The Lock-Up
Public art gallery in Newcastle, Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lock-Up is a public art gallery in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The gallery is located in a former police station and holding cells, which is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register.
The Lock-Up in 2024 | |
 | |
| Established | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Location | 90 Hunter St, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia |
| Coordinates | 32°55′39″S 151°47′02″E |
| Type | Art gallery |
| Director | Alexandra Pedley[1] |
| Website | thelockup |
History
From 1861 until 1982, the building used for The Lock-Up operated as a police station and holding cells for short-term prisoners. After the police station closed, the site became the Hunter Heritage Centre in 1988, which included a museum and an art gallery. The space was re-launched as The Lock-Up in September 2014, as a dedicated multidisciplinary contemporary art gallery.[2]
The building is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register.[3][4]
Description and governance
The exhibition spaces include several cells, a padded cell, an indoor exercise yard for prisoners, and a considerable amount of graffiti created by prisoners, all of which have been maintained in their original form following its conversion into an art gallery.[3][5]
The Lock-Up is a not-for-profit independent gallery.[6] The gallery receives around $150,000 funding a year from Create NSW, and receives additional support from a patrons program. In 2023, they received a $400,000 grant from Creative Australia, with funds to be provided over four years beginning in 2025.[7] Funds are also raised via an annual exhibition titled Collect.[6][8]
Exhibitions and programs
The gallery typically runs about six or seven shows a year, usually with original installations,[7] and also supports an artist-in-residence program.[7][5] Art at the gallery has often been social and criminal justice themed, including on issues such as the climate crisis[9] and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.[10]
Performative exhibitions have featured at the gallery,[4][11] including one which incorporated the original graffiti by exploring the characters of "Sue and Dyan", whose names are carved into the walls of one of the cells.[12]
Their 2018 exhibition, justiceINjustice, a collaboration between artists and lawyers which focused on miscarriage of justice,[5][13] won an IMAGinE award from the Museums and Galleries of NSW. Then director Jessi England also received the IMAGinE award for best director that same year.[14][15]
Notable artists exhibited at The Lock-Up include Blak Douglas,[13] and Khaled Sabsabi, who was artist-in-residence and displayed work at the gallery from September to November 2024.[16]