This summer, Newcastle and Gateshead transform into a festival of art, culture, design and innovation, celebrating the best of the North.
Taking place between 22 June and 9 September 2018, the Great Exhibition of the North (opens new window) is set to be the biggest in England, packing in a programme of live performances, stunning exhibits, specially commissioned artworks and live performances.
The free event is made possible thanks to £5 million in Government funding and is expected to bring a boost of £184 million to the region.
The festival kicks off on the banks of the River Tyne with performances by the Kaiser Chiefs and poet Lemn Sissay, and the UK's largest water sculpture — an 80-metre long water fountain.
Highlights include:
- A solo exhibition by Turner Prize 2017 Winner, Lubaina Himid
- A Great Northern Soundtrack curated by BBC 6 Music DJ, Lauren Laverne
- The return of Stephenson's Rocket, with virtual reality experience
- The original character models of Postman Pat
- John Lennon's last piano
Three iconic venues - Great North Museum, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Sage Gateshead - will serve as the starting point for visitors, before joining three interconnected trails that take in 30 venues and public spaces on each side of the Tyne.
The Innovation Trail:
- The Great North Little Inventors Challenge (Discovery Museum) - Children aged 4-12 are being challenged via the Great Exhibition of the North website to imagine life in the North in 2030 and share their ideas (by 16 March). The most ingenious invention ideas will be turned into reality by Magnificent Makers and exhibited in the Discovery Museum.
- Brick This, Lego Architects (Mining Institute) - A 3D Innovation Timeline of the North, featuring iconic items such as Stephenson's Rocket, graphene and the Great North Run.
- Future Homes(Science Central) - Step into the 'home of the future' to experience new technologies that will help provide supportive homes for anyone at any life-stage.
- Graphene Lighting (Lit & Phil) - Follow the Northern story of Joseph Swan's light bulb invention to the innovative use of graphene in modern-age lighting.
- Horse to Hyperloop (Cooper's Studio - Ryder Architecture) - The story of transport from the birth of railways to the future of travel.
The Arts Trail:
- Future Everything with the Urban Observatory (outside Theatre Royal) - Cutting-edge technology will meet creative writing, in the form of a poem on display that refreshes every minute, telling the story of the city.
- Opera North's Aeons (Gateshead Millennium Bridge) - Listeners can travel the route of the River Tyne, listening to the musical landscape of the North which will change and evolve from one section to the next (pre-booking essential).
- Mind the Gap's Daughter of Fortune (Venue TBC) - Combining art and science to explore real experiences of learning disability and parenthood through exhibitions and performances.
- The New Bridge Project's Life in a Northern Town (Carliol House and Gateshead High Street) - 10 emerging Northern artists will create unique exhibitions about how the North works, lives and plays.
The Design Trail:
- The Northern Design Quest (Great North Museum through to Northern Design Centre along the Ouseburn Valley) - A design challenge engaging visitors in idea generation, research, storyboarding and prototyping process.
- Winged Tales of the North (Ouseburn Valley) - A playful and imaginative street art trail inspired by one of the North's best-loved children's writers, David Almond.
- Design|Innovate|Craft (The Biscuit Factory) - Get involved in creative workshops, talks and seminars that celebrate contemporary craft and design-makers from across Northern England.
Across 80 days, The Great Exhibition of the North will tell the inspiring story of how the innovators, artists, designers and businesses of the North have shaped the present and are building the future.
It all culminates with the world's largest half marathon, the Great North Run, on 9 September - something we have a particular interest in!
Doors to our own world-class facilities across Gateshead are open all year round, perfect for some leisure time if you're visiting the region for the Exhibition or if you happen to be one of the 40,000 runners getting in shape for the Great North Run.
With seven venues across Gateshead, make Go Gateshead part of your Great North Adventure.
