Newcastle Art Gallery opens first exhibitions of expanded 2026 program

newy.com.au – Newcastle Art Gallery will unveil new and rarely seen works by internationally recognised First Nations artist Brian Robinson on Saturday as it opens the first three exhibitions in its 2026 program.

The exhibition changeover is the first at the expanded Gallery since it reopened in February as the largest public gallery in NSW outside Sydney. The new installations will also give visitors their first look at works donated by leading philanthropists Simon Mordant AO and Catriona Mordant AM, and the first institutional solo exhibition by Newcastle-based artist Tiyan Baker.

Newcastle Art Gallery Director Lauretta Morton OAM said the launch marked an important step for the reimagined Gallery after its reopening exhibition, Iconic, Loved, Unexpected, reintroduced the public to works from its $145 million collection.

“The response to the Gallery has been nothing short of remarkable, with more than 80,000 visitors already surpassing our previous annual visitation record,” Ms Morton said.

“While the collection works will remain in the ground floor galleries and in three gallery spaces upstairs, we are thrilled to now be moving into our ambitious 2026 program, which will showcase significant exhibitions from local, national and internationally renowned artists.

“The expansion of the Gallery opens up opportunities to explore exhibitions of a size, scale and number that we were previously unable to present due to the limitations of our original building.”

Robinson’s exhibition, Multiverse, is a survey of his practice over the past decade and features more than 30 new and rarely seen works. It includes the NSW premiere of his first immersive installation, Zugubal: The winds and the tides set the pace, as well as a series of major vinyl cut prints commissioned by Newcastle Art Gallery and inspired by objects in the University of Newcastle collection.

Robinson grew up on Waiben, or Thursday Island, in the Torres Strait and has Maluyligal and Wuthathi cultural heritage. His work is known for bringing together ancestral iconography, contemporary popular culture, mythology, personal history and humour.

“To present this exhibition at Newcastle Art Gallery this month is incredibly significant. Multiverse represents one of the most considered surveys of my practice to date, and I am honoured to share it with audiences in Newcastle through such a major institutional presentation,” Robinson said.

“Together, these works create a space where cultural knowledge, imagination, and transformation converge – a place where past, present, and future continue to move in rhythm with one another.”

The Mordant Family Gift brings together 25 works across painting, photography, textiles, installations, prints and sculpture by Australian and international artists including Ian Abdulla, María Fernanda Cardoso, Brent Harris, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, Janet Laurence, Hiroyuki Kita, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Jamie North, Raquel Ormella, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Tim Silver, Gemma Smith, Yuken Teruya, Brendan Van Hek and John Young.

The exhibition marks the first time the works will be presented collectively to the public and celebrates the largest number of works the Mordant family has donated to one institution.

Baker’s Mouth Mnemonica centres on a newly commissioned video work engaging with Bukar, the endangered language spoken by her mother and other Bukar Bidayǔh people of south-western Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo. The exhibition blends poetic verse, memory and historical record, drawing together moving image, sound and sculptural elements to explore language as a living vessel for intergenerational cultural knowledge.

“This new body of work combines my poetic verse and my mum’s with found records of our oral poetry culture before colonisation, creating an intergenerational poem about forgetting, remembering and what we pass down over generations,” Baker said.

“Through this I hope to give new life to our endangered language and the knowledge it holds.”

A launch party will be held at the Gallery from 5.30pm tonight, with tickets available through the Art Gallery’s website, before the exhibitions officially open to the public on Saturday 23 May.

Multiverse runs until 30 August 2026, with tickets on sale now. Robinson will give an artist talk at the Gallery from 11am on Saturday. Entry is free to The Mordant Family Gift, which runs until 8 November 2026, and Mouth Mnemonica, which runs until 6 September 2026. Baker will give a free artist talk at the Gallery from 2pm on Sunday 24 May.