On Wednesday, nine people came to on an artist-led tour to find out more about Cone. For some of the people that attended, visiting Cone and hearing the artist speak about it meant that the art work made much more sense to them.

People asked lots of questions about Cone – how long will it last? Where will it go once it has been dismantled? What is Aquadyne used for? And, of course, there were queries on what the future holds for Dunston Staiths. Luckily we had the Tyne and Wear Building Preservation Trust activity manager to provide some answers!

The artist talks about Cone, 10th September 2014

We’d post more pictures on this, but it’s better to link you to Ken Fitzpatrick’s Flickr stream, which he took after touring Cone on Wednesday afternoon.

If you missed these events, you can still get a decent view of Cone from the western end of Dunston Staiths this coming weekend.

The Tyne and Wear Building Preservation Trust are inviting people to come along and see the renovation work as part of Heritage Open Day:

• Friday 12 September: 1200 -1600
• Saturday 13 September: 1030-1530
• Sunday 14 September: 1030-1530

Stout shoes/boots should be worn, as surfaces are uneven. While a loop of the Staiths will be accessible, lower and upper levels are linked via stairs. Access may be restricted due to poor weather and ongoing restoration work.

- See more by clicking here.

Sustainability Cafe at Dunston Community Centre

Last Thursday, six people came to the sustainability cafe that was led by the University of Lancaster. With nine people in total, we thought that this was about as much as the staiths could reasonably handle for safety reasons.

Inside Cone, the word ‘sublime’ was mentioned on more than one occasion. After spending a while on the Staiths, we wandered over to the Dunston Community Centre for a cup of tea and a chat about sustainability.

Cone provoked a wide discussion – from the sustainability of the material to the skills learned by the students working on the art work. Many participants were stepping foot on Dunston Staiths for the first time, and so the art work is subtly helping to engender a conversation on what the future holds for the structure and how access to it can be managed.

That evening, I wandered over to the Baltic to take part in the North East conversation about the Farrell Review. Over wine, someone mentioned to me that Dunston Staiths has appeared as a backdrop in many television programmes and films, including Purely Belter (2000) which shows the Staiths before the gap was created. That’s probably something else to be added to the timeline.

Angela Connelly, 21 July 2014