Opening night at Enlighten is a huge success

Old Parliament House

Canberra’s annual Enlighten event kicked off Friday with great weather and at least 10,000 people turning out to see six national buildings bathed in colourful artworks through the magical of projectors.

Started in 2011, Enlighten marks the beginning of autumn and is a lead-up to celebrating Canberra Day, which is observed each year on the second Monday in March.

Poor John and I arrived soon after the lights were switched on, and already there were crowds surging around the National Gallery, where we parked and started our walk to see all the displays.

National Gallery—art from the Moche culture with stirrup vessel on right

The gallery was showing off images of the breathtaking artworks in their current exhibition, Gold and the Incas: Lost worlds of Peru.

Images cycle every couple of minutes, so it’s ideal to linger for 10–15 minutes at each building.

Fire Garden and High Court

Fire on the ramp

Fire in the fountain

From the gallery, we moved on to the High Court and its Fire Garden. This is the first year I remember there being a display at the court. Pippa Bailey created this artwork that had fire canisters on the court’s entry ramp and large fire displays positioned in the court’s decorative and cascading fountain.

Portrait Gallery

Blooming Jungle

Elvis at 21

Next stop was the National Portrait Gallery. It’s a long low building filled with paintings, sculptures and photographs of Australia’s greats and not-so greats. It also has a special photography exhibit, Elvis at 21. This collection has 56 black-and-white pics of a young Elvis before his rise to fame. Photojournalist Alfred Wertheimer took the pictures following a photo shoot commissioned by RCA Victor, which had recently signed Elvis. Be quick if you want to see it, because it ends 10 March.

Then it was on to Reconciliation Place, Questacon and John Dunmore Lang Place.

Fire and water by Judy Watson

Reconciliation Place is a symbol of the government’s commitment to the ongoing reconciliation with the Indigenous people of Australia. It has 17 important artworks. One of my favourites is fire and water by Judy Watson.

Questacon, our science and technology centre, has a wonderful cube shape and is perfect for architectural projections. This year, visitors are able to ‘splash’ colour onto the building’s exterior. Poor John and I opted to leave this fun to the many young children waiting for a turn.

Circle of Light

Questacon—art in progress

Nearby was the Circle of Light. Visitors were welcome to manipulate the controls to change the colour and movements of the 12 robotic searchlights.

Textures and reflection

Highways

Flight paths

Abstract art

Old maps

The National Library is another interesting surface for displaying the projections. Its many columns make it reminiscent of the Parthenon in Greece. We lingered there for quite a while, enjoying the seven or so different images and the reflections they made on the pond in front of the library. The library found my blog and sent along a link to a short video they made of Enlighten at their place. It’s fantastic, so I urge you to check it out.

Our last stop on Friday was Old Parliament House. By day, it’s a pure white building, but Enlighten brings out its wonderful architectural lines.

We didn’t get up to the current Parliament House this time, but will pay a visit this coming weekend when Enlighten has it’s final two nights. I’m also keen to see the 12-foot-tall horse puppets scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

There are plenty of other activities going on and organisers are hoping that more than 115,000 people will attend the free and ticketed events on offer.