DESIGN Canberra 2015

By Jemma Mrdak…

Lately Canberra has been getting very artsy… very artsy indeed. From Papua New Guinean ritual art at NGA to the Best Political Cartoons of 2014 at the National Museum of Democracy there’s been exhibitions and art shows popping up everywhere! DESIGN Canberra is the latest in the artistic mix, showcasing local and national design talent November 21 – 29. This year, the festival will showcase over 750 participants, who will be involved in up to 70 activities across the nine day event.

The festival will be divided up into five event streams that even the not-so-arty can get involved in. ACTivate pop-up projects in empty shopfronts, Capital of Culture design tours, DESIGN Buzz lecture series, Living Artist open studios, as well as various exhibitions will fill your daily schedule, and will have you running all over Canberra.

DESIGN Canberra is designed (see what we did there!), to put you in touch with your inner creative side – we all have one, it’s often just hidden, buried deep next to the part of you that resists drinking on a school night. It will shine a bright spotlight on both local and national talent, with a strong focus being placed on making the event as accessible as possible – with most of the activities being free.

The program is chock-a-block with awesome events, such as The Living Artists Bus tours, which will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the processes of Canberra’s design community and includes a guided tour of a selection of local artist’s studios and their workspaces. A variety of architectural guided tours will also be held throughout various Canberra landmark buildings and structures, like Canberra Airport, The Embassy of Sweden, and Westside Acton Park. There’ll also be heaps of interesting people getting on the mic, like Tim Ross (Rosso) delivering laughs whilst dissecting modern architecture, and Design Buzz whizz Leah Heiss diving into the use of nanotechnology and manufacturing.

Brain: You will be engaged.

DESIGN Canberra: November 21 – 25