Image: Izabela Pluta in her studio, 2025. Photography by Edwina Richards.
Newcastle-based contemporary art space The Lock-Up has announced that artist Izabela Pluta will receive one of Creative Australia’s Visual Arts Craft and Design Framework (VACDF) Commissions to develop a new installation, Cavitation: Breathing Ocean.
Co-commissioned by The Lock-Up and New Annual Festival, with an international presenting partner to be announced, the project will explore “the fragile ecologies of breath, pressure and migration across oceanic environments.”
Drawing on Pluta’s diving practice and experimental darkroom processes, Cavitation: Breathing Ocean will translate compressed air into image, sound and sculptural form. The work is planned to occupy The Lock-Up’s heritage spaces and selected outdoor locations in Newcastle, premiering as part of the 2026 New Annual Festival.
The Lock-Up Director Alexandra Pedley said the commission marks an important step for both the artist and the region’s cultural landscape.
“This is a defining moment for Izabela Pluta, whose practice continues to expand the possibilities of contemporary art in Australia, and for The Lock-Up and Newcastle as sites for major national art commissions and international collaboration,” Pedley said.
New Annual Artistic Director Tory Loudon said the partnership builds on the festival’s commitment to presenting new Australian work.
“New Annual is pleased to be collaborating with The Lock-Up and Izabela on this project and looks forward to introducing her work to festival audiences in 2026,” Loudon said.
The commission forms part of Creative Australia’s $1.6 million Visual Arts Commissioning Fund, designed to support new large-scale works connecting Australian artists with audiences nationally and internationally.
Further information on Cavitation: Breathing Ocean and its accompanying public program will be released in early 2026.
October 22, 2025
