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1/7 EXHIBITIONS WHAT'S ON Past Current Past Future Future SUBSCRIBE BECOME A MEMBER DONATE VOLUNTEER FOLLOW US Based in Darwin on Larrakia Country, the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art (NCCA) is an independent arts organisation that connects audiences with NT, national and international artists through contemporary art exhibitions and programs. NCCA is a forum for ideas and critical engagement with social, aesthetic and conceptual concerns relevant to Northern Australia and Asia. read more... VISIT US Vimy Lane, Parap, NT 0820, Australia Wednesday - Friday: 10am - 4pm Saturday: 8am - 2pm FREE ENTRY, ALL WELCOME, ALWAYS How to get here CONTACT US info@nccart.com.au (08) 8981 5368 Contact CONTACT

CURRENT Current Pasar Malam | Night Market Future Current 2024 2023 2021 2020 2017 2016 2014 2013 FUTURE Future MARKED: Tracing Modern Murals and Graffiti Culture in the Northern Territory PAST 2024 2025 Queer Territory Jenna Mayilema Lee: Of Smoke and Rain Bill Davies The Darwin Years Sanctuary Summit subterra: the NCCA Members Exhibition 2025 2024 From Rubble to Resistance: the 2024 Members Exhibition Cleverman Andrew Belletty: Noctambulation Taripang / Dharripa / Trepang Violet Bond: Bodies of Water 2023 2023 Annual Members' Show 2023 Unbordering Worlds: New Narratives for Northern Kosovo Alana Hunt: Surveilling a Crime Scene Dawn Beasley: Botanically Porcelain Blak Power: 50 Years of First Nations Superheroes in Australian Art James Drinkwater: P A S S A G E 2022 Annual Members' Exhibition: 24Hr Art Franca Barraclough: The Visitors Retribution: What Happens Next? Can You Hear My Voice? Timo Hogan Nigel Sense: Visitor Centre Manifesta 14 2021 2021 Lapsed, Missing & Working Sculptors Remake, Rework & Recycle Murrŋiny: a story of metal from the east Do I Seduce You Lapsed, Missing & Working Sculptors We Eat We Are 2020 2020 Off The Walls 2020 Vision - Annual Members' Exhibition ‘Welcome to Uluru’ ArtBack - Groundswell Escape the News priNT 2020 2019 2018 2017 2017 Tonality In Time & Space Punuku Tjukurpa Present Tense – Tennant Creek Mens’ Centre Art Tennant Creek Mens’ Centre Art Katherine Bradley Open Cut Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award 2016 2016 Spent It Artmart 2016Artmart 2016 Chronic Manageable Conditions CANZONE The Most Stolen Race on Earth Patience The Other The Bathroom Series The Geography of Here and There The Ochre Cloak Inheritance Seven Sisters …as the Serpent Struggles Patience 'We Eat We Are' Spectrum COnCREtE PROOF Domestic Bliss MouthfeelMouthfeelMouthfeel Machinations priNT FLEDGLING Bungaree’s Farm Cut Colony 2015 2014 2014 UNDER MY SKIN Grain & Gold Come Closer Away Arnhem H-way Cruise Control: Indonesian – Top End Artists’ Camp exhibition The comforting promise home Continuum (Part I and Part II) New sponsorship for NCCA The Pixels + Fibre Project Two Room One Between the sky and the ground 2013 2013 Skin Subaqueous Knit Travel Between Thresholds Once Upon a Toy Town Water for Object Past Perfect Future Continuous Wasted and Marginalized Groggy To Tell Another Story Swells of Enchantment Window Shopping Psychic Hairdo

Item List Balance Read More 'We Eat We Are' Read More 1 Million Years Read More 1 Million Years Read More 2020 Vision - Annual Members' Exhibition Read More Alana Hunt: Surveilling a Crime Scene Read More Andrew Belletty: Noctambulation Read More Annual Members' Exhibition: 24Hr Art Read More Annual Members' Show 2023 Read More Annual Members’ Show Read More Annual Members’ Show Read More Arnhem H-way Read More

Future 2023 Current 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 CURRENT Current Pasar Malam | Night Market FUTURE Future MARKED: Tracing Modern Murals and Graffiti Culture in the Northern Territory PAST 2023 2023 Annual Members' Show 2023 Unbordering Worlds: New Narratives for Northern Kosovo Alana Hunt: Surveilling a Crime Scene Dawn Beasley: Botanically Porcelain Blak Power: 50 Years of First Nations Superheroes in Australian Art James Drinkwater: P A S S A G E 2022 2022 Annual Members' Exhibition: 24Hr Art Franca Barraclough: The Visitors Retribution: What Happens Next? Can You Hear My Voice? Timo Hogan Nigel Sense: Visitor Centre Manifesta 14 2021 2021 Do I Seduce You Murrŋiny: a story of metal from the east Remake, Rework & Recycle We Eat We Are Lapsed, Missing & Working Sculptors 2020 2020 ArtBack - Groundswell ‘Welcome to Uluru’ 2020 Vision - Annual Members' Exhibition Off The Walls priNT 2020 Escape the News 2019 2019 Jimmy Bamble 2018 2018 Fecund 2017 2017 Open Cut Katherine Bradley Tennant Creek Mens’ Centre Art Present Tense – Tennant Creek Mens’ Centre Art Punuku Tjukurpa Tonality In Time & Space Portrait of a Senior Territorian Art Award 2016 2016 The Other Patience The Most Stolen Race on Earth CANZONE Chronic Manageable Conditions Artmart 2016Artmart 2016 Spent It Cut Colony Bungaree’s Farm FLEDGLING priNT Machinations MouthfeelMouthfeelMouthfeel Domestic Bliss PROOF COnCREtE Spectrum 'We Eat We Are' Patience …as the Serpent Struggles Seven Sisters Inheritance The Ochre Cloak The Geography of Here and There The Bathroom Series 2015 2015 2014 2014 UNDER MY SKIN Grain & Gold Come Closer Away Arnhem H-way Cruise Control: Indonesian – Top End Artists’ Camp exhibition The comforting promise home Continuum (Part I and Part II) New sponsorship for NCCA The Pixels + Fibre Project Two Room One Between the sky and the ground 2013 2013 Skin Subaqueous Knit Travel Between Thresholds Once Upon a Toy Town Water for Object Past Perfect Future Continuous Wasted and Marginalized Groggy To Tell Another Story Swells of Enchantment Window Shopping Psychic Hairdo

subterra: the NCCA Members Exhibition 2025 28 November - 20 December 2025 subterra what lies beneath We invite NCCA Member Artists to respond to this theme in any way they wish. It can be literal or physical, about a place, or an emotion. It could be what lies beneath a decision, a way of thinking, a framework of society. It could be what triggers certain responses or reactions and makes one feel the way one does. What lies beneath the earth’s crust, the waves, the places we cannot see? Why do any of these things matter? Why do they matter to you? KEY DATES: - Entries Close: By Monday 17 November 2025, 5pm - Launch Party: Thursday 27 November, 6pm - Exhibition Dates: 28 November – 20 December 2025 - Closing Party & Prizes: Saturday 20 December, 12pm PRIZES: Prizes this year are sponsored by Chapman & Bailey. First prize will be awarded by a judging panel and the People's Choice Award will recieve a voucher for Champan & Bailey. The judging panel for the main prizes will assess three criteria: - How well the entry responds to the theme. - Quality of artistic merit. This includes skill, techniques used and composition. - Level of innovation, ambition, experimentation or risk-taking. The panel of judges will be made public after the judging has been finalised. ___________________________ Subterra: a brief genealogy of narcissistic western thought Matthew van Roden A meteorite is a classic example of an extraterrestrial. Extra, in the sense of being outside, in addition, or beyond the scope of the usual or expected. Terrestrial comes from terra, that is, here, planet earth, our home as earthlings. What the ‘extra’ of extraterrestrial means, has never been universally held. It has and will no doubt continue to change as our being terrestrials–that is, earthlings by definition created and sustained by this earth–likewise changes. For example, Aristotle held the view that terra consisted of four elements: earth, water, air, and fire; elements in motion and subject to change. Beyond these were the celestial realm of the planets and of the stars, a realm of clear, consistent, unchanging aether. Within this worldview, earth, or, terra, is the centre of a concentric universe, albeit sublunary–that is, below the moon. And what lunatics we have been across the ages: tidal, cyclic, tempestuous, moved by deeper forces beneath the surface of our subjectivities, which sparkle on the oceans of our lives, like aftereffects of the setting sun over calmer seas. Copernicus puts the centrality of terra to bed with his 1543 publication De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (Kopernikus et al., 1992), shattering the long-held belief of a human-centred, concentric universe, placing us in flying orbit around the sun, on a now eccentric, not concentric, planet. No longer the planetary centre of our solar system, were we content to be, at least separate to nature, human terrestrials as the centre of creation? Darwin’s 1859 publication, On the Origin of Species ( Darwin & Bynum, 2009), dissolved any such illusion, placing us thoroughly within the experimental, emergent mesh and fortune of evolutionary processes. Now even the human is eccentric, in terra. Freud pushed the dial even further in 1899 with his Interpretation of dreams (Freud & Strachey, 1998), articulating a split between the realms of conscious and unconscious being; rendering human terrestrials not even the centre of ourselves. This seemingly essential eccentricity of the subject is even further radicalised by Deleuze and Guattari in their landmark 1972 publication Anti-Oedipus: capitalism and schizophrenia (Deleuze & Guattari, 1983), where the subject is displaced from its persistence in space and time; understood as a surplus residue of intensities—an after effect of desiring production—more sequential than durable. If we are beside ourselves, outside ourselves, eccentric in nature, on an eccentric terra. What lies beneath? Helium, as a matter of fact, was discovered on the sun before being found here on earth, through practices of spectroscopic celestial aura-gazing, which further confirmed the presence of elements such as Iron, calcium, sodium, and hydrogen in the celestial spheres (Nath, 2013; Schellen, 1872). Confirming, also, the sentiments of the Lord's Prayer, “On earth as it is in heaven” , or the much more ancient, “As above, so below.” So much for aether. If our meteorites are made of the same stuff of earth. If the most extraterrestrial visitors speak with the same subterranean, elemental tongue. Then what does lie beneath? Are we, on the surface, even as the surface, somehow between it? Donna Haraway invites us to embrace our eccentricity, to bring our decentred selves and situatedness to the new, old country which she calls, Terrapolis, and I quote, "not the home world for the human as Homo, that ever parabolic, re- and de-tumescing, phallic self-image of the same; but for the human that is transmogrified... into guman that worker of and in the soil” (Haraway, 2016, p. 11) In other words, we’ve got to get our hands dirty, gotta get our shit together. This again from Haraway, “Trouble is an interesting word. It derives from a thirteenth-century French verb meaning “to stir up,” “to make cloudy,” “to disturb.” We—all of us on Terra—live in disturbing times, mixed-up times, troubling and turbid times. The task is to become capable, with each other in all of our bumptious kinds, of response” (p. 1) And that brings us here, to Larakia Country, to Vimy Lane, to the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art. To the 2025 Member’s Show, Subterra . To the bumptious kinds of responses that this key organisation supports–through, in spite of, and precisely because of these troubling times. In the way it has held and continues to hold artists, ideas, communities and their discourses. So thank you all for supporting it. If you are not already, become a member. And if you bump into any one of the more than 60 extraordinary artists who have generously offered the fruits of their creative labour for your consideration and edification this evening. Ask them about their work, about their relation to the surface, the subterra that stirs their studios, and the ideas that get under their skin. Most importantly, enjoy the show. ______________________________________ 1 “From Proto-Germanic and Old English, guman later became human, but both come soiled with the earth and its critters, rich in humus, humaine, earthly beings as opposed to the gods” (Haraway, 2016, p. 169) Darwin, C., & Bynum, W. (2009). On the origin of species: By means of natural selection or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life . Penguin. Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1983). Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and schizophrenia . University of Minnesota Press. Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (1998). The interpretation of dreams ([3rd English ed.; rev.]). Avon. Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene . Duke University Press. Kopernikus, N., Kopernikus, N., & Kopernikus, N. (1992). On the revolutions (E. Rosen, Ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. Nath, B. (2013). The story of helium and the birth of astrophysics . Springer. Schellen, H. (1872). Spectrum Analysis in its Application to Terrestrial Substances, and the Physical Constitution of the Heavenly Bodies . Longmans, Green, & Co. https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/2z10wr268 ___________________________________________________________ JUDGING PANEL: Kate Fell Kate Fell is the Artistic Director of Darwin Festival. Kate has over 25 years experience in the arts as a CEO, Creative Director, Program Director and Executive Producer in various venues, festivals and companies, including Brisbane Festival, Circa, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, and Youth Arts Queensland. She was a Creative Director of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games cultural festival in 2018. Emily Collins Emily Collins is the Curator of Southeast Asian Art and Material Culture at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Before joining MAGNT she worked as an independent curator in South Australia, implementing curatorial and collection projects on Australian art for various institutions and the Arts in Health sector. Franck Gohier Franck Gohier is a long-standing Darwin artist whose painting, sculpture and printmaking draw on the Territory’s people, politics and history. Active since 1987, his work appears in major national collections. In 2018 MAGNT presented a major retrospective celebrating his significant contribution to Northern Territory art and culture. 1/0

MARKED: Tracing Modern Murals and Graffiti Culture in the Northern Territory 1 May - 11 July This exhibition offers a snapshot of the marks people leave on surfaces across the Northern Territory. Some are commercial, some are graffiti, and some are simply ways of sending messages. At their core, murals, graffiti, scrawls, and even signs all share the same purpose: they are forms of communication. Whether it’s a quick tag on a pole or a large‑scale mural on a wall, each mark says something about the people and places that made it. Guest Curator: Dave Collins and Shay Jayawardena 1/0

Cleverman 24 February - 27 April 2024 a superhero for the past, present and future ‘Cleverman: a superhero for the past, present and future’ celebrates the groundbreaking comic and critically acclaimed Indigenous TV series. Brought to the Northern Territory from the Australian Centre for Moving Image (ACMI), the exhibition explores First Nations storytelling, language and creativity, presenting the audience with props, costumes, production design and audio-visual installations. Audiences are invited to listen first and immerse themselves in this powerful contemporary expression of The Dreaming. Cleverman stormed onto ABC TV in 2016 as a dystopian sci-fi with a difference. With a predominantly Indigenous cast and senior crew, the series takes a selection of well-known Aboriginal origin stories and recasts them in a contemporary context, exploring themes of class, racism and power. Including interviews with the cast and crew, and original artwork from the comic book series, the exhibition experience maps the making of the television series from Aboriginal Dreaming and mythology, to contemporary moving image. This exhibition was produced by ACMI and ACMI’s First Nations curator Kathrine Clarke (a proud Wotjobaluk woman from the Wimmera) and co-curated by Cleverman concept creator Ryan Griffen and Cleverman production designer Jacob Nash. ACMI’s Cleverman exhibition was conceived and developed in close consultation with a multi-disciplinary Indigenous Advisory Group. This exhibition is ACMi’s first in the Territory, and is proudly supported by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program. Curator Kat Clarke 1/0

NCCA EOI Support Material

VISIT US Vimy Lane, Parap, NT 0820, Australia Wednesday - Friday: 10am - 4pm Saturday: 8am - 2pm FREE ENTRY, ALL WELCOME, ALWAYS Gallery CONTACT PO Box 82, Parap info@nccart.com.au (08) 8981 5368 contact contact Access

Travel Between Thresholds Beastliness witnesses horizonless, post-species-specific possibilities, as we tango into the far-fetched future, propelled by unchecked hungers. Human physicality is entirely transformed by the technologies of everyday life. Miraculous conceptions are ordinary, death is deferred, biology is no longer destiny. Gender imperatives mate, proliferate and mutate. Beastliness invokes prancing, preening, coupling metaphor, sutured with history, folklore, mythos, queered archetype. Insult tangled with endearment acquires infinite appetite. Beastliness synthesises traditional handmade photomontage with digital animation into a dalliance with predatory, reckless sirens. Boxset Hey Hetero! is a public art collaboration between artist Deborah Kelly and photographer Tina Fiveash. The project’s six pieces have been seen in illuminated public advertising spaces, city billboards, magazines, books, newspapers, bus ads, postcards, galleries, and online. Hey Hetero! has appeared in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, New Delhi and Wellington since 2001, when it won the major award of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival. It headlined the Glasgay festival, Glasgow, in 2006, and in 2011 appeared on 1,500 posters around Claremont, California. In 2013 it will be seen in advertising spaces across Skopje, in Macedonian. Hey Hetero! returns the gaze at heterosexuality: the privileged sexuality which makes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender movements both possible and necessary. In the form of simulated mainstream advertisements, the work invites heterosexuality into public discourse. Note: No heterosexuals were harmed in the creation of this artwork. 1/0

Arnhem H-way Arnhem H-way is the outcome of a recent residency at Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) where Betheras chanced upon a roadworks crew. Working with the roadcrew’s offcuts – sheets of oil-based paper laden with tar and bitumen – Betheras began to assemble the offcuts in various combinations. Part readymade, these works represent a signifcant experimental departure for the artist better known for his high-key figurative and semi-abstract paintings. Some works bear more of the artist’s painted mark than others while the raw expression inherent in the overall project conjures names like Anselm Kiefer, a conscious influence for the artist who was surprised to discover that Kiefer too had visited Gunbalanya (in the 1990s). Melbourne-based Betheras began his artistic career as a street/graffiti artist before moving into a career as an AFL footballer for Collingwood. He maintains his connection to football and has run various football academies in Aboriginal communities within the NT. ‘The football connection allows me to enter places’, writes Betheras, ‘and from that I am able to produce artwork specific to those places and to the experience of being there’. The ‘higher states of consciousness and physicial application needed to perform at the highest levels of sport’, according to the artist, are also manifest in his artistic process as a painter. 1/0