How sophisticated are you?

Controversial London-based art critic, Brian Sewell, recently expressed outrage that an exhibition of works by European post-War artists group, Cobra, will open at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art on Tyneside, rather than in London. Northerners, he claimed, are not as sophisticated as London audiences, and would not fully appreciate an exhibition of international significance.

His comments have incited anger from Londoners and Northerners alike. If responses to a BBC Online forum are to be taken as a ‘straw poll’, the majority believed art should be accessible to as wide an audience as possible (indeed, a view endorsed by Government policy) and further, that people outside London should be afforded the opportunity to see quality works of art, in order to nurture the knowledge and enjoyment such exhibitions – as well as other artforms – bring.

According to Sewell: ‘London has for centuries been the centre of the art world in Britain… By the very nature of the audience in London, it is exposed to very much more art and culture and is therefore more sophisticated. There is no doubt about it.’

A number of festival and gallery directors from both the north and the south, however, in speaking to Arts Hub, pointed to a broader range of issues underlying the make-up and preferences of arts and culture audiences outside London.

‘Most cultural events in London are supported by tourists, not Londoners,’ Lewis Biggs, Director of the Liverpool Biennial, maintains. ‘Outside London, there is a hunger for culture – which means audiences do go and see what is on offer, rather than leaving it to the tourists, as they do in London.’

Biggs is currently in the process of drawing together a report on last year’s Liverpool Biennial. While visitor numbers to the event have not yet been finalised, at this stage he estimates that around 200,000 people attended – effectively half the population of Liverpool. Most visitors came from within the region, a portion internationally, but the response nationally was more disappointing, Biggs concedes. (Perhaps exacerbated by a coincidental shutdown of the nation’s railway system during the Liverpool event, he adds, wryly.)

An equivalent exhibition in London would therefore have to draw around three million London-based visitors, as a similar measure of population.

Joanne Benjamin, Director of the International Festival of Musical Theatre in Cardiff, echoes Biggs’ observations that a large portion of London audiences – for theatre in particular – are tourists.

‘As far as I am concerned, I believe that audiences in the provinces are as sophisticated and intelligent as they are in London, and in some cases, more discerning,’ Benjamin says. ‘Audiences in the provinces know what they like and want to see, and are also prepared to experience something new.’

Linda Lewis, Director of Brighton’s visual and physical theatre festival, ‘Visions’, couldn’t agree more.

‘I think that, in Scotland for example, in Edinburgh and Glasgow – but also in cities like Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester – you’re getting a sophisticated product, I imagine you are getting sophisticated audiences.’

While criticism has been heaped on Sewell’s perceived upper-class snobbery, (the critic was a student of the Courthald Institute, Biggs notes) his opponents have also highlighted the importance of giving regional cities greater access to the arts.

‘If the people of Newcastle are never given the opportunity to see good art, of course their taste would never become more sophisticated,’ remarks Biggs.

The exhibition which sparked Sewell’s outburst features a collection of works to emerge from a European movement, lasting from 1948 to 1951. ‘Cobra’ is derived from the letters of three cities where the key figures lived: Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. The exhibit will display more than 150 works by 20 artists, including Constant, Karel Appel, Pierre Alechinsky and Asger Jorn. The exhibition came about after BALTIC Director, the Swede Sune Nordgren, collaborated with the Hayward Gallery to bring the exhibition to England as part of the National Touring Exhibition programme.

The BALTIC centre, along with the award-winning Millennium Bridge and the Sage Gateshead (a music centre due to open in 2004), has affirmed Newcastle-Gateshead as the favourite for the European Capital of Culture 2008. The region’s profile has also been boosted by Antony Gormley’s public artwork, the Angel of the North.

However, Nordgren explains that, five years ago, when he began work on the BALTIC project – which has seen a disused grain silo transformed into a large contemporary gallery and studio space – those who believed in the success of the project were far outnumbered by those who didn’t.

But visitors were queueing up for weeks when the BALTIC opened its doors to the public in July 2002, although Nordgren emphasises the challenge now is to sustain visitor numbers.

‘It seems people in the region have really taken the project to their hearts – and they’re proud of it. That’s why people are defending it,’ Nordgren says, referring to the backlash that has followed Sewell’s comments.

‘I think it is a strength [that] it is such an old building,’ he continues, explaining that although some of the BALTIC exhibitions may seem a little strange to some visitors, the familiarity with the Tyneside landmark soon puts them at ease.

‘I think they [local visitors] feel quite comfortable being in this building,’ says Nordgren. Once that trust is built, he believes, more challenging content can be introduced.

The Director of the National Glass Centre in neighbouring Sunderland, Jules Preston, said the historic nature of the BALTIC has attracted visitors, rather than the artwork.

‘The most common comment I hear about the BALTIC is “a wonderful building, but there’s not much in there”,’ says Preston. ‘That’s because the average person does not appreciate the sort of contemporary art which is on display there. What has attracted them is the historical building and its new use. I think that epitomises the north east.’

But Preston explains his claims further – adding that the historical and cultural differences between Londoners and those in the north east, or indeed other regional areas, play a large part in shaping what art audiences want to see. ‘For us [in the north east], our cultural background is coal mining, ship building and heavy engineering. I know for a fact that if we had a museum for ship building here, people would fall over themselves coming,’ Preston suggests.

So, it seems the BALTIC has stumbled onto a way to reach new audiences, although the concept of transforming industrial buildings is hardly new in England. The Tate Modern, for instance, makes use of an old power station.

Preston is also confronted with the challenge of attracting a regional audience – and largely a working-class one – into a contemporary art centre. He recognises the challenge contemporary glasswork poses, but, interestingly, a proposal on the table at the moment will also combine the new with the old.

Sunderland’s City Council is conducting a feasibility study into bringing a derelict ship from Scotland and berthing it next to the National Glass Centre – which is located on the very shipyard where the vessel was originally built – and holding an exhibition of relics from the Adelaide at the Glass Centre.

Attracting local audiences is obviously not the only challenge facing regional art venues. As Nordgren points out, people from the provinces have been travelling to London for centuries to see large-scale shows and exhibitions. Isn’t it time the tide turned?

‘Why can’t the Londoners travel a bit, as well? People from the rest of England have travelled to London for years to see exhibitions, why not the other way round?’ But he remains optimistic that the flow southwards can change direction.

However, Biggs predicts that due to the country’s social and political inertia, changing the perception that London is the centre of the art world in Britain may take several generations.

Perhaps if we begin by sorting out the nation’s railway system, that might help speed up the process?

‘Cobra’ opens at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art on March 1, until April 21, before touring to Manchester and Dublin. For further BALTIC programme details visitwww.balticmill.com