The story of Tyneside's streets

City State at the Lit & Phil will explore the influence of T Dan Smith

A special one-off festival this autumn will reveal how the streets of Newcastle and Gateshead have been transformed over the last 200 years.

Reinventing the City will examine the ways in which the Tyneside landscape has changed through a range of exhibitions, debates and guided tours.

These include a new film about Byker and a look at the iconic Tyne bridges.

The festival runs from 19 September - 11 October 2009 and venues include the Lit & Phil and Shipley Art Gallery.

A key part of the programme is City State, an exhibition about the influence of the controversial former leader of Newcastle City Council T Dan Smith on urban developments in the 50s and 60s.

This will include previously unseen film of an interview with T Dan Smith himself and photos by John Davies.

Artists' impressions

Reinventing the City will also look at the way artists have responded to the changing architecture of Newcastle and Gateshead.

Can you guess which Tyneside venue these men are at? Enlarge Image

The Laing Art Gallery will host a display of watercolours of Tyneside, including works by architects John Dobson and Benjamin Green, who helped shaped the area in Georgian times.

Meanwhile, at Shipley Art Gallery, in Gateshead, Building Bridges will look at how artists have been inspired by the various crossings over the River Tyne.

Reinventing the City was initiated by the Amber film and photography collective and its Side Gallery will have an exhibition about Byker.

Finnish photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, who is part of the collective, first documented Byker 40 years ago and in 2003 she returned to make a new portrait of the estate.

A new documentary growing out of her work will also be screened at the Side Cinema during the festival.

For more details visit the Reinventing the City website.