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The Crack Magazine

Art

Extravaganza

Open Exhibition: subject and medium to be decided by artists.

Venue:
EDAN Gallery, The Art Block, 74 Church Street, Seaham, County Durham, SR7 7HF
Date:
Jun 9th 2026 - Jul 25th 2026
Opening Times:
Tue-Fri 11:00 - 15:00 , Sat 10:00 - 16:00
Price:
Free

Many Hands

Many Hands considers the societal pressure to constantly work or ‘do’ something, versus our post-pandemic understanding of human fragility; we are not machines, we are created to rest regularly. Featuring an illuminated paper & photographic installation, the exhibition asks questions about life defined by production, consumption and commodity; participation in community; and the gift economy. How could many hands support change? You are invited to take a moment to think and contribute to our sculpture, by folding a paper brick. Many Hands is part of our ongoing Creating Fallow programme.

Venue:
Shieldfield Art Works, Formerly The Holy Biscuit, Opposite The Biscuit Factory, 1 Clarence Street, Shieldfield, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 1YH
Date:
May 8th 2026 - Jun 11th 2026
Opening Times:
Tue-Thu 11:00 - 16:00
Price:
Free

Rose Ferraby Exhibition

Rose’s work is trans-disciplinary, drawing on research and practice in archaeology, geology, ecology and nature recovery, and art. She uses these skills together to carry out a range of ongoing research projects and commissions.

Venue:
The Old School Gallery, Foxton Road, Alnmouth, Northumberland, NE66 3NH
Date:
Jun 12th 2026 - Jul 13th 2026
Opening Times:
Daily 10:00 - 16:00
Price:
Free

Tick Tock Marvels: The Playful World of Automata

Step into a world of fantastical characters that move as if with a life of their own. Turn handles, set figures in motion, and watch stories spring to life before your eyes. Every twist, spin, and click brings something surprising, magical, and delightfully mechanical into action. Tick Tock Marvels invites children, families, and curious minds of all ages on an interactive journey into the wild and wonderful world of automata. Explore jungles and deep seas where imagination meets movement, and where art comes alive through science and engineering. The exhibition features work by celebrated automata maker Keith Newstead (creator of the much-loved Flying Reiver), alongside pieces inspired by Gormenghast’s Castle from Mervyn Peake’s fantasy book series Titus Groan. It also includes a wealth of automata from Cabaret Mechanical Theatre’s extraordinary collection and archive, showcasing the history and evolution of this captivating craft in a way that is engaging for all ages.

Venue:
Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle Street, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA3 8TP
Date:
Jun 13th 2026 - Oct 11th 2026
Opening Times:
Mon-Sat 10:00 - 16:00
Price:
Adult admission (valid for 12 months) £15/Under 18s Free

A Sense of Wonder

This eclectic exhibition of visual arts spanning the two galleries of Queen’s Hall is curated by staff and students from Queen Elizabeth High School, Hexham. The young artists are showing their work made for their A-level studies made last year and this. The exhibition title invokes the very special feelings that these creative students feel towards their work and express in the amazing variety of art on display. This sense of wonder leads many students to study at Newcastle College’s foundation course and onwards to creative degree courses across the country.

Venue:
Queen's Hall Arts Centre, Beaumont Street, Hexham, NE46 3LS
Date:
Jun 13th 2026 - Jul 4th 2026
Opening Times:
Mon-Sat 10:00 - 16:00
Price:
Free

Swing Bridge 150

A display celebrating the iconic Swing Bridge that connects Newcastle and Gateshead, for its 150th anniversary using images of archival material. Unveiled in 1876, Lord Armstrong’s hydraulic Swing Bridge across the River Tyne was the largest of its kind — a bold symbol of Victorian ingenuity that still stands proudly today. A brilliant example of engineering brilliance and Tyneside heritage, now a Grade II listed structure.

Venue:
Discovery Museum, (Closed on all Bank Holidays) Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4JA
Date:
Jun 13th 2026 - Dec 20th 2026
Opening Times:
Mon-Fri 10:00 - 16:00 , Sat-Sun 11:00 - 16:00
Price:
Free

Galena

Galena tracks a landscape awaiting development. Through sound, film, painting and print, Julia Heslop, Taryn Edmonds and Martin Heslop explore the site of the Elswick Lead Works on the River Tyne, where a new housing development is planned. These new artworks examine the unique histories and cultures of the area, considering the origins of the galena (lead ore) from the mines of the North Pennines, to the processing and production plants on the banks of the Tyne.

Venue:
Newcastle Arts Centre, 67 Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1SG
Date:
Jun 15th 2026 - Jun 27th 2026
Opening Times:
Mon-Sat 09:30 - 17:00
Price:
Free

Stronger Seams: Beyond Coal

Members of East Durham Artists’ Network (EDAN) have worked in collaboration with the Durham University Energy Institute and their interdisciplinary Geothermal Energy from Mines and Solar Geothermal heat (GEMS) project team in delivering this mixed media exhibition. It focusses on East Durham after coal. Coal was not only a source of energy as fuel, but also the source of industrial, economic and social energy that shaped the physical and relational landscape. EDAN have looked at the transition to a world ‘beyond coal’, examining issues such as what is happening now in terms of energy as fuel, how the coal past is being incorporated into the post coal present in terms of social life, community, former mining sites, buildings and spaces.

Venue:
Arts Centre Washington, Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, NE38 8AB
Date:
Jun 19th 2026 - Jul 25th 2026
Opening Times:
Fri-Sat 09:00 - 16:00 , Wed 09:00 - 17:00 , Thu 09:00 - 21:00 , Tue 13:00 - 21:00
Price:
Free

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Lines of Action

The exhibition explores how artists utilize the ‘line’ in its most expanded sense as a central part of their creative process. Rather than focusing solely on preparatory sketches, this exhibition examines the ‘line’ as an organising principle. It highlights how artists use the line to provide structure, create ‘scores’ for subsequent works, record actions, and open spaces for memory.

Venue:
Hatton Gallery, The Quadrangle, University of Newcastle, 6 Kensington Terrace, Newcastle, NE1 7RU
Date:
Jun 20th 2026 - Aug 1st 2026
Opening Times:
Mon-Sat 10:00 - 17:00
Price:
Free

Norman Cornish: A Life in Sketchbooks

Step inside the working imagination of Norman Cornish in this intimate exhibition, bringing together finished drawings, paintings and watercolours alongside the preparatory sketches that shaped them. Across a lifetime, Cornish filled 269 sketchbooks, capturing the streets, people, and communities of the Durham coalfield with remarkable insight and warmth. His belief that sketchbooks should “have a life of their own… to teach people to look at things” comes alive in this display, which also features a major new acquisition made possible with the legacy funds of the Friends of the Bowes Museum, strengthening the museum’s collection of one of the North’s celebrated twentieth-century artists.

Venue:
The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8NP
Date:
Jun 26th 2026 - Jan 3rd 2027
Opening Times:
Daily 10:00 - 17:00
Price:
£19.50/under 18s Free

Queer Pleasure Archive – Baltic Library takeover

This July the Queer Pleasure Archive take a fresh look at the Baltic Library collection through a queer lens and make interventions that celebrate queer creativity, history and experience. The Queer Pleasure Archive is a DIY archive art project led by Newcastle-based artist Sarah Li, highlighting experiences of Queer joy and pleasure that can sometimes be hard to find or access in traditional collections. Through centring pleasure as a priority for the collection within a range of nuanced experiences, from grief to resistance and joy to connection, the Queer Pleasure Archive documents the many big and small ways that pleasure shows up in queer lives.

Venue:
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, South Shore Road, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 3BA
Date:
Jul 1st 2026 - Aug 2nd 2026
Opening Times:
Sun and Wed-Sat 10:00 - 18:00
Price:
Free

Masala Festival – Through the Lens: Photographs by Anna Miller

Celebrate a decade of unforgettable moments with this special photography exhibition marking the 10th anniversary of GemArts Masala Festival. Through the lens of photographer Anna Miller, the exhibition captures the colour, energy and creativity that have defined the festival over the past ten years.

Venue:
Gateshead Central Library, Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, NE8 4LN
Date:
Jul 4th 2026 - Oct 10th 2026
Opening Times:
Sat 09:00 - 13:00 , Tue-Wed and Fri 09:00 - 17:00 , Mon and Thu 09:00 - 19:00
Price:
Free

Chitra Ganesh: Journey to the Great Below

Ganesh’s work draws on South Asian visual traditions and semiotic theory, as well as canonical contemporary feminist and queer scholarship, science fiction, popular Indian comics, graphic design and old Bollywood movies. She creates richly layered worlds, subverting traditional forms of storytelling to open up new, speculative narratives, centring queer and femme protagonists. The exhibition will include a selection of work spanning Ganesh’s career, alongside new work developed especially for the exhibition including an animation, sculptural works and a site-specific wall drawing.

Venue:
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, South Shore Road, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 3BA
Date:
Jul 4th 2026 - Jan 17th 2027
Opening Times:
Sun and Wed-Sat 10:00 - 18:00
Price:
Free

Tish Murtha & Kuba Ryniewicz

This landmark exhibition marks the first time four major series by celebrated documentary photographer Tish Murtha will be shown together in the North East, alongside a newly commissioned body of work by Newcastle–based artist Kuba Ryniewicz. Developed in close collaboration with her daughter, Ella Murtha, the exhibition honours Tish’s vision and the continued stewardship of her archive. Her images remain a vital record of working-class experience and a powerful call to acknowledge the inequalities that persist today. Baltic will present, for the first time together, works from the series Elswick Kids, Elswick Revisited, Save Scotswood Works and Youth Unemployment. Ryniewicz, recognised for his distinctive and unconventional approach to portraiture, brings a contemporary perspective to the exhibition. His practice blends fashion photography, regional histories and personal storytelling, often foregrounding humour, intimacy and a vivid sense of character.

Venue:
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, South Shore Road, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 3BA
Date:
Jul 4th 2026 - Apr 4th 2027
Opening Times:
Sun and Wed-Sat 10:00 - 18:00
Price:
Free

Masala Festival – Playback / Rewind: South Asian Sound & Memory

Bringing together a new body of work by artist Jimmy Turrell, developed through research into Bollywood vinyl, printed ephemera, and the lived histories of South Asian communities in Gateshead. Working with collected albums, archive material and visual fragments, Turrell reinterprets these sources through collage, print and large-scale compositions. The works explore how music travels across generations and geographies, carrying memory, identity and cultural connection.

Venue:
Gateshead Central Library, Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, NE8 4LN
Date:
Jul 4th 2026 - Oct 10th 2026
Opening Times:
Sat 09:00 - 13:00 , Tue-Wed and Fri 09:00 - 17:00 , Mon and Thu 09:00 - 19:00
Price:
Free

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Chitra Ganesh: Journey to the Great Below

Ganesh’s practice is rooted in drawing and painting and has a distinctive multidisciplinary approach. Over the past twenty-five years, she has developed an expansive body of work that encompasses wall drawings, collage, animation, installation, and sculpture. Informed by her studies in literature, semiotics, and contemporary social theory, her visual vocabulary also draws from histories of surrealism, science fiction, anime, and South Asian visual culture including ancient statuary, popular Indian comics and graphic design.

Venue:
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, South Shore Road, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 3BA
Date:
Jul 4th 2026 - Jan 17th 2027
Opening Times:
Sun and Wed-Sat 10:00 - 18:00
Price:
Free

Masala Festival – Care / Work: An Exhibition by Nayeema Ahmed

An exhibition by North East based artist and recent Northumbria University graduate, Nayeema Ahmed. In Nayeema's own words – "As a woman, and a first-generation Briton whose parents immigrated from Bangladesh before having their first child, I have long been fascinated by the relationship between gender, ethnicity and labour. I am particularly drawn to the quiet, often unseen forms of care that are vital in both households and the workforce. These roles, while essential, are frequently shaped by cultural expectations and economic necessity. Through this work, I seek to explore how identity, value, and recognition are felt within these spaces."

Venue:
Vane, 65 High St, Gateshead, NE8 2AP
Date:
Jul 9th 2026 - Aug 1st 2026
Opening Times:
Wed-Sat 12:00 - 17:00
Price:
Free

Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience

Having already captivated millions worldwide, the spectacular event will bring more than 300 of Van Gogh’s iconic works to life using cutting-edge projection technology and a specially curated musical soundtrack. Visitors will be able to meander through masterpieces including The Starry Night, Sunflowers and Café Terrace at Night as the artworks come to life, swirling and blooming across walls and floors, creating an awe-inspiring and fully immersive experience.

Venue:
Utilita Arena, Arena Way, Newcastle, NE4 7NA
Date:
Jul 12th 2026 - Aug 9th 2026
Opening Times:
12th Jul - 9th Aug 2026 10:00 - 17:00
Price:
£26.33/child £15.77

Cuthbert

A group show that delves into the enduring themes of hermits, visions, introspection, personal landscapes, and pilgrimage. Loosely framed around the historical figure of St. Cuthbert, whose legacy spans from Lindisfarne to Alnmouth, the exhibition explores the universal concepts that resonate just as strongly today. It’s a timely contemplation of withdrawal and the pursuit of personal truth.

Venue:
The Old School Gallery, Foxton Road, Alnmouth, Northumberland, NE66 3NH
Date:
Jul 18th 2026 - Sep 14th 2026
Opening Times:
Daily 10:00 - 16:00
Price:
Free

Discovering Dark Skies

Northumberland has some of the most pristine dark skies in England, inspiring awe and wonder in thousands who come to stargaze in our region every year. Working with partners, including the Kielder Observatory, Kielder Partnership and National Park Authority, this exhibition celebrates the rich cultural and natural heritage of the night, a heritage we are at risk of losing in an increasingly over-illuminated world. A programme of special events and activities will accompany the exhibition, with more details to be announced soon. Keep an eye on our website for updates.

Venue:
Queen's Hall Arts Centre, Beaumont Street, Hexham, NE46 3LS
Date:
Jul 18th 2026 - Sep 19th 2026
Opening Times:
Mon-Sat 10:00 - 16:00
Price:
Free

Happy Rooms

Everyone is invited to come and get happy in Middlesbrough this summer with 12 immersive, artist-designed rooms celebrating colour, creativity and play - designed to ignite imaginations and bring joy to visitors young and old. Created by Stellar Creates, producers of Nightfall, Happy Rooms will explore what it means to be and feel happy by creating a world where you’re invited to explore, interact and embrace the unexpected at every turn.

Venue:
Middlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ
Date:
Jul 27th 2026 - Aug 30th 2026
Opening Times:
27th Jul - 30th Aug 2026 09:30 - 17:00
Price:
Children £6.50/Adults £8.50

Keeping it Local

Focus will be upon local, East Durham subject matter.

Venue:
EDAN Gallery, The Art Block, 74 Church Street, Seaham, County Durham, SR7 7HF
Date:
Jul 28th 2026 - Sep 5th 2026
Opening Times:
Tue-Fri 11:00 - 15:00 , Sat 10:00 - 16:00
Price:
Free

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