Baccanalia is proud to announce the arrival of the internationally acclaimed âLove Tapesâ at this yearâs Bishop Auckland Pride Festival on Saturday, 14th June, as part of the brand-new âEndless Love Tapesâ development of the project.
Currently premiering at the 2025 Berwick Film Festival, Endless Love Tapes is the latest evolution of a project by celebrated artist Wendy Clarke over four decades ago. This new phase, a collaboration with Kim Coleman, continues the global legacy of the Love Tapes, aiming to expand this highly acclaimed, heartfelt video archive, which explores one of humanityâs most profound emotions â love.
Since its inception in the 1970s, over 2,500 individuals from around the world â from prisoners to World Trade Centre workers â have contributed unscripted, three-minute reflections on what love means to them. These honest, unfiltered videos offer an intimate look into the human condition, giving voice to stories from all walks of life.
At the Bishop Auckland Pride Festival, visitors will have the rare opportunity to view tapes from the Love Tapes archive and make their own three-minute video of their experience of love. After making their video, participants will choose whether to add it to the growing archive or to delete it. All videos added to the archive will be lovingly preserved by the University of Wisconsin and available to the public for years to come.
âIf every person on the planet could make a love tape, then youâd really know what itâs like to be humanâ. Wendy Clarke, Artist
âThis is a unique opportunity to be part of something very special and ongoing. In years to come, folk can look back and find out what we, in Bishop Auckland, thought about love in 2025, just as we can view the accompanying exhibition on the 14th June, and listen to the World Trade Centre workers’ perceptions from the 1980s. Come and be part of a powerful, living archive.â
Thomas Wales, Director of Baccanalia
The Bishop Auckland Pride Festival is a free, all-day celebration held in partnership with Bishop Auckland College and hosted on the college grounds. Endless Love Tapes brings a poignant and personal dimension to this vibrant event â a celebration of love, unity, and shared humanity.
