Phyllida Barlow: Peninsula (2004) [from the archive] 20 YEARS AGO!

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Phyllida Barlow: Peninsula
20 November 2004 - 17 April 2005
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
4:3 SD

I met a few people at the Mali Morris preview who were talking about the Phyllida Barlow film made in 2004. It was so long ago, and I was pleased that people still remembered it. The exhibition at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art remains one of my favourites the gallery has had. Phyllida managed to completely take control of the enormous space and make it work compositionally both from the Level 5 viewing platform above and from the Level 4 space. This is much more difficult than it might seem and very few artists have managed to pull it off. It was like a huge three-dimensions abstract painting that you could walk around, if that makes sense.

Phyllida spoke so intelligently about the way we are all affected by the everyday, from tiny objects to large structures, and how she tries to bring this into her sculptures and installations. On top of that she was an incredible host and it was a privilege to briefly get to know her.

The interviewer was the wonderful Miles Thurlow (co-founder of Workplace Gallery). We were both employed by Baltic at the time and they have kindly given me permission to post this video. The full archive record, along with many photos and documents can be found here. https://archive.baltic.art/#/exhibition/ph....

I was due to film Phyllida again for the Matt Rugg: How to be an Artist film, but sadly she died shortly before we were scheduled to do so. She is greatly missed.

I hope you enjoy this blast from the past.