Enlighten—seeing Canberra in a whole new light
Driving home from Louie and Doug’s wedding on Saturday night, we were reminded that the Enlighten exhibition was on as part of the annual Canberra Festival. We couldn’t see the lights from where we were, but the roadblocks that diverted us were a good enough signal that something was up. So we promised ourselves to return on Sunday, the display’s last night.
Enlighten debuted in 2011 and was back, this year, by popular demand. We saw it then and were mightily impressed (I’ll see if I have photos from that affair, and post some later if I do). There was no way we were going to miss this new one.
Both years, Enlighten has included a variety of ticketed activities, plus the fabulous free light show, that involves illuminating the facades of some of the capital’s landmark buildings.
The Electric Canvas is the creative genius behind the large-scale architectural displays. Five Canberra artists—Josh Dykgraff, Nicola Dickson, Paul Summerfield, Julie Ryder and Racket—designed this year’s motifs, which are their interpretations of what’s inside these iconic buildings.
This year, the lights were splashed on the
Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
National Library
Questacon—the National Science and Technology Centre
National Portrait Gallery
National Gallery.
A sculpture on the walkway between the National Library and the National Portrait Gallery
We visited them all and hung around to admire all the many images. I forgot to count exactly how many there were, but several venues had more than 12. Click on the locations listed above to see that venue’s showcase.
I’m already looking forward to next year’s Enlighten and the Canberra Festival when the city will be celebrating its 100th birthday. You should think about spending time in Canberra next March.
Where to next? 
I been curious and wanting to see Canberra someday. Hope we can include it to our plan once we come back to Australia for a tour before visiting back home to NZ.
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If you get to Canberra and we are here, we’d be so very happy to show you around. Keep me posted.
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Wow thanks for that 🙂 I will keep that in mind.
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