Left: baal ga, 2026. Pierra Van Sparkes. Centre: Blaktasia Montage, 2026. Blaktasia. Right: i tried to mediate but it was hard, 2026. Vicente Barriga.
We’re excited to present a stellar program of Winter Night Screens 2026!
Plus we’re teaming up again with our neighbours and partners Next Wave, Michelle Guglielmo Park (260 Sydney Road) and Counihan Gallery to bring you Around the Block - a series of winter outdoor screenings, artist talks and walking tours.
This year, we’re expanding our unique six-week screening series, not only transforming our main glass entrance into a circular portal, but also extending across the Balam Balam Place grounds with large-scale projections on the House façade, with artist works changing every two weeks - creating a platform for storytelling and experimentation.
///\\\///\\\///\\\
OPENING EVENT: THURSDAY 9 JULY, 6PM
Join us outside the gallery to celebrate the opening of Around the Block. The evening will begin with a Welcome to Country by Thane Garvey, followed by an artist-led walk and talk across all screening sites. Enjoy mulled wine and gather around the fire pit as we keep warm and celebrate together.
Featuring works by Blaktasia Projection Collective at Blak Dot, Astrid Mulder and Charlie Lee at Next Wave, Andrea Draper at Counihan Gallery, and Badra Aji at Michelle Guglielmo Park.
///\\\///\\\///\\\
SCREENING PERIOD: July 9 - August 16, 2026
SCREEN TIMES: Evenings (Dusk - Dawn)
ABOUT THE artists:
Artist group #1
Blaktasia through the Blak Lens, 2026
Blaktasia Projection Collective
Blak Dot Gallery entrance
9 – 18 July
Evenings (Dusk - Dawn)
Peer through the Blak lens and into the magical world of Blaktasia.
Step into the Blaktasia Universe, an exciting new world imagined through our eyes and inspired by Country.
///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\
Blaktasia Universe Montage, 2026
Blaktasia Projection Collective
House façade
9 – 18 July
Evenings (Dusk - Dawn)
Come and check out the art from one of Australia’s deadliest Aboriginal projects, Blaktasia.
We’ll be sharing work-in-progress, behind-the-scenes videos and the latest videos and artworks from the Blaktasia Universe. Watch Merri-bek light up with the magical stories, colours and characters of this expanding First Nations fantasy world. Meet the deadly crew of Land Defenders protecting Country, alongside cute animals, native plants and colourful cartoon worlds that show Country through a contemporary Blak lens.
Yeehaw you Mob!
About GUCK and Blaktasia
Blaktasia® video game and the Blaktasia Universe are created and led by a team of First Nations artists, musicians, designers and creative technologists working at GUCK.
In Blaktasia®, players restore the bush, encounter animals, unlock minigames and take on the corrupting force of the Murk within a First Nations fantasy world informed by Country.
As the project has grown, Blaktasia has become a distinctive, ambitious and multidisciplinary creative work. We refer to this expanding body of work as the Blaktasia Universe. It spans visual art, music, digital interaction, dance, video, sculpture, fashion and textiles, storytelling, installation and live experience.
After many years of deep investment in artistic and professional development, Cultural protocol development, research, pre-production, community collaboration and consultation, the team at GUCK is excited to share more of the Blaktasia Universe with First Nations audiences.
The Blaktasia Projection Collective is a group of artists from the Blaktasia team at GUCK who specialise in projection & installation work.
The collective consists of:
Elijah McDonald - Noongar | Yamatji | Pitta Pitta
Charlotte Allingham - Wiradjuri, Ngiyampaa Pilaarrkiyalu
Rosie Kalina - Wemba Wemba & Gunditjmara
Sasipim Srisunakhrua
Kati Elizabeth
To see the full Blaktasia team, check out their website here.
Artist group #2
i tried to meditate but it was hard, 2026
Vicente Barriga
Blak Dot Gallery entrance
23 July – 6 August
Evenings (Dusk - Dawn)
i tried to meditate but it was hard (2026) follows the artist on a one-way journey that rewrites the story of Odysseus. No return, only departure. Beginning in a small coastal village in the Cordillera de la Costa, South America, the piece drifts through Berlin, the Baltic Sea, Venice, and finally the forests of Victoria, Australia, 11,000 kilometers from where it started.
Shot on a digicam, the footage collapses these landscapes into a collage of light, clouds, and water. Drawing loosely on Spinoza, the work sits with a question it refuses to resolve: why are images of light and sky so readily mapped onto the idea of God?
Running beneath it all is the voice of Teresita Muñoz, a potter from the artist's hometown whose ceramic practice had pre-Hispanic origins. Recovered from an old interview, her voice follows the artist across the journey, connecting him to his ancestors. A meditation on immanence, belonging, and what a body can hold.
Edited by Lautaro Barriga. Music and sound design by Javier Vargas.
About Vicente Barriga
Vicente Barriga (b. 1997, Chile) is a curator, poet, cultural anthropologist, and multidisciplinary artist, and co-director of Videoclub, an independent platform for experimental video art from the Global South and its diasporas. His artistic practice revolves around territory, spirituality, sound, and moving image — primarily through video collage.
As a curator, he has organized screenings in Berlin, New York, Zürich, Cape Town, and Tokyo, with a focus on sonic materiality, critical intangible cultural heritage, and moving image practices from elsewhere — including the internet as a decentered site of memory. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in World Heritage Studies, Cultural Heritage, and Museum Studies. In 2015, he received the Premio Roberto Bolaño — Chile's leading literary prize for young writers.
///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\//\\\
Burn, 2022
Michael Jalaru Torres
House façade
23 July – 6 August
Evenings (Dusk - Dawn)
Burn, 2022 is a video work derived from and complementing the photographic series Mother Earth Burns — a showcase of the environmental effects of human development on Native land and the impact on Native peoples' connection to Country.
Mother Earth burns as scars tattoo across her skin, her life-giving flow dried to dust. Her tears are salty to the tongue as her voice burns red. She cries out to those willing to listen to her song.
Using the moving body layered with fire, Burn evokes the cries of wind, water, and fire echoing across a timeless Country.
About MICHAEL JALARU TORRES
I am a Djugun–Yawuru immersive artist, fine art photographer, and poet based in Broome, Western Australia. My creative practice is deeply rooted in my ancestral connections to the Djugun, Yawuru, Gooniyandi, Jabbir Jabbir, and Ngarluma peoples. My work is an ongoing exploration of social history, the Kimberley landscape, and the evolving nature of Indigenous identity in a modern world.
Through my lens and digital practice, I map my own journey while striving to document the lives, histories, and stories of others. My photography is more than just visual documentation; it is an act of storytelling that challenges stereotypes and brings nuanced First Nations perspectives to the forefront.
@jalaruphotography | jalaru.com
Image still: Watching Our Country Burn as She Cries, 2022. Michael Jalaru Torres.
Artist group #3
baal ga, 2026
Pierra Van Sparkes
Blak Dot Gallery entrance
6 – 16 August
Evenings (Dusk - Dawn)
balga is the grass tree to my Noongar family.
balga was unearthed from boodja to the east.
baal is she and he and it all at once; the sound that calls for me.
A gift from mooditj moort; roots singing for release.
balga will burn before they will grow.
baal ga’s light touches all that I know.
baal ga (2026) was commissioned by Koorie Heritage Trust and Fed Square for the Big Screen program.
About Pierra Van Sparkes
Pierra Van Sparkes (they/them/baal) is a Kulin Country based, queer Pibbulman Noongar artist. Swaying between whispered invitations into their internal world (shhhh, that dog in em is resting) and full-throated Blak humour for mob in the back row, their work is inspired by cultural and material bricolage we engage to assemble individual and collective worlds.
Creating with photography, video and digital media, their work unspools bigger yarns shared with friends and family about place, belonging, surviving the settler colony and dreaming of worlds beyond.
Check out Pierra’s work here.
///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\
Hotomai, 2026
Tony Aitorea
House façade
6-16 August
Evenings (Dusk - Dawn)
Hotomai showcases the initiative of the Hotomai Cultural Village in Honiara, Solomon Islands, which envisions preserving and sharing the traditional ways of living of the Birao people of Guadalcanal Province. Hotomai reflects an ongoing effort to keep traditions alive for future generations while inviting audiences to engage with the richness and resilience of Solomon Islands culture.
Special thanks to Hotomai Cultural Village, with contributions from Jessie Koli (Coordinator), Jacinta Koli (Hotomai Founder & Manager), Donald (Carrier and Tour Guide) and Roy Wasi Junior (Technical Support).
About TONY AITOREA
Tony Aitorea is a videographer from the Solomon Islands. Over the past three years, he has worked in the NGO space, using videography to amplify local voices across rural Papua New Guinea. My work advocates for nation-building through youth, capturing stories that highlight resilience, creativity, and the importance of community. Through my lens, I strive to connect people, inspire dialogue, and empower the next generation to see themselves as leaders and changemakers in their own right.
Proudly supported by: Merri-bek Council Flourish Arts Grant 2025-2026 and Little Projector Company
