BALTIC is delighted to announce a solo exhibition by Becks Futures Prize winner and locally based artist Matt Stokes. The Gainsborough Packet is a co-commission with London based gallery 176 and NewcastleGateshead’s BALTIC.  The Gainsborough Packet is the culmination of a year’s research and development, which began with Stokes’s discovery in the Tyne & Wear Archives of a letter written in 1828 by an ordinary man named John Burdikin living in Newcastle upon-Tyne.

Tracing the adventures of Burdikin’s life, the letter was the inspiration for lyrics, music and a 16mm film created by Stokes and his collaborators on the project. For The Gainsborough Packet, Stokes has collaborated with musician Jon Boden from acclaimed folk-big-band Bellowhead, composer Alistair Anderson, who is one of the UK’s leading exponents of the folk tradition and co-founder of The Sage Gateshead’s Folkworks, and Tim Kerr, an iconic figure of the US punk and early hardcore scene.