18th January Gateshead and Newcastle-upon-Tyne

The second Forum event was held in Newcastle and Gateshead in January. The event was timely with new city commissions recently completed, and a new programme of work for the Newcastle to Sunderland metro line. Of course Newcastle and Gateshead are also one of the cities competing for the title 'European City of Culture 2008'.

The title 'Beyond the Angel' makes reference to the iconic role taken on by the work that has come to represent the gateway to the region and a sign of regeneration. The event was planned in order to look beyond in terms of geography, practice and the future role of artists in the city. We invited two speakers to take part in the day that began at Northern Arts' offices in Central Square.

Paul Rubinstein Head of Culture at Newcastle City challenged Newcastle's approach to commissioning proposing that public art had been used as a method of 'prettifying' quasi public spaces. He questioned the use of public art in this context and how accurately it reflected or usefully contributed to Newcastle's future. What was needed he proposed was a process that put culture at the heart of regeneration. He described a city wide proposal to commission artists to explore the water courses below the surface that would connect projects throughout the City.

Andrew Knight, consultant to Nexus provided us with the opportunity to see visual proposals for the new metro line between Newcastle and Sunderland. The quality of proposals was evident prom the presentation and reflects the commitment by Nexus to an ongoing art programme that is continually in development. With an emphasis on creating links between stations and communities the programme attempts to go further than other similar programmes. In addition Elizabeth Wright, with Locus+ has proposed a work for inside the tunnel - usually out of bounds. Using highly reflective panels that provide references to landmarks at the surface passengers will be able to locate them selves throughout the journey.

In the afternoon the group embarked on a tour of Gateshead Quays, Baltic Square and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge. Shaffique Visram, Urban Designer for Gateshead met the group on site to talk through the rationale for the square and the relationship with the Baltic and Gateshead Quays currently under development. Leaving Gateshead the group headed for Blue Carpet, the new square outside the Laing Art Gallery designed by Tom Heatherwick. As we visited it was still under construction and the group were able to view the installation of the light works beneath the seating. The Square has received much criticism: the surface for not being blue enough, the protracted timescale and budget. The project was always complex with the aim being to bring unity to the surrounding buildings that are so variable in style and quality. The paving was specially developed for the scheme achieved in partnership with industry - an arts project that contributes to product development. If new approaches to the design of the street scape are to be developed there will need to an element of risk.

Other works on the tour included Simon Watkinson's new light work for the Theatre Royal, Charlie Holmes paving commission in Grainger Town and finally Ron Haselden's new commission for the Nexus Headquarters, 'Full Circle' yet to officially open.

Our thanks to Mathew Jarratt at Northern Arts for the hospitality, to all of the speakers and guides and also to Anna Pepperall of Gateshead City Council.