Located on Darkinjung Country on the NSW Central Coast, Gosford Regional Gallery has supported contemporary visual art for 25 years. Next week sees the opening of a brand new space dedicated to screen-based work: the new Moving Image Gallery (MIG).
The MIG is “the first major physical change to the building” since Gosford Regional Gallery opened its doors 25 years ago, explains Gallery Director Tim Braham. It was created in response to both evolving art practices and as a result of community consultation held in the lead-up to Gosford Regional Gallery’s 25th anniversary.
The MIG was constructed by “reconfiguring our foyer to create this new space, which features two dedicated screens, as well as the potential for additional digital screens and other moving image apparatus as needed,” Braham adds.
Created for just over $300,000 and fully Council funded, the MIG reflects today’s creative landscape and tomorrow’s artistic possibilities.
“We’ve always supported and had a lot of moving image art in our program, including the recent William Kentridge eight-channel installation and Atong Atem’s Banksia, now we have this new gallery dedicated – from an infrastructure perspective – to the moving image,” Braham tells ArtsHub.
The MIG’s opening exhibition on 27 June is a new work by Melbourne-based artist and senior lecturer at RMIT, John Power, titled Wander and Dwell.
“John has sampled the topography and climatic inputs for the Central Coast and created this landscape piece that takes real time data from the Bureau of Meteorology and other sites to input time and weather into this generative landscape. So, unlike video or a film, it never repeats – it’s constantly on the move as it takes you on a journey through a real and imagined Central Coast,” Braham says.
The next artwork displayed in the MIG will be Todd Fuller’s Dear Christians, centred on the life and work of Reverend Rod Bower – formerly of Gosford Anglican Church and internationally famous for his signs, which bore such messages as: ‘Dear Christians, some ppl are gay. Get over it. Love God.’
“He’s moved to another parish in Newcastle now, but he and his signs were a local institution here in Gosford and so we’ve commissioned Todd – who was previously a winner of our biennial, $5000 Emerging Artist’s Prize, which we’re also launching next week – to do an animated piece about Father Bower and particularly the way his messages have influenced Todd.”
Significantly, the MIG also allows the Gallery to extend its commitment to the moving image by establishing a new category in the long-running Gosford Art Prize.
“We have had some projections in the Art Prize in the past … this year it’s a dedicated section, and it’s a $10,000 award specifically for moving image art, which is a really exciting opportunity for artists. And the Gosford Art Prize itself has also gone through a big transformation this year for our 25th anniversary… First prize is now $25,000 with three additional $10,000 prizes for the Ceramics Award, a First Nations Award and now the new Moving Image Award – which is a big step for us.”
Braham hopes the combination of the new Moving Image Gallery and the dedicated Moving Image Award will make the Gosford Art Prize even more attractive to artists across Australia.
“The national interest is already growing accordingly and while we have had some projected works in the Art Prize in past years, there’s always been a tension in something like the Gosford Art Prize as it’s very difficult to project a work in among other works, just from a light and sound perspective,” he says.
“So, while it’s always been a part of the prize, the new dedicated section and $10,000 award elevates this contemporary practice to a new level of importance in which the Gallery is proud to be a part of the national conversation.”
Learn more about Gosford Regional Gallery. The Moving Image Gallery and its inaugural exhibition Wander and Dwell open on 27 June, the same night the winners of the Gallery’s Emerging prize will be announced.
The EOI process for new MIG exhibitions will open in November 2025 for the 2027 program, with professional development workshops hosted by the Gosford Regional Gallery team, for artists seeking to learn more about moving image artworks, taking place in August.
