Joshua Sofaer’s Opera Helps is returning online for the Horizon Showcase
Opera Helps features in the Horizon Showcase pilot year
Let’s talk about sex… with cancer, baby!
Innovative solutions to the often-ignored problem of illness, intimacy, sexual function and pleasure.
Opera Helps returns online
We were genuinely blown away by the power of feeling we saw in the feedback from Opera Helps.
Paw-Paw-Phwoar! The hot new Edicure Edition No.2 is here
Wunderbar is continuing its edible novelty nail experiment with the release of a brand new big cat inspired Edicure design.
Stick. Love. Lick. Edicure has landed.
Our biodegradable, unisex, non-toxic, vegan, cruelty-free, non-permanent, hand-crafted, super sweet edible nails are finally here.
It’s Time launch event – You’re invited
IT’S TIME BOOK LAUNCH Talk 5pm-6pm followed by drinks til 7pm-ish WEDNESDAY 3 JULY, ALPHABETTI THEATRE, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE FREE ENTRY. How do you make experimental art projects that are inclusive and accessible to the core? Join Wunderbar’s Ilana Mitchell and Karl …
Great & Tiny War is best event Tyneside
Amazing news. Great & Tiny War won Best Event Tyneside in this year’s Journal and Gazette Culture Awards. We’re over the moon that Bobby Baker’s brilliant work has been recognised in this way. With Bobby’s approval, we dedicate this award …
It’s Time – New book unpicks Live Art
Wunderbar and the Live Art Development Agency have co-published a new book of Live Art case studies highlighting projects and initiatives that are re-politicising and re-energising our arts spaces. It’s Time: How Live Art is taking on the world from the …
It’s Hannah Directory week! 2018 publication hitting the north now.
We’re super excited to be celebrating the sixth annual edition of Hannah Directory this week. If you’ve never yet discovered this gem, we highly recommend seeking it out. If you’re lucky, you might even catch sight of Andrew, the directory …
Good Feels and Cool Friends – Wunderbar Foundation ready to launch
Wunderbar is marking the launch of the new Wunderbar Foundation with an extra special event in London this March. The Foundation is our new fundraising arm – a collaboration between Wunderbar’s artistic director Ilana Mitchell and our philosopher-in-residence, Dr Rachael …
World premiere announcement: Bobby Baker’s Great & Tiny War
Wunderbar is proud and excited to announce a major new artistic collaboration with long-time friend and tremendous artist, Bobby Baker. Commissioned by 14-18 NOW as part of its finale programme, Great & Tiny War will occupy a house in Newcastle …
MLK1967
On 13 Nov 1967 Martin Luther King made what was to be his final public speech outside of the US before his assassination, in Newcastle. In the address, he called for us to join him in the ongoing struggle against war, poverty and racism.
Reverend Billy in the toon!
We are super excited to be hosting Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir during their tour of the UK in October. Book your tickets now! Gig is on Sunday 22nd October at 7.30pm at the Blackfriars @St Vincent de Paul …
Sheaf + Barley talk, 7th Sept
Come along to NewBridge Project on 7th Sept at 6.30 pm to meet artists Sheaf+Barley and hear them talk about their work. Along with NewBridge Project and as part of the Live Art Development Agency’s DIY14 national scheme, we have been …
Is there more to giving than Good Feels and Cool Friends?
At a time of profound change for arts funding, we’re continuing our partnership up with philosopher Rachael Wiseman to create The Wunderbar Foundation. The Foundation explores the ethics of asking for and giving money by turning the interaction upside down. …
Q: What happens when a Thought Bubble Bursts?
A: Good question. We’re on a mission to find out, as we’re pleased to announce that we’ve been awarded a Grant for the Arts from Arts Council England (ACE) for Thought Bubbles, our next phase of provocative, philosophical, participative and …
OPEN CALL!! How to Build Boats and Influence People (to build boats)
Sheaf+Barley are coming to Newcastle to run their DIY project “How to Build Boats and Influence People (to make boats).” Five days making your own skin-on-frame coracle somewhere in or near Newcastle and thinking about things quite a bit. You can …
We drew a pitch & it looked like this
In Loftus, near Redcar, on 19 October, around 60 members of the local town – kids, adults, members of the Brit football club, councillors, the vicar – came down to Ben Scott’s field and painted in the lines on the …
How to Draw Your Own Pitch in Loftus
Come along on Wednesday 19 October to help make Ben Scott’s Field back into a proper football pitch for everyone in Loftus to enjoy. Please bring along your friends and family to help – the more people we have, the …
Ball games allowed in Burmontofts
Play Ball is a playful, public, football-pitch-creating one-day event. Part pop-up, part flash mob, part crop circle, it’s a simple way for a group of people to create a proper football pitch on an available area of public land in …
Do you have a problem? Opera Helps.
Can the power of song help us look at a problem in a new way? Applications are now open for the UK premiere of Opera Helps by Joshua Sofaer. Produced by Wunderbar, Opera Helps is now on tour, stopping in …
Info-graphicarama! Introducing the Wunderbar review
Since 2008, Wunderbar has been bringing artists and audiences together on journeys of intrigue and wonder. We thought it was time we told our story. So, here it is, our gift to you – the Wunderbar Review – just click …
A million miles away
Gemma Paintin, Co-artistic Director of Action Hero, gives us a flavour for the upcoming Natural Selection performance with an account of a not-very-ordinary invitation to visit Jim (he’s the one pictured right, Rob is on his left with the pants …
Sauna bathing in Tasmania
Ilana is in Tasmania at the moment, with an installation of Sauna Nation for Junction Arts Festival in Launceston. These saunas have been built by University of Tasmania School of Architecture and Design, and set up by the staff and …
Natural Selection – full deets & tickets available now
Jim and Rob are brothers who grew up in a remote house on the outskirts of Kielder Forest. In September, they will be returning to their roots, travelling on foot from Newcastle to Kielder on a pilgrimage of sorts, the …
Who pays? You decide…
Investigating new ways to raise funds for our projects is bringing rise to all sorts of ethical conundrums. Like: how much to charge audience members for ticketed events?hr As with all Wunderbar processes, setting a ticket price isn’t simple. The …
Some foundations for the Wunderbar Foundation
Over the next couple of months, Wunderbar is developing a new fundraising initiative, the Wunderbar Foundation. Along with its core aim of raising money for our projects, the Foundation will explore some of the ethics and challenges of traditional fundraising. This …
Some sweaty challenges
In preparation for a trip to Junction Arts Festival later this year, I’ve been doing some more thinking about saunas. Turkish Salad Bath, anyone? After closing the City Pool in 2013, Newcastle City Council has opened up to offers “to …
Greenwich Edicures
A bunch of pics of some of the 50 Edicures we did at the Urban Village Fete with Home Live Art on 10 May.
Unveiling the all-new Edicure logo
ARTICLE UPDATE: Edicure now has its own website Just in time for our stall last week at the Urban Village Fete, we launched a new look for the Edicure. And here it is, in all its gold spangled glory. We …
Edicures on offer at The Urban Village Fete
Wunderbar’s deliciously different edicures will be available at Greenwich’s Urban Village Féte this Sunday. Our artistic director, Ilana Mitchell, will be personally pampering féte-goers with these biodegradable, delicious, unisex, non-toxic, non-permanent fashion accessories – easy, fun-to-remove alternatives to traditional nail …
How to review a human book
The legendary Human Library is about to open its doors in Bedfordshire and Newcastle. In Bedfordshire, the shelves are bulging with gripping stories waiting to be read including Lazy Single Mother, Lonely Gays in the Village and Happy To Be …
An abundance of Human Libraries
This month we are supporting two Human Library projects – one across the libraries of Central Bedfordshire, as part of Bedford Creative Art‘s programme, and the other one as part of Juice Festival in Newcastle and Gateshead. Human Library is …
Edicures at the Festival of Thrift
We’ve been invited to take part in the Festival of Thrift this weekend, 27th and 28th September – and we’re piloting our newest Wunderbiz: Edicures: EDIble maniCURES for the ethically minded – and sweet lovers. A biodegradable, delicious, unisex, non-toxic, non-permanent fashion accessory, …
How Nightwalks looked and felt
If you see anyone with a messy or cartoon henna tattoo in Newcastle it’s very possible they were with us on our Nightwalks With Teenagers on Fri or Sat night. Giving each other multiple tattoos in a field of cows (Friday) and …
Nightwalks Workshops
Some photies from our planning workshops and walks. Including Human Scavenger hunts, going into the Ouseburn Culvert, being confused by maps, finding dissolving concrete…
Nightwalks Posters
These lush new posters for Nightwalks with Teenagers are going up round town. Join the Facebook event or check here for meeting point updates & book your place.
Nightwalks with Teenagers
Part social event, part recreational activity, part party; what better way to spend an evening than strolling in the company of teenagers?
An invitation to teenagers – Create a Nightwalk (with the help of some Canadians)
Wunderbar is looking for young people to help us create a public event called ‘Nightwalks with Teenagers’. These Nightwalks have been happening all over the world conceived by a bunch of brilliant Canadians we’ve worked with before called Mammalian Diving …
June 14th is Platypus Day!
And we’re having a MASSIVE CREATIVE CONSTRUCTION GARDEN PARTY! Hang out with the newest group on the block as we build ourselves a giant den and then party in it. We are looking for more Platypuses so join us on June …
Will you do business with a Wunderbiz?
Wunderbar is poised to launch Wunderbiz, its playfully disruptive and alternative approach to business models and structures. Wunderbiz’s first outing will be at the Thinking Digital Conference at Sage Gateshead, from 20 – 22 May. Thinking Digital is billed as …
The Wunderbairns Ethos
With the launch of Platypus, our new project working with teens, this is a reminder – for us as much as anyone reading – of our ethos for Wunderbairns. Following Haircuts by Children and the A SCHOOL projects plus two …
Sauna Nation
It’s not just jumping on the Scandi-wagon, the Wunderbiz idea-in-development Sauna Nation was inspired by an incredible sauna experience I had in Latvia… The Idea Could the natural mood enhancing nature of a sauna offer an alternative to more traditional medical or talking …
DSNCL
Dance School Newcastle is Harriet Plewis’ – of A SCHOOL and Come On, Vogue, notoriety – new project.
A Book’s View
Donna William‘s, one of our Bristol Human Library books wrote a blog about her experience for The Limping Chicken – the UK’s independent deaf news and deaf blogs website. With their permission we’ve reproduced it here. Full blog, which has many interesting reader …
November newsletter
The No Festival Festival Dear Wunderbar allies, It’s November, so we’ve realised it’s two years since our last official festival. Which would be strange, if we weren’t so adrenaline-fuelled and fizzing with activity. So we while we still think and …
The Great Forced LOLathon
Now open for entries! LOLathon: a marathon of laughing out loud for 26.2 minutes Had a difficult year? Haven’t LOL-ed in a long time? Maybe you’re already a LOL-athoner? Either way, YOU can finish the Great Forced LOLathon 2013. The Great Forced …
To Make The Stone Stoney
We’re wrapping up Nicola Singh and xsite architecture‘s two-year Life Without Buildings project with a series of discussions in evenings in Nov and Dec. Whether or not you took part in 2011’s bike tour, or this year’s In Praise of Shadows or We Stand Out The Most When We Stand …
Book Reviews!
With the Human Library poised to visit Bristol, we thought we’d share some of the never-before-published reviews left of the ‘Books’ when the library visited Gateshead. Click on the images to see what the ‘readers’ thought of books like Raised by …
Join our gang!
The Wunderbar team is about to get bigger. We’re on the look out for two sparky, savvy people to help us realise our big plans for the future. A Wunderbains Facilitator will guide an innovative new project for young people, empowering them …
NARC-ed!
In this month’s NARC magazine I’ve expounded my thoughts on some things I reckon sound good, in their regular Mix Tape column. For those of you not able to pick up a hard copy, plus links to some of the tunes, read on. (There …
We Stand Out The Most When We Stand Together: Photos!
Conceived by artist Nicola Singh, We Stand Out The Most When We Stand Together was a choreographed parade exploring architectural space through human collaboration and movement.