Ian Smith and I have just got back from Newcastle after the launch of the Great North Museum, for which we provided lots of AV and interactive displays. I took a couple of hours to explore the city and visit the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. There were two main exhibitions running when I visited; an exhibition of artworks inspired by Darwin, and a show called Tilting Planet by the American artist Sarah Sze.

I had never heard of Sze before, and was completely amazed and excited as soon as I walked into her exhibition. The show filled most of one floor of the Baltic Centre -a gallery converted from a 1950's flour mill. Sze uses familiar, everyday objects (think matchsticks, wool, lamps, screws) to create beautiful, delicate and highly complex structures within a space. Seemingly never ending lengths of wool had been wrapped around pillars, sewn through the floor, threaded through air vents so that you had to carefully weave your way around the space. Branches grew from the floor, pendulums were suspended from the ceiling; the work seemed endless.

The Darwin exhibition was also great. I found out about an artist from Newcastle who was exhibiting here called Ben Jeans Houghton. I loved his piece - he had reconstructed his studio / greenhouse in the gallery and filled it with his lifelong collection of found objects, meticulously arranged and colourcoded.

It's brilliant - if you can get to the Baltic to see the show, it's well worth it. It's a beautiful space, free, and in a great city too.