2025 LAKE MACQUARIE EXHIBITION PROGRAM
Your go-to guide for arts, exhibitions and residencies in Lake Macquarie NSW, Awabakal Country
2025 Lake Macquarie Exhibition Program
Lake Macquarie NSW is home to a thriving arts community supported by a range of dynamic and contemporary art venues across the city. Discover a vibrant, exciting and diverse program of exhibitions for 2025.
* Information is correct at the time of printing. Dates and prices are subject to change
Cover image: Setsuko Ishii: Spinning Light
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Image: Julia Flanagan and Miguel Felipe Valenzuela Endless Sunbeams in Another
What's On 2025
Joshua Ingle: Roko (MAP mima Summer Commission) 6 December 202423 February 2025
Catchment: Helen Earl and Belinda Piggott 15 February – 6 April
First Class 24 15 February – 6 April
Kultura Collectiva: Theatre of Memories 28 February – 20 April
New Exuberance: contemporary Australian textile design 12 April – 25 May
Trevor Weekes: OPUS 12 April – 25 May
Sandy Sanderson: Communia Omnia –That which belongs to all 26 April - 1 June
Truth Tell 31 May – 3 August
Young Dobell 31 May – 3 August
Allison Moore: Fresque Grotesque 6 June - 10 August
Billy Missi'n Wakain Thamai 16 August – 12 October
Tricia Flanagan: LANDRELATIONS & Brigalow Belt 16 August – 12 October
Bonita [EagleEye] Ely 18 October – 30 November
MAC yapang Art Prize 18 October – 7 December
MAP mima Summer Commission 6 December22 February 2026
Setsuko Ishii: Spinning Light 13 December15 February 2026
JOSHUA INGLE: ROKO (SUMMER COMMISSION)
6 DECEMBER 2024 - 23 FEBRUARY 2025
Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima
This immersive artwork contemplates the profound and unsettling possibilities of AI’s future trajectory. As AI continues to advance and permeate various aspects of our lives, Joshua Ingle’s Roko serves as a reflective exploration of the potential consequences.
Joshua Ingle: Roko is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Image: Joshua Ingle, Roko, 2024. Courtesy MAP mima and the artist.
CATCHMENT: HELEN EARL AND BELINDA PIGGOTT
15 FEBRUARY - 6 APRIL
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
Book into the workshop, 11am Saturday 15 February
Helen Earl and Belinda Piggott present Catchment. This exhibition explores the intricate tapestry of habitation and ecosystems, weaving narratives of interconnectedness, accumulation, and memory; traversing deep time to envision sustainable futures. Earl and Piggot respond to Lake Macquarie's precious ecosystems in an installation, drawn from their time spent next to the lake during a residency in 2024.
Image: Afloat: Navigating the flows of change. Photo by Richard Trang.
FIRST CLASS 24
15 FEBRUARY – 6 APRIL
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
Opening 11am Sunday 16 February with Youth Market Day
First Class is an established annual exhibition project celebrating the high calibre of Higher School Certificate work, produced by students from the Hunter and Central Coast regions. The exhibition is selected from nominated HSC body of work submissions produced in the previous year and curated by independent arts industry professionals.
Image: Opening day of First Class 23 exhibition
KULTURA COLLECTIVA: THEATRE OF MEMORIES
28 FEBRUARY – 20 APRIL
Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima
Attend the opening 5-7pm on Friday 28 February
Theatre of Memories is an immersive art installation that harmonises the tactile art of Batik painting with modern digital technology, creating a narrative that explores the local history of the Lake Macquarie region. This captivating artwork is composed of three main elements, each contributing to a richly layered visual and sensory experience. Theatre of Memories provides a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of traditional and digital mediums, encouraging contemplation on the ways in which art can build bridges between different time periods and cultural expressions.
Image: Dias Prabu, The sea prayers, Ode to Javanese Queen of the South 2, 2022. Drawing batik with synthetic dyes on polyester
NEW EXUBERANCE: CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN TEXTILE DESIGN
12 APRIL – 25 MAY
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
An exciting JamFactory exhibition project bringing together contemporary design, art and fashion through textiles.
Textile design today is a vibrant, boundary-blurring creative field. By its very nature, it cross-pollinates. Moving through disciplines – graphic, furniture and product design, fashion and the visual arts – it manifests as surface patterning, material experimentation and transfiguration, storytelling and conceptual ideas.
Despite the hardships of recent years, Australian textile-based practices are flourishing. Makers are finding renewed confidence in community-driven interest, co-creation and inclusivity. Collaborations in the fashion industry are on the increase, forged by creatives such as Romance Was Born, Iordanes Spyridon Gogos, Grace Lillian Lee and initiatives such as First Nations Fashion + Design. The skyrocketing visibility within First Nations practices is partly due to the passionate vision of new enterprises and reinforced by the meaningful and covetable textile designs being produced by artists in Top End and remote art centres and collectives. In line with these developments and urgent sustainability concerns, the artisanal ethos is gaining agency.
New Exuberance celebrates the work of more than 30 textile creatives and includes 10 commissioned furniture pieces produced by designers associated with JamFactory to acknowledge the rich diversity of textile-based practices in contemporary art, design and fashion in this country now.
Image: WAH-WAH x Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, 2022, Australian merino wool as worn by Ramesh. Stylist Kirsty Barros. Photo Lexi Laphor. Courtesy of WAH-WAH Australia.
New Exuberance: contemporary Australian textile design is a JamFactory touring exhibition supported by the Visions of Australia touring program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to cultural material for all Australians.
TREVOR WEEKES: OPUS
12 APRIL – 25 MAY
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
Chronicling a journey and artistic life, Opus builds on Trevor Weekes’ commitment to artmaking over the past fifty years. Reflecting on the meaning of Opus as a large-scale creative work or musical composition, Weekes joins his parallel practices of art and music making in a final crescendo - in form of exhibition.
In Opus, Weekes presents the connection between the audible and the visual. The artist amasses musical instruments into a large sculptural piece, showing the potential potency of both sound and image.
Declared as the artist’s ‘final exhibition’, this body of works reflects a long artistic career,
embracing memories and moments, judgements and choices in an order which does not reflect chronology, but instead the journey of an artistic life.
Image: Trevor Weekes Around Cape Horn ink on satin paper 2024
SANDY SANDERSON: COMMUNIA OMNIA – THAT WHICH BELONGS TO ALL
26 APRIL - 1 JUNE
Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima
Attend the opening 12-2pm on Saturday 26 April
This artwork taps into the unseen forces that govern both the physical and metaphysical realms. It seeks to reveal the often overlooked but ever-present phenomena shaping our world, such as Earth’s magnetic field and the mathematical structures that dictate the flow and pattern of existence. These forces, invisible to the naked eye yet crucial to the integrity of the natural world, are central to Sandy Sanderson’s exploration of the interdependence between humanity and nature.
Image: Sandy Sanderson, Orchids, 2024
TRUTH TELL
31 MAY – 3 AUGUST
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
To understand the present, we must confront the past. Truth Tell delves into the learned narratives of early colonisation, and the deep impacts on Aboriginal people during this period. This powerful exhibition draws from the historical accounts of events during a time of dispossession of land and disruption to cultural practices and invites an exploration of the complexities of learned histories.
Drawing inspiration from First Nations perspectives, Penny Evans, Julie Gough, Shellie Smith, James Possum Tylor and Peta Clancy uncover and re-present conflicting histories, while paying homage to the ongoing resilience and strength of Aboriginal communities.
By acknowledging the ongoing effects of colonisation, this exhibition aims to inspire conversations that foster understanding, empathy, and collective responsibility.
YOUNG DOBELL
31 MAY – 3 AUGUST
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
Celebrate the start of the Dobell Festival with the opening of Young Dobell Sunday 1 June. Lake Macquarie City Council is inviting young artists aged 5–18 from the Hunter region to participate in the Young Dobell competition.
In its second year, the competition invites participants to create a portrait of a person or pet who plays a significant role in their life, or a landscape artwork of a place that is special to them; in homage to the favoured styles and subject matters of esteemed local artist Sir William Dobell. There are prizes to be won and finalists will be on display in an exhibition at MAC yapang.
ALLISON MOORE: FRESQUE GROTESQUE
6 JUNE - 10 AUGUST
Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima
Attend the opening 5-7pm Friday 6 June
Grotesque Fresco is a generative video work inspired by opera, mythology, and grotesque painting, a decorative art style from the Italian Renaissance era. The immense animated painting is a visual and digital ode to live arts, the visual composition suggests fragments of fantastic stories with a gallery of earthy characters interwoven with motifs of candelabra, foliage, flowers, insects, birds and flowers.
Combining various digital and cinematographic techniques, such as liveaction filming with costumed performers, 2D and 3D animation, and timelapse images of plants. All visual elements are composites in a digital environment with generative animation and custom programmed algorithms.
Image: Allison Moore, Homme vert (travail en cours), 2020
BILLY MISSI'N WAKAIN THAMAI
16 AUGUST – 12 OCTOBER
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
Billy Missi was born on Mabuiag Island in 1970. Informed by a childhood engaged with storytelling, song and dance traditions of the Wagedagam people, Missi's inherited creativity, combined with his passion and experience growing up with living customary practices, prepared him for his journey into art. Missi felt the impulse to create when he first encountered the works of contemporary Torres Strait Islander artists in 1992, but it was not until 1999 that he felt ready to devote himself to artistic pursuits fulltime. With only minimal formal training on Moa Island, he rapidly worked his way to the forefront of contemporary Zenadh-Kes (Western Torres Strait) printmaking. Missi skillfully combined traditional carving
techniques, iconography and his distinct fish-bone patterns with the contemporary medium of the linocut to forge a new aesthetic and print making movement in the 1990s alongside peers, an aesthetic firmly based on traditional Torres Strait Islander principles. Billy Missi gained international recognition prior to his passing in 2012.
Presented in partnership with Northsite Contemporary Arts touring through Museums and Galleries Queensland.
Image: Billy Missi’n Wakain Thamai installation at Northsite Contemporary Arts. Photo by Michael Marzik
TRICIA FLANAGAN: LANDRELATIONS
16 AUGUST – 12 OCTOBER
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
Using traditional and future crafting technology, international artist Tricia Flanagan creates sculptural organic environmental devices to reveal the intelligence of natural systems and promote ecologies of empathy.
TRICIA FLANAGAN: BRIGALOW BELT
16 AUGUST – 12 OCTOBER
Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima
Attend the opening 12-2pm Saturday 16 August
Be immersed in a journey across the Brigalow Belt from macro to micro scales, visualising alternative critical and speculative design futures for plant/human interaction.
The Brigalow Belt project, led by Tricia Flanagan, explores the ecologies of the Brigalow Belt bioregion—an essential vegetation corridor along Australia’s east coast critical for food production. By focusing on plant experiences and human-plant interactions, the project invites audiences to question humanity's relationship with non-human life forms.
Image: Tricia Flanagan, Brigalow Belt. Courtesy the artist.
MAC YAPANG ART PRIZE
18 OCTOBER – 7 DECEMBER
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
Opening and Award Announcement 6pm Friday 17 October
2025 marks the first year of the new MAC yapang Art Prize, a national biennial art prize with a total prize pool of over $40,000. The prize is open to artists, from all disciplines working across Australia, with artworks in any medium. From the finalist exhibition, a winning artwork will be selected for the $30,000 acquisitive prize and become part of the MAC yapang permanent collection.
Other prizes include:
• $5,000 yapang award for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists working in any medium
• $5,000 Lake Art Award, for residents of the Lake Macquarie local government area
Image: Lake Art Prize Opening December 2020
BONITA [EAGLEEYE] ELY
18 OCTOBER – 30 NOVEMBER
Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima
Attend the opening 12-2pm Saturday 18 October
MAP mima is thrilled to present Bonita [EagleEye] Ely, an innovative and immersive exhibition by renowned Australian artist Bonita Ely. Known for her pioneering work in environmental art and her deep engagement with social and ecological issues, Ely brings a unique perspective to the immersive 360-degree projection cube at MAP mima.
Image: Bonita Ely, Sight Cite Site, 2017
MAP MIMA SUMMER COMMISSION
• 6 DECEMBER 2025 – 22 FEBRUARY 2026
Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima
The MAP mima Summer Commission is awarded annually to an immersive projection artwork that engages with the MAP mima Cube and creates unique experiences for audiences.
The commission is designed to speak to and explore the lake, the community and MAP mima's location and history.
Previous Summer Commissions:
• Joshua Ingle, Roko, 2024
• Joel Zika, Valley of a Thousand Plants, 2023
• James Price, Wildlife 2022
The MAP mima Summer Commission is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW and Lake Macquarie City Council.
Image: Joel Zika, Valley of a Thousand Plants, 2023. Courtesy MAP mima
SETSUKO ISHII: SPINNING LIGHT
13 DECEMBER – 15 FEBRUARY 2026
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang
Spinning Light is the first exhibition in Australia by respected Japanese artist Setsuko Ishii, curated by MAC yapang from the artist's prolific body of work that spans 40 years.
Inspired by patterns of light and movement in nature, Ishii creates holographic images with layers of dynamic colour. Her installations engage audiences with visual and physical texture.
Image: Setsuko Ishii, Fragment Of Nature Grassland. Image courtesy of the artist
Regular Exhibitions
WESTY: WE BUILT THIS HISTORY
Sugar Valley Library Museum, kirantakamyari
10am–5pm Tuesday – Friday, 10am–2pm Saturday and Sunday
Developed in conjunction with the West Wallsend District Heritage Group, the exhibition presents the story of the region through enticing and immersive experiences and objects portraying the life and times of this unique township.
Learn about our rich Aboriginal history, and the people and groups that built the district’s communities. The exhibition is supported by a ‘virtual underground’, the Hunter’s first virtual reality experience of an underground coal mine, and a hands-on ‘Play Museum’.
A self-guided historical walking tour of West Wallsend is available at the library museum. Volunteer guided tours run twice weekly, 11am Wednesday and Saturday.
MAX DUPAIN: ART AND WAR
Rathmines Heritage Centre within the Rathmines Theatre
10am–2pm Saturday and Sunday
See World War II through an artist’s eyes. Max Dupain photographed RAAF Rathmines and the Australian experience of the WWII while serving as a camouflage officer. Discover Dupain’s little-known wartime work in this original Rathmines Heritage Centre exhibition.
LAUNCHPAD@ LAKE MAC LIBRARIES
10am–2pm Monday – Friday, 9am–12pm Saturday
Discover emerging and passionate local artists through Launchpad@Lake Mac Libraries, an exhibition program that invites exhibitions from community artists of all age ranges and levels of experience to exhibit across six of Lake Mac Libraries venues.
Events at the Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima
TWILIGHT FRIDAYS
CATAPULT: DUEL
18 OCTOBER 2024 - 11 APRIL 2025
31 OCTOBER 2025 - 10 APRIL 2026
Come on down to MAP mima as the sun sets for a fun evening, with a rotating calendar of events including Beats and Eats, Cinema in the Cube, performances, workshops and activities.
14-15 MARCH 2025
Be inspired by dance with a performance commissioned by Catapult.
UNFURL
29 MARCH 2025
Get involved and feel part of the action at Unfurl, a festival celebrating queer art and culture
SPICY BRAIN
4 APRIL 2025
Celebrate neurodiversity at this showcase event featuring dancing, singing and performances.
AUTUMN SERENADES WITH MOZART, HAYDN & FRIENDS
PRESS PLAY
27 APRIL 2025
Join an enchanting evening of chamber music by four of the Hunter Region's most acclaimed musicians, promising a performance of exquisite classical music that will transport you to the refined courts and salons of the 18th Century.
2-4 MAY 2025
The fun won’t stop, with a weekend dedicated to art for kids with workshops, disco, activities and more.
WHALE CHORUS
3 MAY 2025
A vibrant and engaging workshop activity for children.
EUROVISION
POST-MIX
PARTY
JAZZ AT MAP mima
ART CINEMA
18 MAY 2025
Listen, dance and sing along at this DJ Eurovision mix-tape session with songs from the 2025 competition.
8 AUGUST 2025
A night of jazz music in the unique 360-degree projection space.
12 SEPTEMBER 2025
A series of short art films screened in the MAP mima Cube.
MOB STARS
4 OCTOBER 2025
A dynamic event with Aboriginal performers.
DIGITALES: STORYTIME AND ART
10AM ON THE THIRD THURSDAY OF EACH MONTH
Image: James Price WildLife 2022. Courtesy MAP mima.
DOBELL FESTIVAL
1-30 JUNE
An annual month-long arts festival inspired by the life and work of esteemed artist Sir William Dobell. The festival includes a range of events around Lake Macquarie including workshops, presentations and exhibitions addressing various aspects of Dobell's life and work.
MEET THE MAKERS –ARTISAN FAIR
LAKE MAC OPEN STUDIOS
FREE EXHIBITION TOURS
ARTSSPACE
SUNDAY SESSIONS
ART STUDIO
10AM–4PM, 14 JUNE
Artists and makers from across Lake Macquarie will showcase and demonstrate their practice to the community at MAC yapang.
1-2 NOVEMBER 2025
Local artists open their studio doors to the general public, giving art lovers the opportunity to meet artists, learn about the creative process and experience a unique behind-the-scenes look.
FREE FAMILY ARTMAKING SESSIONS HELD MONTHLY ON SUNDAYS AT 10AM
FREE FAMILY ARTMAKING SESSIONS HELD MONTHLY ON SUNDAYS AT 10AM
MONTHLY BOOKABLE WORSHOPS INCLUDING AN ART MAKING ACTIVITY, CHEESE, WINE AND LIVE MUSIC
MONTHLY WORKSHOPS FOR TEENS HELD ON SATURDAYS AT 12PM
Membership
BECOME A LAKE MAC ARTS
MEMBER
Adult: $86/year
Concession: $77/year
Student: $53/year
*A small number of events may be excluded
Members enjoy free tickets, discounts, complimentary drinks and exclusive invitations to special events across our cultural venues.
Membership benefits:
Two complimentary tickets to use for any event in 2025*
10% discount on events and programs
10% discount at Harry and Lola’s café at MAP mima and Federici’s at MAC yapang
Free wine tasting and other special offers at Ernest Hill Wines
10% discount at shop MAC (5% discount on books)
A complimentary beverage at special events and 10% discount on drinks
Exclusive invitations to curator talks, exhibition openings and other special events
Member exhibition entry at the Art Gallery of New South Wales arts.lakemac.com.au/membership
Our Partners
Lake Mac Arts and its programs are supported by Lake Macquarie City Council and key funding partners. Lake Macquarie City Council is committed to the development of creative excellence.
Supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW
Lake Mac Arts is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
1A First Street, Booragul
9am–3pm Tuesday to Sunday
02 4921 0382
mac.lakemac.com.au @themacmuseum
96 Creek Reserve Rd, Speers Point
9am–2pm Friday – Sunday School holidays: 9am–2pm Wednesdays and Thursdays, Twilight Fridays: 9am-8pm throughout daylight saving
arts.lakemac.com.au @lakemacart
SUGAR VALLEY LIBRARY MUSEUM
156 Portland Drive, Cameron Park
10am–5pm Tuesday – Friday 10am–2pm Saturday – Sunday
02 4921 0111
library.lakemac.com.au @lakemaclibraries
25 Stilling Street, Rathmines
10am-2pm Saturday - Sunday
library.lakemac.com.au
yapang
Outside our exhibition spaces there are numerous ways to participate and create.
• Fab Lab
• Open Studios
• Explore commercial studios
• Creative Lake Trail
• Public art
• Make and Create Week
• Workshops and artist talks
Explore, discover, create at arts.lakemac.com.au
