JAPANESE artist Mariko Mori may have the edge in terms of prestige, but the cast of thousands involvement of Double Agent grabs the attention from the moment you enter the room.

Why? Well for a start artist Dora Garcia has employed a series of writers to create comments on visitors to the Level 3 space which pop up live on a huge wall screen.

Forewarned, I flourished a copy of The Northern Echo without much response, but a direct approach to laptop narrator Lesley Rose, from Heaton, produces the sentence: A reporter comes to ask a question.

The answer (not on screen): A lot of what we write is intended to be published in a book under the artists name. Im careful that I dont get too personal, she replies.

Baltics acting head of programme Alessandro Vincentelli has offered to act as my guide and is proud of the nature of Polish artist Pawel Althamers work which has been specific to the region.

Even though Baltic is the third gallery to take Londons Institute of Contemporary Arts exhibition, Althamer chose to engage NewcastleGateshead Multiple Sclerosis Societys members in a workshop because he runs ceramics classes for MS sufferers in Warsaw. The results are on show, as is German Christoph Schlingensiefs strange stairlift (Thora Hird would have approved) allowing access for the rider to a private film show. We had to get a heath and safety study just for this, but Im delighted we have commissions that are specific to Baltic, says Vincentelli.

Around the corner, is the curiosity of American Donelle Woolford constructing live sculptures as the contribution of fellow US artist Joe Scanlan.

Controversy reigns thanks to Polands Artur Zmijewskis video piece, Them (2007), which shows Christians, Jews, Young Socialists and nationalists explosively failing to create artwork together. While Glasgow-based Phil Collins chips in a series of photographs of top curators taken after he slapped them hard around the face.

Incredibly, two agreed to work on the project.

Moris two rooms on Level 2 are described as work that is challenging and minimal based on being exploratory and using drawing to create a state of mind.

The Miracle room is so white and slightly unnerving, with a square floor and rounded walls, that visitors are required to wear blue plastic shoe covers C we didnt like to tell one woman she was going home with them still on, I was told.

THERE are eight porthole-size diachronic images on glass, plus 108 glass beads threaded and hung from the ceiling as part of New York-based Moris aim to make us acknowledge that technology should evolve in partnership with natural resources.

As the rising star of contemporary art, it was no surprise to learn from Vincentelli that major galleries are snapping up her work for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

In a rare use of the Level 5 area, three regionally-based artists, Catherine Bertola, Natalie Frost and Karen Davies, view our world quite differently. Frost conveys posterstyle messages: Here we go again that evil mother, following a study of postnatal depression. Bertola replicates traditional lace patterns in vinyl on the floors and Davies displays a series of bird drawings with almost imperceptible mutations.

ö The Enchanted Moment ends on Sunday; Double Agent ends on August 17 and Mariko Moris exhibition closes on September 14. All Baltic exhibitions are free to view. Opening hours: Mon-Sun 10am-6pm. Tues: 10-30-6pm.