MEGAN COPE: Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House
MEGAN COPE: Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House is a shell-ebration of art, culture, and oysters. Shuck, scrub and club with Newcastle Art Gallery at Honeysuckle Marina.
Welcome to Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House, a 10 day participatory project celebrating local oysters, community collaboration, and environmental stewardship. Internationally acclaimed Quandamooka artist Megan Cope makes living sculptures and public installations that draw on ancestral technologies, seek to heal saltwater environments, and share knowledge.
Ngumpi Kinyingarra means 'oyster house' in Cope's Jandai language. For New Annual, Newcastle Art Gallery will present the Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House, a temporary pavilion on the Honeysuckle Marina, to create a place for gathering and learning about the cultural significance of oysters and local histories of Newcastle.
Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House will host Megan Cope’s daily 'Scrub Club' from 10.00am - 5.00pm. Audiences are invited to roll up their sleeves, pick up a brush, to contribute oyster shells for Cope's future oyster reef art projects.
Across the 10 days of New Annual, Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House will also be activated by a dynamic program of talks, workshops, performances, and music. The program line up to feature local and national artists, oyster experts, knowledge holders, performers, musicians, writers and more. Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House hopes that by centring and honouring the oyster, we can transform our understanding of Country and reinvigorate our deep responsibilities to it.
Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House will be located at Honeysuckle Marina, corner of Workshop Way and Merewether Street, Newcastle.
Engage with the artist and discover our dynamic program of behind-the-scenes tours, conversation, celebrations and demonstrations.
Opening Celebration & In Conversation
Saturday 28 September, 10.00am - 11.30am
Join us for the launch celebrations and hear from internationally acclaimed Quandamooka artist Megan Cope as she discusses the project and her practice informed by more than six years of research. This event will be Auslan-interpreted courtesy of Deaf Connect.
Behind the Scenes: Designing an Oyster House
Sunday 29 September, 10.00am - 11.00am
Hear from University of Newcastle’s School of Architecture and Design students and lecturers about the architectural design of the Oyster House.
Closing Celebration
Sunday 6 October, 10.00am - 5.00pm
Join us for a celebration of culture, kinship and connection as MEGAN COPE: Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House draws to a close. Wrap up with hands-on workshops, yarning, performances and music on our final day at Honeysuckle Marina.
Language | Monday 30 Sept, 10:30 -12pm & 1pm - 2:30pm
Weaving & Tool Making | Tuesday 01 Oct, 10am - 12pm & 1pm - 3pm (Afternoon session will be Auslan Interpreted)
Bush Tucker & Medicine | Wednesday 02 Oct, 11am - 2pm
Weaving & Tool Making | Thursday 03 Oct, 10am - 12pm & 1pm - 3pm
Language | Friday 04 Oct, 10.30am - 12pm & 1pm - 2:30pm
Bush Tucker & Medicine | Sunday 06 Oct, 10am-12pm
More details here.
Find out more about the range of events on offer at Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House during New Annual, including Friday Night Sounds, The Shuck Off, Talks & Ideas, and Waterfront Poetry Salon.
Presented by Newcastle Art Gallery and New Annual.
Project supporters include University of Newcastle, the NSW Government through Create NSW, and Thermidor.
The pavilion for Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House has been designed by students at the University of Newcastle School of Architecture and Built Environment facilitated by Associate Professor Sam Spurr and Senior Lecturer Anna Tweeddale: Alistair Eglington, Chalyse Fowler, Ivie Wong Hueyyi, Joshua Medbury, Keiran Buckley, Peter Ellis, Rachel Florey, Tahlia Phillips, Tom Licata.
Megan Cope is represented by Milani Gallery, Meeanjin/Brisbane.
Image: Megan Cope Artwork Development for Sydney Opera House, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Meeanjin/Brisbane. Photographer: Zan Wimberley
