Gateshead Interchange hosting to a digital art installation which provides a contemporary insight into the effect of the First World War on the people of Tyne and Wear.
Parade Ground, by the digital artist Guy Schofield, is a large-scale video exhibit projected on to a set of temporary hoardings, six metres by two metres in size, in the bus concourse area at Gateshead Interchange.
The video recreates a regimental-style photograph, panning back to visualise the 75,000 men who left the region to fight in The Great War. It brings home the terrifying scale of the region’s contribution to the war effort, and the very human and individual nature of this involvement.
The artist, Mr Schofield, who is based at Newcastle University's Culture Lab, worked with five youth offenders to research uniform and equipment. Replicas were then made to kit out the five, who were digitally replicated to create the 75,000 individuals in the video.
Nexus, which manages Gateshead bus and Metro Interchange, has worked closely with Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (TWAM) to put the artwork on display inside the interchange.
Parade Ground will be on display at the Interchange until Friday, 20 February, before the installation is moved to the Discovery Museum in Newcastle.
Head of Communications at Nexus, Huw Lewis, said: “The finished video is a moving and thought provoking reminder of the huge sacrifice made by people in the north east during the First World War.
“The artist was looking for a space where the film would be seen by a lot of people and we were delighted to help out by offering a temporary space on the hoardings at Gateshead Interchange, which is used by six million passengers a year.”
The installation forms part of a two-week long programme of audio-visual installations and events which capturing the region’s involvement in the First World War.
Decoded 1914-18 - which is running at venues in Newcastle and Gateshead from 16-28 February - is a collaborative project between TWAM and Newcastle University’s Institute for Creative Arts Practice.
John Coburn, Digital Programmes Manager for TWAM, explains: “The project has invited creative minds to unearth and re-imagine stories and material from our collections.
“The works shed light on the often forgotten personal voices from this time, and they ask questions about the First World War’s impact on regional civic life and its sense of normality.”
Seven artists from the University’s creative hub have taken inspiration from TWAM’s vast collections to develop a range of immersive artworks that utilise various media to interpret life, death and innovation in wartime Tyne and Wear.
The programme explores themes as diverse as the role of women in the First World War economy, Armed Forces recruitment and Tyne & Wear’s folk traditions, including pastimes such as rapper and clog dancing which were gradually lost as men were killed in action.
Decoded 1914-18 runs from Monday 16 to Saturday 28 February with installations at Discovery Museum, Tyne and Wear Archives, Shipley Art Gallery and Gateshead Interchange.
A full programme of events can be found at: www.decoded1914.org.uk