Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

The Baltic is an old flour mill which was converted a few years back into a contemporary art gallery. When this happened it was quite a big thing, which meant that the gallery received a large amount of funding which has allowed them to offer free entry since it opened. Their exhibitions are all temporary and generally last around about three months. Depending on how often you want to visit this can either be good or bad. If you are an arty person who enjoys galleries then this could be annoying since you will see the same things if you go often. On the other hand, you will never miss an exhibition if you don't want to. The exhibition spaces are very ...  Read the complete review

*****The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art***** On Saturday last week, my boyfriend and I went down to the Baltic Art Gallery on the south banks of the river Tyne for a bit of a cultural visit. I had been before, as I live locally, but it was a first for my vaguely sceptical bloke. For anyone who doesn’t know already, Baltic is a relatively new Art Gallery, known fondly by locals as Tate on Tyne, and housed in a former flour mill that has stood empty for years and years, home only to seagulls and pigeons before renovation completely transformed it into the beautiful art space it is now. The idea for the Baltic began back in 1991 when ...  Read the complete review

Once majestic, the proudly-functional Baltic flour Mill, –hammered into the barren Gateshead quays- gave, in its bold singularity, an exclamatory testament to the fatal optimism of an industrial past. The deeply black and eponymously-borne font reinforced this sense of a confidence ebbing slowly away. Yet for all this it had a sense of beauty. The time-softened hues, viewed by eyes swaying in the nostalgic redolence of tab-smoke and beer, seemingly melding into the orange sky of a summer evening. An iconic and beautiful monolith, then. All the more reason for tears at the grotesque parliament of high-rise executive blocks that now crowd behind it. Gone the sky ...  Read the complete review

Gateshead lies on the south bank of the Tyne and until recently was probably considered the poor relation of Newcastle. However, the town has suddenly been thrust on the map by projects such as the stunning Gateshead Millennium Bridge - fondly referred to as 'the blinking eye'- a pedestrian and cyclist bridge that links Gateshead Quays with Newcastle Quayside, closely followed by the opening of the Baltic art gallery. The Baltic Centre, which is housed in a 1950's grain warehouse (part of the Baltic Flour Mills) opened in July 2002 and it is a major international centre for the production, presentation and experience of contemporary art; it has been ...  Read the complete review