Calendar of Events

The old Darlinghurst gaol is one of Australia’s oldest and best preserved examples of colonial sandstone architecture, which over the last two centuries has transformed from a place of abject misery to one of Australia’s premier arts institutes. According to legend, the building is haunted by the restless ghosts of some of the 76 people who were executed at the gaol’s gallows.

Join us for a lively historical tour, shedding light on the fascinating history of the site and exposing the dark, hidden corners which aren’t usually open for public access.  Scroll down to choose a date and book tickets.

Led by an expert historical guide, the tour takes approximately one hour and includes the historic Cell Block Theatre, the Chapel, the old Governor’s residence, the morgue, the flogging wall, the tunnel which was used to process and delouse prisoners and the site of the former gallows.

After the tour, guests will have an opportunity to enjoy the site.

Tours depart from the Forbes Street Entrance.

The old Darlinghurst gaol is one of Australia’s oldest and best preserved examples of colonial sandstone architecture, which over the last two centuries has transformed from a place of abject misery to one of Australia’s premier arts institutes. According to legend, the building is haunted by the restless ghosts of some of the 76 people who were executed at the gaol’s gallows.

Join us for a lively historical tour, shedding light on the fascinating history of the site and exposing the dark, hidden corners which aren’t usually open for public access.  Scroll down to choose a date and book tickets.

Led by an expert historical guide, the tour takes approximately one hour and includes the historic Cell Block Theatre, the Chapel, the old Governor’s residence, the morgue, the flogging wall, the tunnel which was used to process and delouse prisoners and the site of the former gallows.

After the tour, guests will have an opportunity to enjoy the site.

Tours depart from the Forbes Street Entrance.

The old Darlinghurst gaol is one of Australia’s oldest and best preserved examples of colonial sandstone architecture, which over the last two centuries has transformed from a place of abject misery to one of Australia’s premier arts institutes. According to legend, the building is haunted by the restless ghosts of some of the 76 people who were executed at the gaol’s gallows.

Join us for a lively historical tour, shedding light on the fascinating history of the site and exposing the dark, hidden corners which aren’t usually open for public access.  Scroll down to choose a date and book tickets.

Led by an expert historical guide, the tour takes approximately one hour and includes the historic Cell Block Theatre, the Chapel, the old Governor’s residence, the morgue, the flogging wall, the tunnel which was used to process and delouse prisoners and the site of the former gallows.

After the tour, guests will have an opportunity to enjoy the site.

Tours depart from the Forbes Street Entrance.

Tuesday 9 July, 12.45–1.30pm, NAS Gallery

Dr Jaime Tsai is the curator of the exhibition CAUGHT STEALING, currently showing in the NAS Gallery. This is an exhibition by contemporary Australian artists who mobilise theft as an artistic strategy in their work. A century after the first Dada photomontages, misappropriation continues in the diverse practices of artists demanding social justice, revisions of history, and ecological awareness. Motifs of piracy also signify resistance to the corporate control of the cultural sphere, as well as colonisation and its legacy in Australia.

Image: Marian Tubbs, Contemporary Monsters (redux), 2016-2019 (still, detail), digital video, steel, oil on carpet, hard drive cases, studio objects, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and STATION Gallery, Melbourne.

Thursday 11 July, 12.45–1.30pm, NAS Gallery
DR HARLEY IVES and PHILJAMES

Dr Harley Ives and Philjames are both exhibiting artists in CAUGHT STEALING showing in the NAS Gallery.

Harley is a video artist and is represented by Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney. His recent group exhibitions include An Empire of Things at Grace Cossington Smith Gallery, Contagious Magic, Galerie Pompom, Sydney and Tele Visions, RMIT, Melbourne. He had four solo exhibitions at Chalk Horse Gallery including Suspended Cloud, 2018. He lectures in Screen Arts at Sydney College of the Arts and Digital Media at National Art School. In 2018 he completed a Fine Arts PhD titled ‘The Material Qualities of the Moving Image and the Painterly Gesture.’

Philjames’ work draws heavily from the cannon of Euro-centric art history and Absurdist philosophy. In reimagining and re-presenting historical painting and sculptural forms, he generates a sense of both the familiar and the uncomfortable through the displacement of notions of time, place and history combined with seemingly seamless interweaving of somewhat obscure pop cultural references. He has been a finalist in The Sulman Prize, The Blake Prize, The Dobell Prize, The Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship and has exhibited extensively locally and internationally.

Image: Harley Ives Van Damme, 2019, Moving image with sound. approx.  3min seamless loop. Courtesy the artist and ChalkHorse Gallery, Sydney

Saturday 13 July, 2–3pm, NAS Gallery
Dr Molly Duggins and Dr Priya Vaughan

In conjunction with NAIDOC week, join Dr Molly Duggins and Dr Priya Vaughan for a postcolonial revisionist romp through the NAS Gallery exhibition, CAUGHT STEALING.

We’ll interrogate Australia’s colonial past and it’s impact on actions and activities in the present with reference to Daniel Boyd, Destiny Deacon, Joan Ross and Fiona Hall.

Image: Daniel Boyd, Untitled, 2013, oil and archival glue on polyester. Collection of ARTAND Foundation, Sydney.