Hew Locke’s enormous carnivalesque art installation, the procession (2021) has moved from the Tate Britain At Baltic Center of Contemporary Art in the North East of England in what I hope will be a new model for organizing exhibitions in cash-strapped public galleries.
the procession was commissioned by London’s Tate Britain as a site-specific work for its 300ft-long Duveen Galleries and opened to the public in March 2022.the procession is made up of 140 human-sized figures dressed in brightly colored costumes and headdresses, some on horseback, others carrying weapons or flags. It is very accessible, family friendly and popular with the public. The fact that the artwork is inspired by the dark legacy of slavery and colonialism makes it a very useful educational tool for parents and schools while being joyful to see. But after passing through Tate Britain, the work was destined for storage.
A chance encounter between Baltic director Sarah Munro and Paul Hedge, the co-founder of London’s Hales Gallery, at the Frieze London art fair last October changed everything. Munro congratulated Hedge, whose gallery represents Locke, for the success of the procession to Tate and asked where he was going next. “Storage,” he replied regretfully. The artist had always hoped the work would tour, but no one had picked it up. Munro jumped at the chance. “We’ll take it,” she said, adding that Baltic would pay the freight and installation costs. A little over three months later, in mid-February, the procession opened in the Northeast and visitors have been flocking since.
at Hew Locke Procession settled in the Baltic Pictured: John McKenzie; © Baltic 2023
This chance meeting at Frieze London was a moment of serendipity. We at Baltic had just made the very difficult decision to cancel a show scheduled for February due to cost. Baltic does not have a permanent collection and therefore cannot remove a few works of art from storage. We faced thousands of square meters of empty gallery.
Crushing gas bills, inflation and rising staff costs mean that public galleries like ours have very little money for programming. It is also much more difficult to secure sponsorship or fundraise from high profile individuals when based outside of London.
“A lot of the money we used to spend on shows now goes to pay our gigantic gas bill.”
Baltic opened its doors just over 20 years ago in a converted flour mill on the banks of the River Tyne which separates Newcastle from Gateshead. It is located in one of the most deprived areas in the UK Or one in three children grow up in poverty and, in my opinion, it is one of the most successful examples of urban regeneration in Britain. According to Baltic’s internal research, it receives half a million visitors a year, many of whom are from lower socio-economic backgrounds and a third are under the age of 25.
It is funded by a combination of government grants and commercial income from restaurants and retail. But the subsidy has remained static and our visitors are spending less money. Because Gateshead is an area of great deprivation we cannot charge for entry or exhibits. After the pandemic, we even transformed our commercially run cafe into a free space called Front Room, serving complementary teas and coffees donated by a local company. Much of the money we used to spend on shows now goes to pay our gigantic gas bill.
For all these reasons, the partnership between Hales Gallery, Baltic and Hew Locke is a win-win on all counts. Hew Locke is thrilled because his work will be seen by a completely different audience, and it has saved him a huge amount of money in storage costs considering the size of the installation. It’s also a win for audiences in the North East and Scotland (Edinburgh is 90 minutes away by train).
Baltic isn’t the only public gallery trying to balance an ambitious program while keeping the lights on. There is a real danger that creativity will be stifled in the current climate, which is why the Art Fund has awarded nearly £2million to galleries (including Baltic) to help stage “projects audacious experiments”.
If we want to survive, we have to build new networks between public and commercial galleries. Most museums and galleries plan their programs years in advance. Moving Hew Locke’s Procession from Tate to Baltic was completed in just over three months: proof that if public galleries are prepared to be faster, they can overcome some of the hurdles they currently face.
• Kirsty Lang is the Chair of the Trustees of Baltic
• Hew Locke: The Procession, Baltic Center for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, until June 11
