‘The sky’s the limit’: Newcastle Art Gallery unveils its ‘divisive’ $48m expansion with a blockbuster opening show
On Friday night, the Newcastle Art Gallery (NAG) is throwing open its doors and filling the road and park with giant fluffy doughnuts, live music, dancing and art in a free-for-all street party – themed “industrial disco” – that has been 16 years in the making,For the NAG team, and Novocastrians more broadly, this is a significant moment, marking the long-awaited completion of the $48m gallery expansion project, which went from being “very divisive” in the community to something that’s generating “a remarkable buzz and excitement,” according to Jeremy Bath, the CEO of Newcastle city council,Now the largest public gallery in NSW outside of Sydney, it opens with the major exhibition Iconic Loved Unexpected, displaying 500 artworks from its 7,000-strong collection,Displayed over the 13 gallery spaces (eight of which are new, in a floor space that’s more than double that of the 1997 building), it’s a star-studded showcase of the gallery’s $145m collection, including Australian greats Emily Kam Kngwarray, John Olsen, Margaret Preston, Brett Whiteley, Daniel Boyd and Margaret Olley,It’s the headliners who will draw the crowds, but the gallery – led by the NAG director, Lauretta Morton – has been intentional in championing lesser-known local artists, too.
The intention is set by the first artwork that greets visitors: an ambitious new commission made by Awabakal artist and seventh-generation Novocastrian Shellie Smith in collaboration with sculptor Julie Squires, who co-founded Newcastle makerspace The Soap Factory.Titled Watawan (Mullet), it is a 3.5-metre aluminium spiral of 29 mullet fish that swirls down from the ceiling: a large undertaking that Smith was initially nervous about, she says, but “being part of such a significant collection is so exciting”.While viewing the work, visitors will experience another new commission: Sonic Acknowledgment of Country, a soundscape by local musician, composer, researcher and Kamilaroi man Adam Manning.The local emphasis continues into the expansion’s construction, which seamlessly integrates the old and new buildings.
The timber benches throughout the galleries were made by local woodworker Jonathan Everett; the street-fronting cafe was designed by local firm EJE Architecture; and the shop by the entrance is stocked with goods from more than 30 local makers selected through an open call,“It’s really important that we are helping our local arts ecology to thrive,” says Morton,As visitors pass the front desk, they will encounter the small Margaret Olley gallery which will rotate her colourful still lifes and Newcastle watercolours: a nod to Olley’s tradition of giving the gallery an artwork every year on her birthday; and the $500,000 the Margaret Olley Trust bequeathed to the gallery in 2025,Walking through the new double-heighted First Nations gallery, which features a photographic collage by Dr Christian Thompson and two new commissions from Renae Lamb and Megan Cope, visitors can take a detour into a smaller, older room packed with historical masterpieces from the likes of William Dobell and Grace Cossington Smith,A set of floating cast-concrete staircases retained from the original building, brings visitors upwards, for an opportunity to lie beneath John Olsen’s The sea sun of 5 bells (1964) installed – as the artist intended – on the ceiling.
Around a corner, the dense red sculpture of Dani Marti offers a more tactile experience.Constructed from many tightly hung plastic-curtains that visitors are invited to move through, the roughly 4 by 4 metre Looking for Felix (2000) engulfs you in an intensity of colour and gentle swishing sounds: an ode to the Cuban artist Félix González-Torres.A temporary wall has been installed in the centre of one of the larger new spaces.On it is If not now, when? by local artist Fiona Lee who lost her home, studio and possessions in the bushfires of 2019-20.She has used the puddly pieces of metal from her melted Toyota to write the word “NOW” in large letters across a wall, urging the government to take action on the climate crisis.
Nearby is Patricia Piccinini’s charming yet unsettling Nature’s little helpers – Surrogate (for the northern hairy nosed wombat).The life-like creature seems calm and content, but from behind it reveals six pouches on either side of its armour-like spine, which contain the protruding feet and hands of growing wombats at various stages of gestation.Morton says “the sky’s the limit now, because we’re a grown up gallery.We’re what we should have for a city of our size.”The 2026-27 program will see solo shows from emerging and mid-career local artists including Tiyan Baker and Angela Tiatia, alongside those from farther afield, such as Torres Strait Islander-born and Cairns-based printmaker Brian Robinson, Japanese kinetic sculpture duo A.
A.Murakami and beloved comedian, children’s book author and painter Anh Do.Meanwhile, new Open Space residencies will provide Hunter region artists with seed funding, mentorship and a space to produce new work: particularly important offerings at a time of funding cuts across regional arts and the Australian creative industries more broadly, as art education opportunities, such as the University of Newcastle’s fine art degree, are being shut down.The gallery has already demonstrated that there is an appetite for art.Since September 2025, small sections of the expansion have been open for previews in limited hours – and more than 20,000 visitors from 35 countries, and every Australian state and territory, have passed through the doors, according to the gallery.
Sometimes, lines form down the street for access – and the shop has already exceeded its annual targets,“We’ve been inundated,” Morton beams,The success is particularly vindicating given the battle that was fought to make it happen,The expansion project was voted down by Newcastle city council when first tabled in 2008, due to questions of funding, and criticism of the initial plan which sought to demolish, rather than integrate, the original 1977 brutalist building,It was only after years of political back and forth – and a relentless fundraising campaign led by Morton, who came on board in 2018 – that the council finally voted unanimously for the expansion in 2021, committing to the biggest investment in infrastructure that the city has undertaken.
“The art gallery was for too long, a very divisive asset,” says Bath.“There were people who had never been here but felt very strongly that the art gallery was everything that was wrong with the city, that it wasn’t for the working class.”“Over the last five years, people have recognised that art, and celebrating art and creating infrastructure that enables the appreciation of art is a good thing.It’s a good thing for the mind; it’s a good thing for the community; but most importantly, it’s a good thing economically.” He points to a recent council report, which shows that Newcastle’s creative industries contribute more than half a billion dollars annually to the local economy.
They encourage cultural tourism, provide employment, and are helping diversify the city from its industrial coal and steel past, after BHP Steelworks, Newcastle’s main employer, was shut down in 1999.The New Annual festival, which has been running since 2021, has also played a major role in this shift, alongside the 2025 completion of upgrades to the iconic art-deco Newcastle Ocean Baths and Newcastle airport, which now includes an international terminal.There is a sense of momentum in the air.“All of a sudden, Sydney is interested in Newcastle,” Bath says, “and that’s one of the reasons why I think that the art gallery is proving so beloved [by] locals … this is the magnet to get Sydneysiders to come here and spend their money and fall in love with our city.” Newcastle Art Gallery is holding its opening celebration on Friday 27 February 5-9pm and opens to the public on Saturday 28 February
Paramount Skydance wins Warner Bros Discovery bid after Netflix walks away from deal
Paramount Skydance has beaten Netflix to take over Warner Bros Discovery’s storied Hollywood studios and streaming business after the streaming giant refused to increase its bid.The $110bn deal ends a high-stakes bidding war between the two media companies, but the takeover still faces regulatory hurdles and a backlash from critics worried about a rightward tilt in US media.David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, said: “From the very beginning, our pursuit of Warner Bros Discovery has been guided by a clear purpose: to honor the legacy of two iconic companies while accelerating our vision of building a next-generation media and entertainment company.”In a statement on Thursday evening, the Netflix co-chief executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said: “At the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive.”Netflix was given four business days to beat Paramount’s revised offer but quickly decided against doing so
Rachel Reeves ‘to give go-ahead’ for £1bn military helicopter deal
Rachel Reeves is to approve a £1bn deal to build military helicopters in Yeovil, saving about 3,000 manufacturing jobs, according to reports.The chancellor is expected to sign a contract with Leonardo – the Italian owner of the former Westland factory in Yeovil, Somerset – to build the new battlefield helicopters, after months of speculation as to whether the historical site would survive.Workers had feared the company would follow through on threats to close the facility at the end of March if the government failed to place an order for new helicopters in time.Leonardo was the only bidder for the UK’s £1bn “new medium helicopter” contract that was launched in February 2024, after the US aerospace company Lockheed Martin and Europe’s Airbus pulled out.The new aircraft will replace the Royal Air Force’s ageing fleet of Puma helicopters, which had been in service since the 1970s
Instagram to alert parents if teens repeatedly search self-harm terms
Instagram will start alerting parents if their kids repeatedly search for terms clearly associated with suicide or self-harm.The announcement on Thursday comes as Instagram’s parent company, Meta, is in the midst of two trials over harms to children.A trial under way in Los Angeles questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm minors. Another in New Mexico seeks to determine whether Meta failed to protect kids from sexual exploitation on its platforms.The alerts will only go to parents who are enrolled in Instagram’s parental supervision program
Jack Dorsey to cut 4,000 jobs due to AI advances at Square parent Block
Fintech company Block announced that it would be laying off 4,000 of its 10,000 employees because of gains in AI productivity.“Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Jack Dorsey, Block’s CEO, said in a letter to shareholders on Thursday. “We’re already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better. And intelligence tool capabilities are compounding faster every week
Already on the plane or left at home? How England’s Rugby World Cup squad is shaping up
Steve Borthwick started the Six Nations with a settled group but the journey to Australia 2027 has suddenly become a lot more complicatedNot so long ago, Steve Borthwick’s squad for the 2027 World Cup was taking shape nicely. He picked a largely predictable 36-man group for the Six Nations and the same can be said of his matchday 23 to face Wales in England’s championship opener. Borthwick is a loyal coach who relies heavily on depth charts and the exodus of so many players to France after the last World Cup made a number of difficult decisions for him much easier. Just how tailored his squad is to the 2027 tournament is demonstrated by his refusal to pick the Bordeaux-bound Tom Willis on the basis he will not be available despite being awarded an enhanced contract last summer.Suddenly, on the back of two heavy defeats and shocking performances, things are not nearly as settled
‘I know I can do it again – 100%’: Lando Norris on proving himself against the best in F1
Briton overcame crippling self-doubt to become F1 world champion and is determined not to relinquish his crownLando Norris recalls being rendered speechless with joy when he was given his first contract with McLaren. Sitting in the cramped office of a paddock truck, the confirmation that he had made it to Formula One left him “very smiley for a long time”. Seven years on, he enters the new season having achieved his lifelong ambition of becoming world champion and is wearing an equally irrepressible grin as he sets about defending his title.Claiming the championship after a monumental season-long tussle that went to a thrilling three-way fight at the finale in Abu Dhabi was the defining moment of the 26-year-old’s career and perhaps something of a turning point.“I’m always very much in my own head and very thoughtful about myself,” he says
Seth Meyers on Team Trump’s Iran threats: ‘These guys speak like they’ve been hit on the head’
How to keep free entry to UK museums and galleries | Letters
‘You’re sweet – and I’m old!’: Billy Porter and Sam Morrison on teaming up for a comedy about love and death
‘Seems I’m not dead’: Magda Szubanski says she is in remission after treatment for stage four cancer
Seth Meyers on Trump’s State of the Union address: ‘A vehicle to attack anyone who doesn’t bend the knee’
‘The sky’s the limit’: Newcastle Art Gallery unveils its ‘divisive’ $48m expansion with a blockbuster opening show