market in printed form and has included contributions by artists, activists, illustrators, zine-makers, writers and curators including
Vanessa Murrell, Melody Sproates, Okocha Obasi, Stephanie Francis-Shanahan.
See also
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The Big Pitch
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Sage Gateshead
Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and musical education centre in Gateshead on the south side of the River Tyne in North East England. Opened in 2004 and occupied by North Music Trust it is part of the Gateshead Quays development which incl ...
*
Gateshead Millennium Bridge
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne between Gateshead arts quarter on the south bank and Newcastle upon Tyne's Quayside area on the north bank. It was the first tilting bridge ever t ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
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Ellis Williams - Baltic Project ArchitectsBxNU Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
Art museums and galleries in Tyne and Wear
Buildings and structures in Gateshead
Contemporary art galleries in England
Modern art museums
Gateshead
Art museums established in 2002
2002 establishments in England
Charities based in Tyne and Wear
Art Deco architecture in England