Flour Power

Art is not the application of a canon of beauty, but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon.
Pablo Picasso

Until yesterday I was expecting today to be another dull day of doing virtually nothing. I was delighted to hear from K that she had a day off work, so with an appalling weather forecast we went Newcastle. Without any particular plan we headed towards the Newcastle/Gateshead Quayside. I love this area since it has been developed and improved over the past few years.

Despite ominous black clouds looming on the horizon we managed to leave the rain behind us, so we were able to take our time taking pictures of the Tyne Bridge (and beyond the Swing Bridge, High Level Bridge and more), the 'Blinking Eye' (Millennium Bridge) The Sage, and the Quayside Seaside. Quite why they need a mock beach there is puzzling since there are beautiful beaches just minutes away on the Metro, but that is another subject!

Having had a delicious lunch at the Slug and Lettuce we decided to see what was on at The Baltic Flour Mill, now a 'centre for contemporary art' ( the photo is of the entrance area). It's always a bit of a lottery going to the Baltic on spec as sometimes the exhibits can be rather weird and wonderful, but today we were lucky and they were all just wonderful! If you are local I would recommend a visit now if you have time - it isn't often you get three great exhibitions on together!

We particularly loved the Janet Cardiff audio exhibit The Forty Part Motet. In essence it is a recording of Spem in Alium Nunquam Habui by Thomas Tallis, but what makes it extraordinary is that each vocal part has been recorded individually ... and there are forty parts! Forty speakers are set out in a circle so you can wander around and hear the individual voices, so it feels like you are wandering through the choir. The dynamic really changes with every step. Officially there is no visual aspect to the work, but for me watching how people engaged with it provided all the visuals required, and indeed I believe it affected my own personal response. A powerful experience!

Spem in Alium, but without 40 speakers.