newy.com.au – Newcastle Art Gallery has unveiled its first international exhibition since reopening in February, a free installation of mist-filled bubbles opening alongside the first major survey of Newcastle-based artist Angela Tiatia.
New Spring, by Tokyo- and London-based duo A.A.Murakami, and the ticketed Angela Tiatia: Muse open on 26 September 2026. Both are Australian premieres, arriving as the city’s New Annual festival begins its 10-day program of art, music, theatre and performance.
Created by Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves, New Spring uses three tree-like sculptures to release luminous, mist-filled bubbles that bloom and fall like flowers. It is part of a series in which the artists build their own machines to recreate natural phenomena, and comes to Newcastle with support from the Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation.
Gallery director Lauretta Morton said the expansion had involved reconsidering what the institution could offer, not simply adding exhibition space.
“The expansion gave us physical scale, but the real transformation came from expanding our thinking about what our state of the art institution should offer,” Ms Morton said.
Muse brings together video, photography and installation spanning two decades of Tiatia’s career. The exhibition traces the Samoan-Australian artist’s shift from early works in which she turned the camera on herself to larger-scale productions featuring ensemble casts.
The gallery will also present Tiatia’s The Matildas, 2025, in its first gallery showing outside the National Portrait Gallery, which commissioned the work. Entry to the video portrait will be free.
Filmed across three continents and five cities, the 23-minute work captures all 23 players from Australia’s 2023 Women’s World Cup squad, including Emily van Egmond and Clare Wheeler, both with Newcastle ties. It focuses on the players’ presence, emotion and mental focus.
Hunter-based artist Indeah Clark will feature in the gallery’s second Learning Studio window commission, facing Darby Street. Her large-scale graphic depicts a network of faces, reflecting the people and places that shape identity and belonging. The commission will remain on display until 26 September 2027.
Muse and The Matildas will run until 7 February 2027, while New Spring closes on 31 January 2027. Tickets for Muse are available through the gallery’s website.
The exhibitions’ opening weekend falls within City of Newcastle’s New Annual festival, which runs from 25 September to 4 October 2026.
