Identity. Campaign.
Hinterlands is a group exhibition conceived by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead that invites a consideration of humanity’s relationship with the land and its ecosystems. With increased awareness of the importance of connection with nature due to the pandemic and ongoing climate crisis, the artists showcased explore the complex histories, mythologies, legacies and potential futures for custodianship of the land.

Thinking about global conversations around colonialism, capitalism and climate emergency, through new and existing works by artists connected with the North East of England, Hinterlands reflects on ideas of rootedness and belonging, human and more-than-human relationships, boundaries, land and time in the era of the climate emergency. The idea of hinterlands – the land away from the coast or the banks of a river – is at the core of this exhibition, which explores what lies beyond the visible or known. Considering land and place as a complex layering of relationships, the exhibition explores these ideas through innovative artistic processes and approaches, including through the possibilities of materials and contexts: geological, biological and social, shaped and hardened by history. Exploring radical new ways of thinking with, rather than through, the landscape of the North East, the exhibition includes works that provide a nexus for strands of enquiry that connect across a wider web of ideas, continuing to build on the rich histories of North East England.