PERTH.- Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts will open the final season of its 2026 artistic program this October with Circular Economies, a major exhibition presented in partnership with SPACED that brings the outcomes of socially-engaged artist residencies across regional Western Australia into PICA’s Central Galleries.
Running from 17 October to 20 December 2026, this season brings together local, national and international perspectives through three distinct presentations: Circular Economies in the Central Galleries; Cafe coming soon, a major mid-career survey exhibition by Western Australian artist Shannon Lyons in the West End Gallery; and Foragers in PICA’s Screen Space presented by Palestinian artist Jumana Manna.
Across the season, artists consider the systems, relationships and exchanges that shape how we understand place—from the knowledge, resources and labour circulating through regional communities, to the architecture of hospitality and social connection, and the politics surrounding land, food and preservation.
PICA’s CEO Hannah Mathews said the program brings the year to a close with works that invite audiences to look more closely at the structures and relationships underpinning everyday life.
“This season reflects PICA’s role as a place where Western Australian artists, regional communities and international perspectives can be brought into meaningful conversation.
Across the program, artists invite us to look more closely at the systems, places and relationships that shape everyday life, from regional economies and built environments to questions of land, food and cultural practice.” said Mathews.
Curated by Miranda Johnson, Circular Economies has been developed through an extended series of artist-in-residence programs across regional Western Australia. The exhibition brings together new commissions by Tarsh Bates and Susan Hauri-Downing, House of Natural Fiber, Ilona McGuire and Zali Morgan, Loren Kronemyer and Linda Tegg. Working with communities in Beverley, Narrogin, Carnamah, Esperance and Carnarvon, these artists developed site-responsive and community-engaged works spanning photography, video, textiles, sound and installation.
The works presented in Circular Economies are as varied as the communities from which they emerge. In Carnamah, Ilona McGuire and Zali Morgan use cyanotype and the physical presence of their own bodies to consider the visibility and erasure of First Nations histories. In Narrogin, Indonesian collective House of Natural Fiber activates locally gathered pigments through fermentation, sonification and scent.
Linda Tegg’s Carnarvon project considers communications technology, satellite infrastructure and its relationship to cultural knowledge of the night sky, while Susan Hauri-Downing and Tarsh Bates use scent as an archive of place, memory and ecological change in Beverley. Loren Kronemyer’s Esperance project rounds out the presentation, tracing the circulation of metals through mining, e-waste and sport shooting, questioning the social and environmental complexities embedded within material economies.
SPACED Executive Director Elizabeth Pedler said: “Presenting Circular Economies at PICA is an important opportunity to share the depth of SPACED’s regional residency model with broader audiences. The partnership brings together works shaped through long-term relationships between artists, communities and places across Western Australia, while recognising the local knowledge, contexts and exchanges that informed them. We’re delighted to work with PICA to bring these regional perspectives into conversation within a leading contemporary arts setting.”
Upstairs in PICA’s West End Gallery, Cafe coming soon will showcase the major mid-career survey of Western Australian artist Shannon Lyons, marking the most extensive consideration of her practice to date. Functioning as a visual compendium of the artist’s site-responsive works, the exhibition features a series of ambitious large-scale sculptural installations re-imagined for PICA.
New commissions sit alongside re-staged works reflecting Lyons’ longstanding interest in the materiality of built spaces, the linages of site-specific art, and the ways architecture mediates social connection, service, hospitality and exchange.
Artist Shannon Lyons said: "It has been exciting to revisit and reimagine previous site-based works for PICA's cavernous West End space. I've been developing this exhibition over the past eighteen months and have enjoyed exploring how its key works overlap, press against, and mesh with one another. PICA has played an important role in my development as a contemporary artist, and presenting a solo exhibition in the West End Gallery has been a long-held dream. I'm thrilled to work with PICA on such a comprehensive presentation of my practice, and I'm looking forward to seeing how audiences engage with the work."
Completing the final season for 2026, is Foragers, a film by artist Jumana Manna presented in PICA’s Screen Space. Combining fiction, documentary and archival footage, this work explores the practice of gathering wild edible plants in Palestine and the impact of environmental protection laws on longstanding cultural traditions. The 64-minute film follows the gathering of plants including ‘akkoub and za’atar from the wild to the kitchen, alongside encounters with nature patrols and courtroom proceedings.
Season 4 opens with a weekend of exhibitions, conversation and live music. On Friday 16 October from 6pm, PICA After Hours will launch the season with a free opening celebration and live music from local acts. On Saturday 17 October, audiences can take part in a free Weekends at PICA program of artist talks and workshops inspired by Circular Economies, presented throughout the galleries and supported by PICA's Community Engagement Partner, City of Perth.
