BOBBY BAKER'S GREAT & TINY WAR Comes to Newcastle in September

Performance and visual artist Bobby Baker has created a profoundly thoughtful, imaginative and joyous exploration of families in wartime, commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary.

Bobby Baker's Great & Tiny War is an ingenious, immersive multimedia art installation in an ordinary terraced house in Newcastle that runs from 7 September to 9 November 2018.

Commissioned by 14-18 NOW it pays tribute to the unacknowledged private struggles and personal strength of women in times of conflict.

Inspired by real stories, passed down through Baker's family, Great & Tiny War shines a light on the role of women during wartime and the impact of conflicts, historical and contemporary, on the mental health of whole families through the generations.

Visitors to the house don headphones and are welcomed by Baker, as if she were there in person. As she guides them from room to room they encounter different experiences that juxtapose the everyday with the extraordinary - a spectral heroine and a table set for dinner, the story of a family and a gallery of treasures, a baked armoury and 4,701 reinvented dinners - and some surprises along the way.

Baker says, 'The domestic work that women do during wartime is undervalued and rarely represented by historic reflections on the war - yet it is what sustains life. An average housewife would have cooked 4,701 meals during the first world war.'

'My work celebrates this overlooked aspect of everyday life, and the strength of women and families in caring for those traumatised by war. My own family's history includes my grandfather, whose experience of designing arms that killed his contemporaries led to a post-war breakdown that in turn had an impact on those around him. These narratives, that filter through to my own family and my own experience, underpin the work, alongside stories of my female relatives during WW1. Everybody's family's got a war in it, so I hope that Great & Tiny War will resonate with everyone who visits'.

A short trailer gives a flavor of the installation: https://vimeo.com/280397076

Bobby Baker is acclaimed for producing radical work of outstanding quality across disciplines including performance, drawing and multi-media. This installation, whilst being different in style to her recent output, revisits Baker's landmark art works in domestic spaces An Edible Family in A Mobile Home 1976 and Kitchen Show 1991.

In a career spanning four decades she has danced with meringue ladies, made a life-sized version of her family out of cake and driven around the streets of London strapped to the back of a truck telling people to 'Pull Yourselves Together'. Her groundbreaking exhibition Diary Drawings: Mental Illness and Me 1997- 2008 is still touring following its premier at the Wellcome Collection in 2009, and the accompanying book won MIND's book of the year in 2011.

Bobby Baker's Great & Tiny War is at 133 Sidney Grove, Arthurs Hill, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5PE from Friday 7 September to 9 November 2018.

Tickets are available from wunderbar.org.uk/greattinywar

About Bobby Baker and Daily Life Ltd

Bobby Baker is a woman and an artist acclaimed for producing radical work of outstanding quality across disciplines including performance, drawing and multimedia. Daily Life Ltd is the Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation that creates powerful art that changes the way people think, and that produces Baker's work. www.dailylifeltd.co.uk

About 14-18 NOW

14-18 NOW is a programme of extraordinary arts experiences connecting people with the First World War, as part of the UK's official centenary commemorations. It commissions new work by leading contemporary artists across all art forms; the programme has included over 200 artists from 35 countries, taking place in 160 locations across the UK. Over 30 million people have experienced a project so far, including 7.5 million children and young people. 16.7 million people took part in LIGHTS OUT in 2014, and 63% of the population were aware of Jeremy Deller's, 'We're here because we're here'. The UK tour of the poppy sculptures by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper has been seen by over 4 million people to date. 14-18 NOW has won many awards for its work, including the National Lottery Heritage Award, 2017. 2018 is the final season, marking 100 years since the end of the First World War. 14-18 NOW is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, by the DCMS with additional funding from The Backstage Trust, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Clore Duffield Foundation, NatWest and support from individuals. www.1418now.org.uk

About Wunderbar

Wunderbar makes stand-out creative projects that bring audiences and artists together on journeys of intrigue and wonder. They like to turn the everyday upside down to inspire, challenge and nurture new ways to work, think and play. Previous projects include Joshua Sofaer's Opera Helps (2016) and Jeremy Deller's MLK1967 (2017). Wunderbar has also previously worked with Bobby Baker on her Mad Gyms and Kitchens touring show in 2012. www.wunderbar.org.uk

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