This Friday is the opening night of ‘Knowledge is Power’, an exhibition displayed in 36 Lime Street Gallery in Ouseburn, Newcastle. The celebratory opening is from 6pm – 8pm and is a part of The OTHER Great Exhibition of the North and is in response to George Osborne’s vanity project, the Northern Powerhouse, manifesting as ‘The Great Exhibition of the North’ (GEOTN), Easton transforms the gallery space into a working print studio, creating hand printed posters or broadsides.
In this exhibition Theresa Easton has curated a body of hand printed work exploring the empowering nature of printed matter. With a strong Northern narrative, Easton questions political power and offers an alternative mandate from the community.
‘Knowledge is Power’ is said to refer to the woodblock used by radical publisher, Henry Hetherington on every copy of the newspaper the Poor Man’s Guardian. Printed during the 1830’s, the Unstamped (illegal) weekly challenged the political consensus and contributed to the early stages of Chartism.
The exhibition is part of The Other Exhibition of the North, this involves of a group of artists, performers, community activists and musicians responding to the Great Exhibition of the North on a grass roots level. This alternative exhibition is said to be less about ‘the North’ and more politically motivated, highlighting the attempts by a Tory government to Artwash its policies of austerity and privatisation. These policies leave many communities without creative resources, community open spaces and creative services available to them after years of cuts.
Head down to the Lime Street Gallery on Friday for this exciting and thought-provoking launch! 36 Lime Street Gallery, Ouseburn, Newcastle NE1 2PQ | Friday 6th July 6pm – 8pm