An arts festival which made its debut in the city last year is all set for a spectacular return this week with a programme offering everything from a break-dancing competition to being vacuum-packed in plastic and displayed in an exhibition. Novum launched as a pilot in Newcastle last summer , with a three-day bill of music, workshops, performances and free attractions. It transformed Newcastle Civic Centre into a live music venue for its run and a highlight was the communal building of a cardboard sculpture outside called Monumental Construction.
And it is out to grab the attention again with its upcoming August 8-11 return which will focus events this time at both the civic centre and Great North Museum: Hancock. It has ' bigger and bolder' ambitions, it says, and the vacuum-packed living portrait installation SHRINK 01995 certainly sounds like one of them. Read more: Inside the kitchen at Dakwala as it serves up success on a plate for NE1 Newcastle Restaurant Week Get all the latest North East updates with our free What’s On newsletter The concept of artist Lawrence Malstaf, this invites people to be vacuum-packed and vertically suspended at Great North Museum: Hancock on Thursday and visitors will be able to view each day's living works of art throughout the festival.
Also on the programme at the Civic Centre will be the likes of a big-scale colourful theatrical show Cirque Bijou with circus artists, live music and a flying piano sing-along; Secret Cities - a display of.