Group Show

Group Show is an art podcast series by Caitlin Merrett King covering topics like work, collaboration and criticism. 

Series Two was produced at The NewBridge Project, Newcastle during her Practice Makes Practice residency in March 2019. It features music, sound pieces and interviews from studio and associate NBP members. 

The latest episode (episode 8) features Ilana, Hannah, Helen, Lorna, Marwa and Katy discussing the ‘Great and Tiny War’ project by artist Bobby Baker and produced by Wunderbar. We all met one evening to mull over our experience of being involved (in various capacities) in Bobby's highly moving installation within a house on Sidney Grove from September - December 2018.

The experience of working together was extremely positive and unique. We all felt that it was something special, not like any other work experience that we had experienced before. In the conversation we reflect on what made this particular experience so unique and rewarding. 

Please note that not all the hosts were available at the time of recording and so some key voices are missing.

All episodes are available to download on iTunes or Spotify. 

For more information about Caitlin visit https://caitlinmerrettking.co.uk/

Great news for Great & Tiny War

Huge congratulations to the wunderful team behind Great and Tiny War, the proud owners and well deserved recipients of Best Event Tyneside Award. I'm so pleased and honoured to have been part of it.

Was great to catch up with some of the team earlier in the week.

Another wunderful evening with team Wunderbar (and Caitlin Merrett-King)

Glasgow-based artist Caitlin Merritt-King is currently doing a residency at the Newbridge Project in which she is wanting to record a new podcast exploring:

- methods of collaboration

- the political nature of working with friends

- friendship as emotional and feminised labour

- how we exercise care and love within art practice.


The podcast is going to serve as an informal archive that will aim to be a useful tool for experimenting for Newbridge now and in the future.

When I saw the 'Call for Ideas' I thought it could be an opportunity for us to share some of the Great & Tiny War experience. I was not necessarily thinking of it as a podcast just about Great & Tiny War, but more about the experience of all of us working together.

So, I arranged for us to meet (well, as many of us as were available), and we spent the evening talk about collaboration, working together, being friends, being women, caring for each other, caring in the art world, the nature of feminine work, Great and Tiny War, Bobby Baker and so on. Caitlin is going to edit the footage and the podcast will be available online in the near future.

Happy memories and project reflections with the Great and Tiny War team

Spent a wonderful afternoon with the Great and Tiny War team reflecting on our experience hosting Bobby Baker's Great and Tiny War. Was lovely to share memories and talk about what is next for this unique group of individuals who worked so well together.

Shame not to have some crucial members of the team with us, but was a treat to catch up briefly with Bobby as she prepares for her Madrid exhibition which opens in February. The work looks really exciting.

Move over Britannia, Bobby Baker rules!

For the past three months I have been immersed in the world of Bobby Baker's Great and Tiny War, a project that is very close to my heart. I have been working for Wunderbar as a host, guiding visitors around the house, talking to them about the artworks, operating any equipment, making lots of cups of tea and coffee and providing hospitality. Being involved in this project and working with such a supportive team has been an absolute joy and I am really going to miss it. Along the way there have been plenty of challenges to keep us on our toes such as the time when the mechanics behind the surprise element in room 3 broke, and I had to phone Steve, the Technical Director of Great and Tiny War (based in London) and follow his problem diagnosis and damage limitation instructions or the time that the venue for one of the workshops was changed due to an emergency situation, and so we had to change to a space without an oven (pretty essential for a bread-making workshop), resulting in me going back and forth between Nunsmoor Park (where the workshop was) and 133 Sidney Grove where the unbaked bread sculptures were put in the oven and the baked bread sculptures were returned to the workshop and reunited with their respective creators.

There have been some amazing stories gathered throughout the exhibition, and I have plenty of fond memories to take away.

My final day of tours brought with it lots of happy memories. On one of the tours in the morning I was host for a couple of Sidney Groovers (people who live/have lived) on Sidney Grove one whom carried her young son with her. The baby was really well behaved and the women loved the exhibition. When we were talking in the kitchen, one of the women, Olivia, told me how her other (3 year old) child, Frida, walks past the house every day and gets very excited by the sign outside 133 Sidney Grove, pointing at it and exclaiming "It's Bobby Baker'. Unfortunately Olivia did not think that Frida would have enough patience to go on the tour, and so she had explained that she would not be able to see inside Bobby Baker's house. I couldn't bear the thought of her little girl having her dream shattered, and so tried to think of a way that it would be possible to tailor the tour to her. We were fully booked for the rest of the day, but proposed a way that Frida could get a magical experience. I asked Olivia whether she would like to bring her child at the end of my last tour and I would do a special little viewing in a few of the rooms. She thought this was a great idea, and said it would fit in with their bedtime routine. Indeed, when I was in the kitchen at the end of my final tour, the doorbell rang and I opened it to find Olivia with Frida in her arms, dressed in her pj's all ready for bed. I took them to the room of bread sculptures and the room with all the peppermint sculptures, and talked about the work. After we had used the pictures on the wall to identify all the peppermint sculptures, we went to the kitchen for Frida to choose herself a biscuit as a treat. She asked if Bobby Baker was there, and as I explained where Bobby was, I showed them the photo of Bobby Baker wearing the bread antlers that she made for a previous performance. These were hung on the wall, and I asked if Frida would like to wear them and be like Bobby Baker. The result was an extremely happy 3 year old with the biggest grin on her face, an incredibly grateful Olivia, and a very happy Helen! I could not have asked for a better way to end my Great and Tiny War hosting duties.

The following day I received a message from Olivia thanking me for engineering the opportunity for Frida to visit the installation. She reported that Frida had been talking about Bobby Baker all day!

I've met lots of very special people and made some life-long friends. The other hosts and the Wunderbar team have been such a support to one another and we have shared our experiences and thoughts via a Hosts Book. I'd like to thank all involved for making the experience so powerful, nourishing and stimulating. I really hope that the project continues to live on in some form, and that the hosts and Wunderbar team keep in touch and work together again.

The crumbling of the breast plate

As part of Great and Tiny War, Bobby Baker worked with a variety of women attending local women's groups. She ran a number of bread sculpture workshops in which the women were asked to make their own armoury; items that they would use to protect them, to show their strength or to provide them with comfort. During these workshops Bobby showed them some of her own bread sculptures that she made for previous performances. These included a breast plate and some antlers for protection. These items have been displayed in the kitchen at 133 Sidney Grove for visitors to Great and Tiny War to look at and wear. 

A couple of weeks ago, when I was in the kitchen hosting a group of guests, I was startled by a sudden thud. The bread breast plate had fallen off the cupboard door where it was hanging, and as it hit the floor, had broken in half. The effect of this was significant and was gradually revealed over the final two weeks of the exhibition. Not only was the bread plate the dough the bound the various different elements of the exhibition together, it was the shield that protected the exhibition and guarded against bad fortune. 

The crumbling of the breast plate signified the fragility of many of the elements within the exhibition. It was ironic that this happened in the final stages of the exhibition - in the period of time that the exhibition had been extended. It was as if certain elements had reached the end of their natural life. Technical issues became more commonplace, visitors (and hosts) encountered more problems getting to the exhibition on time due to the unreliability of public transport, and biscuit supplies dwindled (although this was quickly remedied!).

They say all good things must come to an end, and maybe the crumbling of the breast plate is evidence of the truth within this expression.

Bobby Baker on what it takes to make an exhibition accessible

Great & Tiny War is the most ambitious show I’ve ever made. Or maybe I’ve said that before?!

How to Live where I launched my own Therapy Empire at Barbican Theatre in 2004 was really massive. When I had the idea of 2,000 ‘pea patients’ dancing the Mexican wave as a finale, accompanied by a choir and full on light show, I hadn’t quite thought through how much work (and money) and pure skill by the production team it would take to pull off. But we did. Which I suppose encourages you to be optimistic you can do it again with the next big plan…

Great & Tiny War takes a whole house and transforms it into a complex art installation where people come in groups of 4 and go on an audio guided tour from room to room with a host. It opened on 9 September and has proved to be so popular that we are keeping it open 3 weeks longer than planned until 28 November.

The team

The most important part of any show, and why it succeeds or not, is the people in the team and their assorted talents and skills. The Great & Tiny team are exceptional – mainly due to Ilana Mitchell and the amazing Wunderbar team. Their strap line is “extraordinary projects conceived by artists and made by audiences.”

Wunderbar has a long track record of creating great art in unusual places, and we share a passion and belief in doing what we can to reach people where they are, and to make the art as easy as possible for everyone to see.

It takes a lot of technical skill to achieve this so having a good team is vital.

I’ve worked with Steve Wald, technical director, and Miranda Melville, production designer, for many years – their skill and experience is the reason the dancing peas worked so wonderfully for How To Live. Each of the 5 rooms in Great & Tiny poses complex design and technical challenges.

Wunderbar recruited talented local artists and technicians to help install the show and host the tours. Lots of them have been drawn to the project because of what it’s about – transgenerational trauma, feminism and the politics of domestic labour and health care. Many of us have experienced hard times and felt excluded. So it’s been great working together and really fun too. And it’s definitely meant everyone shares a focus on the ethos of fairer access.

Inclusion and equality consultant Sarah Pickthall has been part of the team from the start – helping plan and budget the work needed and oversee the brief. And for the first time we used the opportunity now provided by Arts Council Grants for Arts to receive extra funding for extra support for me.

Great & Tiny War access resources

Here’s a list of what we’ve done to try and make the show accessible to all:

• A downloadable easy read visual guide explaining clearly what to expect in advance

https://wunderbar.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/GTW-EasyRead-full-res.pdf

• A captioned film showing what’s upstairs. The house is on two floors so some people, including older people, can’t see the whole show without some sort of digital package. The film we’ve produced is shown on a tablet in the comfort of the kitchen downstairs.
• There’s a bespoke built accessible toilet in the yard at the back (the porta-loo Wunderbar ordered was denied access due to overhead telephone wires in the lane. The production team created a new one to fit.)
• Audio descriptions for the blind or partially sighted
• A portable hearing loop
• A transcript of the audio guide
• The option to listen to the audio tour on loud speaker
• Bespoke visits tailored to your needs, including relaxed and BSL on request.

There’s a dedicated page about access at the show here.

https://wunderbar.org.uk/gtw/access/

I’m pretty sure what we’ve set up is rare for a temporary art installation. We know we haven’t been able to do everything but, given our resources, we’ve done our best to make the show as accessible as possible.

And the best thing is that we have been able to be responsive to people and the tailoring of bespoke experiences – partly because we have the resources, but mostly because the hosts of the show are so welcoming and ready to adapt.

What we’ve learnt

Despite all our planning it’s been much harder than we thought to make this happen due to stuff we just hadn’t anticipated. So, for the record, here’s some top tips I would give myself when (hopefully) working on a massive project again and planning access work.

Time
Typically, and considering how complex the installation is, a team of about 10 of us worked right up to the last minute before the first preview to finish. What we hadn’t factored in was the time needed to also produce great quality digital access material.

The film, text, images and so much care went into making all this material. I mean, if you’re making a film of part of the show for people who can’t physically get round the installation then as much care needs to go into that as into the art work itself.

Filmmaker Alastair Cummings was brilliant . He worked around the crashing and banging of the installation but inevitably finished filming it all after the launch when quiet enveloped the house. So that took an extra week to get working on the tablets.

Producing the rest of the digital access work took longer still. Geography was challenging – Great Tiny War and Wunderbar are in Newcastle, Caroline Dawson, our access specialist from Daily Life Ltd, the sound producer and I are based in London and, after the launch, so was technician Steve Wald. Sarah Pickthall is in Brighton, Alastair is in North Shields. Communication and time and travel cost energy and cash… we hadn’t quite thought through the logistics of all that.

Comms
Sally Flemons, Wunderbar’s Communications Director, ran a really top class campaign for the project working with SFPPR and the 14-18 NOW team – hence the high audience level.

With Sarah Pickthall we had a plan for a special comms campaign to reach new networks – but didn’t make enough allowance for the extra time needed, including finding just the right people to reach. We could have done with local specialist help budgeted in.

Budget
How do you budget properly? It’s the most important thing surely? We did a pretty good estimate with Sarah Pickthall but what we hadn’t factored in was the extra time it took us all. Film, text, images, recordings, installing it on headsets, testing it required so much care and time. Next time we would budget for another local person on the team to help project manage the making of the access materials, as well as more time for comms.

And finally – Me
I’ve never tried to work out my own access needs and costs in advance for such a massive amount of work. I’m rather exhausted now with every joint in my creaky body aching. I’m seeing the doctor later today and the physio too, about pain management and recovering from it all. So I think reflecting on what I could have arranged better will take another blog…!

But despite all this we are so pleased with what we have achieved given all the challenges. Feedback from audience members has been very encouraging.

We’ve thought very hard about how we communicate our accessibility offer so as to be really clear (plain English) but not patronising and avoid ‘labelling’ – readers of my last DAO blog will know how I feel about this.

People have been getting in touch with bespoke access requests and we’ve been doing what we can to help support these. We are also very keen to listen to feedback and be dynamic in our approach so please do share with us any comments or suggestions.

There’s 2 more weeks to see the show… see what you think and let us know!

Tickets for Bobby Baker’s Great & Tiny War, an art installation in a house in Newcastle, are available until 28 November.

New artists and mental health resource: Bobby Baker on making art that explores traumatic experiences

In a new a-n Resources profile to coincide with Bobby Baker’s 14–18 NOW commission ‘Great & Tiny War’ – the run for which has just been extended – Lydia Ashman talks to the artist about her experiences of the mental health system and the need to address ‘transgenerational trauma’.

Alastair Cummings and Peek Films, Still from 'Great & Tiny War' trailer, 2018.

The house is populated with multimedia artworks which represent different eras of the war. These include a display of 4,701 miniature meals, crafted from peppermint cream, and an armoury of baked weapons. Visitors, who are greeted by a host and guided around the show in small groups, are accompanied by an audio recording voiced by Bobby Baker. Following the tour, which takes 40-50 minutes, visitors can reflect on the exhibition over a cup of tea in the kitchen.

Mitchell adds: “‘Great & Tiny War’ has had an extraordinary reception, from teens to older people, from the local neighbours to those travelling to Newcastle from all over the UK. And the conversations in the kitchen, inspired by the ideas raised in the work, have been as wide ranging as the people visiting.”

Baker’s installation spotlights the frequently unsung contribution that women made during the war in the form of domestic labour and also highlights the wide-reaching and often hidden repercussions of conflict and trauma on mental health.

Speaking to Lydia Ashman in the new a-n Resources profile, Baker explains that both mental health and domestic life have been recurring themes in her work since the early 1970s, work that often subverts everyday experiences and uses humour as a tool to connect with people.

She also discusses the frustration she feels as an “older woman artist” and how, bar a very few small exceptions, she has only ever been given opportunities by women. At 67, she says she feels “more emboldened to speak out because I discover that there are many women who feel like me”.

“Having periods of bad mental health is part of the human condition and something that people can survive,” she says. “Being an artist is how I processed some terrible experiences, but I’ve emerged, the happiest I’ve ever been. Art saved my life.”

‘Great & Tiny War’ continues in Newcastle upon Tyne until 28 November 2018. wunderbar.org.uk/gtw/great-tiny-war

https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/new-artists-mental-health-resource-bobby-baker-making-art-explores-traumatic-experiences/

Great and Tiny War Dates Extended - 7 September - 28 November 2018

Great & Tiny War now open until 28 November

It pleases me to announce that, to keep up with demand, the run of Bobby Baker's Great & Tiny War has been extended and extra time slots and more dates have been added so that everyone who wants to can come.

A WORLD PREMIERE
7 SEPTEMBER - 28 NOVEMBER 2018

There are a maximum of 4 tickets available for each tour slot. Slots are available Wednesday to Sunday from 7 September to 28 November 2018.

Relaxed visits for Mondays, Tuesdays and mornings Wednesday – Friday are available by special arrangement – please email us or call 07535 008875.

Book tickets by following the link below

https://wunderbar.org.uk/product/gtw/

Access for all - New resources available

The Wunderbar team are trying our hardest with the resources we have to ensure that the Great & Tiny War house is accessible for as many people as possible.

Visitors to the house can now use:

• An easy read visual guide explaining clearly what to expect in advance
• A captioned film showing what's upstairs in the house 
• Audio descriptions for the blind or partially sighted
• A portable hearing loop
• A transcript of the audio guide
• The option to listen to the audio tour on loud speaker
• Bespoke visits tailored to your needs, including relaxed and BSL on request.

Do get in touch using the contact details below if there's anything we can do to help make your visit easier.

Email: info@wunderbar.org.uk 
Tel:07535 008875. 

We'll do everything we can to make it work for you.

Biscuit makes himself at home

This week Bobby returned to 133 Sidney Grove in Newcastle, along with her lovely dog, Biscuit.

Biscuit was given a very warm welcome, and he settled in very quickly. I like to think that the calmness of the household passed onto him. His favourite spot was right in the middle of the kitchen, so he was literally the centre of attention. He proved to be very popular with the visitors (and hosts!) 

Great & Tiny War featured on BBC Look North (North East & Cumbria)

Tonight (Monday 10th September) BBC Look North (North East & Cumbria) featured Bobby Baker's Great & Tiny War.

Sharuna Sagar visited the Great & Tiny War house today.

She was given a tour by one of my fellow hosts, Hannah.

Like everyone who does the tour, she ended in the kitchen where she was offered a cup of tea (other beverages available!) and a biscuit

If you missed the live version at 6:30pm, fear not as it is available on BBC iplayer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bjcgpt/look-north-north-east-and-cumbria-evening-news-10092018

Press launch of Bobby Baker's Great & Tiny War

After years of planning and hard work, Bobby Baker's Great & Tiny War opened its doors to the press today. I was honoured to be giving the first few tours, and was delighted to hear visitors being so complementary and positive about the project. 

It's still not quite sunk in that this amazing project is taking place so close to where I live, 133 Sidney Grove. Talk about being on my doorstep!

To come and experience the work for yourself book online http://bit.ly/Greatinytickets  #greatinywar
You've got until 9th November, but be warned - tickets are selling fast!

Great & Tiny War on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme

Get a flavour for 4,701 meals by listening to @BobbytheBaker talking about her Great & Tiny War on @BBCr4today here on iPlayer, 1hr42 in. http://

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bgp8g6

Great & Tiny War - Bobby's introduction

What's on your doorstep? - My discovery of Bobby Baker's Great & Tiny War

I live on what I believe is the friendliest street in Newcastle (arguably the UK). We have a facebook group for residents to post things related to the street. As the vast result of residents have some art/music/theatre connection, there are regular posts by residents spreading the word about gigs, performances and exhibitions that they are involved in. A few months ago there was a post on The Sidney Groovers about a project that would be happening on our street. A few days later a letter was posted through my door with details of the project; Bobby Baker's Great & Tiny War.



I was immediately excited - Bobby Baker is an inspirational woman and an artist whom I hold in very high regard. I have followed her work for a number of years and could not believe that I would now get the chance to witness one of her installations in a house down my street.

Fast forward a few more months and I received notification from Wunderbar, another arts organisation that I rate highly, that they are working on a project called Great & Tiny War and are looking for people interested in working with them to realise the project.

Naturally I responded immediately with enthusiasm about the opportunity to work with two artistic entities (and their teams) that I greatly admire and respect.

I won't bore you with the many coincidental discoveries and revelations of connections that arose throughout the following 'recruitment' process, but to cut a long story short, I am delighted to be one of the hosts that will be guiding visitors around 133 Sidney Grove for Bobby Baker's Great & Tiny War.



Today was the first time that all the hosts met with Bobby and the Wunderbar crew in the house. Bobby (Lead Artist and Artistic Director, Daily Life Ltd), Illana (Artistic Director, Wunderbar) Hannah (Producer, Wunderbar) and Ree (Participation Producer, Wunderbar) introduced the project and explained our roles as hosts. We were given a run-through of the tour, and saw the installation in its final stages of being completed. One thing is for certain; visitors are in for a treat.

I'll be blogging regularly about the project, and hope that readers of this will visit the installation.

For more information about this Wunderful project, including how to book tickets, please visit

https://wunderbar.org.uk/gtw/great-tiny-war/