Visit our Reading Room this autumn to watch Pedagogue (1988), an agit-prop video made by Stuart Marshall, Neil Bartlett and Newcastle Polytechnic students.
Exhibitions
NewBridge Gallery is now closed until Friday 16 October.
You can join us on 5 September and 3 October for Saturday Social. You can still shop NewBridge Books throughout the weekdays!
Visit our Reading Room this autumn to watch Pedagogue (1988), an agit-prop video made by Stuart Marshall, Neil Bartlett and Newcastle Polytechnic students.
In a 10-minute performance to camera by performer Neil Bartlett, the video explores in comic style the implications of Section 28 – a British Government legislation (1988-2000/2003) prohibiting the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in education.
Watch the video in our Reading Room alongside books and archival materials that explore the legacy of artist Stuart Marshall, histories of AIDS activism, Section 28 and the Gender Recognition Act.
Pedagogue forms the backdrop for PDG x GRA, a two-day media and performance workshop led by artist Conal McStravick on 4 and 5 December. Mapping gender, queer and aids activism in the UK past and present, day one looks to Marshall & Bartlett’s work Pedagogue and ways to re-contextualise it in the context of current debates around the Gender Recognition Act (England) and the Gender Reform Bill (Scotland), which discourage teachers from “promoting transgenderism”, echoing homophobic Section 28 language. This sets the scene for day two: remaking Pedagogue as a group using The Wardrobe (a gender-inclusive clothes bank) as a set and prop store, as well as introducing queer theatre, drag performance, and video making techniques.
Neil Bartlett is a theatre director, performance artist and author. His adaptations and translations of Camus, Dickens, Dumas, Genet , Kleist, Labiche, Marivaux, Moliere, Racine and Wildehave been performed around the world, including productions by The RSC, The National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Glasgow Citizens Theatre, the Manchester Royal Exchange, the Abbey Dublin and the ART in Boston, USA.
Stuart Marshall (1949 – 1993) was an artist, video maker, teacher, activist and founding member of London Video Arts in the late 70s. He was a committed advocate of British video art and campaigner for gay rights. Through works such as Bright Eyes he explored and challenged misrepresentations of homosexuality during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. Marshall was a dedicated teacher in a number of art schools throughout his career, including Newcastle Polytechnic, where he made Pedagogue with Neil Bartlett and his students.
Conal McStravick is a queer, non-binary artist, independent researcher, moving image programmer and writer. Through an archival “learning in public” ethos, they engage art and non-art audiences through texts, media, events and workshops. They are currently undertaking Northern Bridge Consortium-funded doctoral research between Northumbria University and LUX on video artist and AIDS activist Stuart Marshall (1949-1993).
The film is distributed by LUX, London
A quiet, grounding space and mental health support will be available for anyone who attends.
Our building has lifts to the gallery, accessible and gender-neutral toilets, baby changing and breastfeeding facilities and two accessible parking bays. You can watch a walkthrough of our building and learn more about accessibility here.
Get in touch at admin@thenewbridgeproject.com if you have any questions or need support to take part in this event.
NewBridge has a Safer, Braver Spaces policy. Everyone here treats each other with respect and consideration. Transphobia, misogyny, racism or harassment of any kind is not welcome.
Reading Room is a borrowing library at The NewBridge Project and growing resource of thought provoking books, zines and textual materials. It is part of a network of reading rooms sharing books through events and community-led programming.
20 November — 13 December 2024
Free
The NewBridge Project
Shieldfield Centre
4-8 Clarence Walk (off Stoddart Street)
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 1AL
The NewBridge Project is accessible. You can find out more here, or feel free to contact us prior to visiting if you require additional information regarding access and facilities.
The NewBridge Project is a charity, registered charity no. 1173849.
We are grateful to our funders, including Arts Council England, Newcastle City Council, Garfield Weston Foundation, Jerwood Foundation, Community Foundation North East, Newcastle University and the The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority.
We are proud to be a Gallery of Sanctuary.
