Critical Analysis of Visit to Newcastle & Gateshead

I don’t go to Newcastle too often, however when I do go I always have a great experience. I just love some of the old historical buildings, the history of Newcastle impresses me a lot. The expectations i have of Newcastle are exactly what I imagine them to be. Historical, plenty of galleries, plenty to see & do. Newcastle is very different to Hartlepool, simply because of size difference, there is more to do in Newcastle, more galleries and shops.

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To me Newcastle has moved away from Ship Building and Mining and moved to more corporate and contemporary way of life. IE: A lot more galleries to visit, more focused on the corporate side (shopping, bars, nightlife etc). The architectural side of Newcastle is one I personally quite enjoy. The old buildings mixing with newer, more stylish buildings works for me. You get that sense of Old Vs. New and it works for me. I don’t find that the buildings are ‘in-keeping’ with each other, because I feel each building has it’s own unique feel, look and shape. For example, you have The Baltic, The Sage, The Law Courts and very modern Flats all close by. The Baltic is very Square and bold, then you have The Sage, which is very curvaceous and the Law Courts is very old. Then you have the flats next to The Baltic which are very angular and sharp. 4 very different styles of buildings all pretty much together, and it seems to work! This is why I enjoy Newcastle, everything seems different but fits.

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Newcastle has embraced the development of creative and culture industries a lot in my opinion. The amount of galleries, gallery space and exhibitions there is, just blows any other north-east town away for me. I visited The Great North Museum (The Hancock) and The Baltic. It was the first time I had visited The Great North Museum, and I found it really interesting and quite some fun! The space was used amazingly I thought.

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As you can see above, they barely left a wall empty, they had projections of the exhibition, (dinosaurs and prehistoric things). They also had a lot of things displaying at different heights, see picture below

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I found this very eye-catching, amazing, quirky and just nice to look at, it’s very different to other galleries which use framed photo/piece of art on white/dull wall. This caught my eye a lot, and made me look around, up, down and, well, everywhere!

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I don’t feel the spaces where accessible by those with impairments, such as sight, sound and mobility. The Great North Museum too me was all about sight and looking places. The Baltic again was the same, not allowed to touch so it became demanding on sight.

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The way in which The Great North Museum was displayed encouraged me to look everywhere. I think, for me it’s important for galleries to be free. As a student not getting much money, Free exhibitions would encourage me to visit more galleries.