Waygood is Changing -
Press Release
Waygood Wood is a mobile woodland coming to the centre of Newcastle between 17th - 25 May 2008, which will feature contemporary visual art and performance.
It will first be seen by visitors on the evening of 17 May, as part ofThe Late Shows 2008.
Photo/interview Opportunity:
Friday 16 May 2008, 10.30am
Waygood Wood, mobile trees on castors, will be available to photograph as they make their first journey, led by volunteers, from High Bridge to Monument.
Interview opportunity, Waygood Creative Director, Helen Smith & Tree Manager George French
The mobile woodland forms the inspiration and environment for artists Matthew Cowan, David Foggo, Ben Jeans Houghton, Kathryn Johnson, Carole Luby, Sally Madge, Helen Smith, Maggie Tran, and the Waygood Radio Club to create installations and performances. Passers- by are invited to observe or enter Waygood Wood to experience enchantment.
Waygood Wood launches with performances by Maggie Tran at Monument between 7pm-7.30pm and outside Waygood Art Boutique on High Bridge Square between 8.30pm and 9pm as part of The Late Shows on Saturday 17 May.
During The Late Shows Waygood Art Boutique will be open between 7pm-9pm with a new exhibition, Trees are Magic Wands, with artworks for sale inspired by enchantment, magic and woodlands.
The Late Shows , the North East's fantastic free culture crawl, which takes place on Saturday 17 May, sees 20 venues in NewcastleGateshead staying open after hours and offering a range of free events. Visit www.thelateshows.org.uk for more details.
Waygood Wood will appear in old Eldon Square on Sunday 18th May between 1pm-3pm as Waygood Radio Club have designed and installed special radios amongst the trees, which will transform the electro-magnetic frequencies surrounding us into song.
The mobile woodland will accompany Carole Luby as part of a Wedding procession past St. Mary's and St. Nicolas' Cathedrals on Monday 19th May between 1pm-3pm.
The trees will be dressed with ‘beautiful remnants of consumerism’, plastic bags collected by artist Helen Smith, and will be promenaded from Monument to Haymarket Metro Station, along Northumberland Street, the busiest shopping street in Newcastle on Tuesday 20th May between 1pm-3pm
Old Eldon Square will be home to the mobile woodland on Wednesday 21 May between 9am and 9pm as David Foggo creates an alternative Forest of Signs, matching each tree with a man made response throughout the course of the day.
Visitors can sit in a small plastic forest created by Ben Jeans Houghton, on Thursday 22 May between 1pm-3pm in Northumberland Court, the small alleyway between Waterstones and the Newcastle United Shop. Passers-by are invited to sit in the forest environment and write a postcard to someone who is somewhere else.
Kathryn Johnson invites shoppers into a wood, which has a sinister edge as she places the trees on Grey Street on Friday 23rd May between 1pm-3pm.
A dancing bear will lead a promenade along the city walls to the site of the Medieval Orchard in Matthew Cowan's promenade on Saturday 24th may between 1pm-3pm.
Sally Madge invites visitors to explore the woodland by torchlight as it in installed within the Chapel of the Castle Keep between 6pm-8pm on Sunday 25th May.
All works are in response to the essay In Charm's Way - The Enchanted Moment by artist and writer Joel Fisher in which he describes enchantment as ‘time stopping and enchantment taking over.' They are part of The Enchanted Moment - a week of contemporary visual art exhibitions running between Sunday 18th and Sunday 25th May 2008.
Members of the public can dedicate a tree from Waygood Wood, by supporting the purchase of a brass name plaque bearing the trees Latin and English names and a dedication of their choice. The trees will have a permanent home in Waygood's Café Courtyard and Roof Terrace, as part of Waygood's redevelopment of its city centre site on High Bridge into a major cultural venue. Visit Waygood Art Boutique or ring 0191 265 6857 or email boutique@waygood.org to learn more about dedicating a tree.
Helen Smith, Creative Director of Waygood said:
“The 30 young trees, which form Waygood Wood, will return to our building in High Bridge. We are inviting people to show their support by sponsoring a brass name-plate for a cost of £100 containing the Latin and common names of their chosen tree alongside a personal dedication, which will be displayed on the tree's planter. The trees will eventually have a permanent home in our new café courtyard and roof- top terrace, when our redevelopment is complete. All the money raised from the dedications will go towards Waygood's new Learning programme”
See www.waygood.org for more information and a map of where Waygood Wood will be appearing throughout Newcastle City Centre.
Media Contact: Cait Read
07811 320447
The Late Shows form part of NewcastleGateshead's world-class festivals and events programme, managed by culture10 at NewcastleGateshead Initiative and is funded by Arts Council England, North East, One NorthEast, Newcastle City Council and Northern Rock Foundation.
Listings:
Waygood Wood
17 - 25 May 2008
Locations across Newcastle
See www.waygood.org for map and details
Free
- The Bird in the Bush
- Maggie Tran
- Saturday 17th May 7pm-9pm
- Monument 7pm-7.30pm
- High Bridge Square 8.30pm-9pm
- Performances
Flashes of bright pink feathers flicker in and out of the foliage. The whole bush structure shifts slowly from one side to side. A clown faced lady peeks from behind the trees in a blatant and highly conspicuous manner.
Part of The Late Shows
- Fermata
- Waygood Radio Club
- Sunday 18th May 1pm-3pm
- Old Eldon Square
- Performance
Waygood's Radio Club, a group of artists experimenting with radio, have designed and installed special radios amongst the trees.
The tree radios transform the shifting electromagnetic frequencies that surround us into sound. The trees might be mere saplings but they sing a very old song...
- Dream
- Carole Luby
- Monday 19th May 1pm-3pm
- A Wedding procession leaving Waygood Art Boutique
- passing St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral & St. Nicholas’ Cathedral
- Performance
You will come across me in an unlikely space. Newcastle is full of unexpected corners...
When you are looking, you may not see me. When you are not looking for me you might see me...
‘tread softly, for you may tread on my dreams’.
- A Few Facts about Plastic Bags
- Helen Smith
- Tuesday 20th May 1pm-3pm
- Along Northumberland Street between monument & Haymarket Metro Stations
- Promenade
13 billion plastic bags are given free to UK shoppers every year. Waygood Wood will be decorated with these ‘beautiful remnants of consumerism’ dis-entangled from trees and bushes by the artist.
The decorated trees will then be promenaded along the busiest shopping street in Newcastle.
- The Forest of Signs
- Dave Foggo
- Wednesday 21th May 9am-9pm
- Old Eldon Square
- Installation
The 30 saplings will be spread across a public space in the city centre and for each one there will be a man-made response. Ash bucket to Ash tree, Apple product to Apple tree.
Over the course of one day in May, an alternative forest of signs will slowly bud and blossom.
- Wood for the Trees
- Ben Jeans Houghton
- Thursday 22 May 1pm-3pm
- Northumberland Court
- (Alleyway between Waterstones and Newcastle United Shop)
- Installation
A mobile environment that displays a forest reduced to simplistic, stereotypical images and symbols. Come and sit, surrounded by a plastic forest, listen to the sound of non existent rain on the umbrella above you and birds singing in Kent in the 70s, give in to illusion and experience the present.
Write a postcard to someone who is somewhere else.
- This is Just a Fairytale
- Kathryn Johnson
- Friday 23rd May 1pm-3pm
- Grey Street
- Installation
Inspired by the fantasy-land of fairy tales the wood has a sinister edge, as all that seems enchanting on our first encounter is not always what it seems
- The Bear and the Dancing Man
- Matthew Cowan
- Saturday 24th May 1pm-3pm
- Stowell Street to Orchard Street
- (along the Western section of the city walls)
- Promenade
Matthew Cowan's performance is in the form of a magical reversal where the established order of a dancing bear and its keeper is overturned.
It takes place down a leafy path to another world, incorporating a cacophonous parade along the route of the ancient city walls of Newcastle, coming to rest on the site of a Medieval Orchard.
- Touch Wood
- Sally Madge
- Sunday 25th May 6pm - 8pm
- The Chapel. Castle Keep
- Installation
Questioning the nature of enchantment, the trees are grouped in the darkened ground floor of the Castle Keep, which over time has served as chapel, confessional, garrison, prison, workshop and museum.
Whispering voices echo through the space like leaves rustling in the wind. Visitors are invited to explore the wood by torchlight.
- Trees are Magic Wands
- Waygood Art Boutique, 31 High Bridge
- 17 May - 5 June 2008
- Wednesdays - Saturdays 11am-3pm
Waygood Art Boutique will host an exhibition of works for sale featuring enchantment, magic and woodlands to co-incide with Waygood Wood.
Open Saturday 17 May 7pm - 9pm as part of Waygood Wood at The Late Shows