Newcastle Art Gallery’s first paid exhibitions: what to see and book

Newcastle Art Gallery’s first season of paid temporary exhibitions is now open, following the gallery’s reopening after its major expansion. The three exhibitions began on 23 May 2026 and are running through winter, although they have different closing dates. For a visit on or after Sunday 9 August, tickets can be booked through the gallery’s website, while the permanent collection exhibition remains free.

The main drawcard is Brian Robinson: Multiverse, showing until 30 August 2026. Robinson is a Maluyligal and Wuthathi artist from Waiben (Thursday Island), with Scottish and Filipino ancestry. His exhibition brings together large linocut prints, sculpture and a digital animation experience, combining Torres Strait mineral design with contemporary cultural references. One of the works to look out for is Zugubal: The winds and the tides set the pace (2022), a vinyl cut work. Adult admission is A$20, with concession and member tickets at A$18, tertiary student tickets at A$15, and tickets for children and teenagers aged 5 to 17 at A$8. Mobtix are also available for A$8, while a family group ticket costs A$50 for two adults and up to three children. Children under five enter free. A QR-code digital guide includes general audio, audio descriptions and Auslan-interpreted videos, so visitors can use their own phone to explore the exhibition in different formats.

Alongside Robinson’s work is Tiyan Baker: Mouth Mnemonica, also on display until 30 August. This is Baker’s first institutional solo exhibition and centres on the newly commissioned multi-channel video to tangle together like coursing water. The project draws on Bukar, an endangered language spoken by Baker’s mother and other Bukar Bidayuh people of south-western Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. The exhibition also includes My mother’s tongue, nyatu’ maanun mungut bigabu’, Dental camera study with Toba and a mnemonic device connected with the new video work. Baker was born and raised on Larrakia Country in Darwin and now lives and works on Awabakal and Worimi lands in Newcastle. An artist talk took place on 24 May, with free entry and no bookings required.

The third paid exhibition, The Mordant Family Gift, continues until 15 November 2026. It presents works from the Mordant Family Collection’s 2025 gift to Newcastle Art Gallery, covering painting, video, sculpture and photography. The gift includes 25 works, with some gallery information referring to 26, by 16 artists. Names represented include Gemma Smith, Janet Laurence, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Ian Abdulla, María Fernanda Cardoso, Brent Harris, Claire Healy, Sean Cordeiro, Jamie North, Raquel Ormella, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Tim Silver, Yuken Teruya, Brendan Van Hek and John Young. Works mentioned by the gallery include Smith’s Boulder (2009), Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive digital work Make out (Shadow box 8) (2009), Laurence’s Liquid green (2003), and two works on paper by Ian Abdulla. A publication about the gift, including a conversation between Simon Mordant and gallery director Lauretta Morton, is available from the Gallery Shop.

Paid exhibitions are only part of the visit. Iconic Loved Unexpected, the gallery’s inaugural collection exhibition, is free and requires no booking. It occupies Galleries 1–6 on the ground floor and Galleries 8–9 upstairs, bringing together selected works from the collection of more than 7,000 objects. The display includes artists with Newcastle connections, First Nations artists and international figures, as well as new commissions by Shellie Smith and Julie Squires, Fayen d’Evie, Renae Lamb, Adam Manning and Megan Cope. Free guided tours run on Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 pm, lasting about 45 minutes; meet beside the Welcome Desk five minutes beforehand.

For the paid exhibitions, check the official Newcastle Art Gallery website before visiting and select the exhibition ticket that matches your concession, membership, student, child or family category. The gallery’s Autumn/Winter exhibition information is the relevant booking page for the current season. The Gallery Shop is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, and the gallery’s expanded building also includes new exhibition and programme spaces alongside the collection displays.