Digital Dissent is an interactive showcase of innovative microgames from some of Canberra's best game designers, all exploring the Festival theme of Dissent over two weekends at the National Film and Sound Archive. Come play and experience a collection of brand new games by local designers, custom-made for visitors to interactively explore various takes and perspectives on dissent. You will even be able to meet the developer and discuss their works with them.
Each microgame in Digital Dissent has been commissioned by the Canberra Game Developers Association (CanDev), co-curated with the support of the National Film and Sound Archive's Digital Games Curator and crafted in consultation with some of Canberra's most experience games industry mentors.
Canberra Contemporary is pleased to present POWER – The Future is Here, the result of a collaboration between artist Dennis Golding and Torres Strait Island students from Alexandria Park Community School. Superhero capes were created during a 2020 workshop led by Golding as artist in residence through Solid Ground, a program supporting First Nations students through arts engagement. Students from Kindergarten to Year 12 designed their capes with iconography drawn from their lived experience and cultural identity.
As superheroes, Golding and his young collaborators are empowered and reminded of the strength of their culture in forming their identity and connection to Country. Together and individually, the capes critique social, political and cultural representations of contemporary First Nations experience.
A Solid Ground project with Dennis Golding and Alexandria Park Community School, curated by Kyra Kum-Sing, presented by Carriageworks and Blacktown Arts, and touring with Museums & Galleries of NSW. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government's Visions of Australia program.
Digital Dissent in Discussion is a talks series presented alongside Digital Dissent, an interactive showcase of innovative microgames by some of Canberra's best game designers.
Each microgame in Digital Dissent has been commissioned by CanDev, co-curated with the support of the National Film and Sound Archive's curators and crafted in consultation with some of Canberra's most experienced games industry mentors. The works invite visitors to interactively explore a range of perspectives on Dissent through play.
Digital Dissent in Discussion extends this conversation beyond the screen. Local developers will dissect and reflect on the works presented and the evolution of Canberra's game design scene, exploring how Canberra's games industry has blazed a trail and how the games made here continue to break the mould.
The Canberra Kinetic Sculpture Race is a thrilling one-day celebration of human-powered inventions, playful engineering, and imaginative design. Held at the National Carillon, the Race brings together teams who have each created a kinetic sculpture capable of traveling across land, sand, and water. These machines are part artwork, part vehicle, and entirely powered by human energy. Come, witness the true magnificence as the sculptures enter the water and cross the sand. Take a peek inside these machines and talk to the artists who will inspire you and your next build.
Blending art, engineering, pageantry, and speed, the Race offers a vibrant spectacle for audiences of all ages. Visitors can explore the sculptures up close, meet the makers, and watch the creations navigate the unique tri-terrain course. No two machines are alike: each team brings their own creativity, humour, and design ingenuity, resulting in a colourful display of moving sculptures that reflect Canberra's inventive spirit.
The event is free to attend and designed to be accessible for visitors of all abilities. The Canberra Kinetic Sculpture Race positions the city as a leader in imaginative, human-centered design and celebrates the extraordinary creativity found within Canberra's vibrant design community. Join the fun by being part of a team or coming out to watch it all happen!
This installation invites audiences to sit within the soft and dazzling handcrafted space Fitzpatrick created using applique and embroidery techniques and upcycled materials, while listening on headphones to the brutally honest and sometimes heartbreaking confessions of 60 female identifying and AFAB (assigned female at birth) people who shared their experience of feminine rage with Fitzpatrick through an anonymous online survey.
This project is supported by Canberra Contemporary, Craft + Design Canberra Festival, and artsACT through City of Design funding. The development of this project was supported by HOTA Home of the Arts through the ArtKeeper Program.
Explore the 2026 Robert Foster Metal Prize with Craft + Design Canberra's Exhibition Coordinator Stacy Jewell for an exhibition talk reflecting on the ideas, materials and making practices behind this year's finalists. Discover the stories behind the selected works and the diverse approaches shaping contemporary metal practice in Australia.
Join Canberra Contemporary for a panel discussion on the theme of this year's Craft + Design Canberra Festival, Dissent, featuring exhibiting feminist artist and craftivist Dr Tal Fitzpatrick, MoAD curator Stephanie Pfennigwerth and moderated by artist Raquel Ormella. The discussion will draw out themes in Tal Fitzpatrick's exhibition Quietly Seething: Fate, Fury and Transmutation, weaving conversations about power, rage, politics and craft.
La Fiesta arrives in Canberra's city centre this November!
A day filled with Latin music, food and energy takes over the City Centre for this free celebration.
Expect music that pulls you in, dance, colour and plenty to explore across the event. There'll be workshops to try, street food to enjoy and moments to share with friends, family or anyone who's up for a good time.
Take a walk through the action, grab something delicious, and soak up the atmosphere as the city comes alive.
ALTER is a double bill of extraordinary dance and design exploring the interplay between body, identity and cross-cultural exchange. This cross-cultural collaboration between Australian and Malaysian artists is a beautiful offering of ephemeral visual art, illustrating the power of dissent through real and alternate realities.
ALTER is a presentation of two new works at Belco Arts, epitomising excellence in Canberra centred creativity. Led by Canberra artists of international repute in collaboration with leading ASEAN artists from Kuala Lumpur, a current UNESCO City of Design, both works have been supported by Creative Australia funding.
Born of design and innovation, ALTER is a double bill of dance works exploring the potential of new design technology in the interplay between body, identity and cross cultural exchange. Drawing on 35 years of Liz Lea's specialisation in classical Indian and contemporary dance, as well as focused research into the power of the Metaverse as an accretive design tool, ALTER brings technology to the fore to enable symbiotic interaction between real and virtual bodies, where movement creates visuals in a projected environment.
ALTER is presented by The BOLD Festival and Liz Lea Creates as part of the 2026 Craft + Design Festival, supported by ACT Government and Creative Australia.
Join curator Stacy Jewell and exhibiting artists from EMERGENCY | Signal, Repair, Adapt for a shared conversation exploring resilience, transformation and repair. Artists discuss material experimentation, contemporary craft and how creative practice responds to uncertainty, change and dissent.
Four talented musical improvisers and one pianist craft an original musical out of thin air!
A brand-new story unfolds in real time, packed with characters, comedy, and songs created on the spot. Fast, playful, and fully committed, every performance is a musical that has never existed before and will never exist again.
This is an Impro ACT production directed by Mike NL, returning after a sold-out debut.
Starring Chonnie, Damian, Inez, and Matt, with Jessica on piano.
