Art biennial dispels myth that ‘Canberra is boring’

Creative producer Tegan Garnett at the Biennial launch at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space’s
Lakeside venue. Photo: Hilary Wardhaugh

by Helen Musa

The 2024 Canberra Art Biennial, which involves installations by 61 artists, is now taking place around Lake Burley Griffin, whose geographical contour, 556, gave rise to the name of the original event from which the biennial developed.

Neil Hobbs, co-founder with Karin Harris of the original Contour556 festival, has been busy installing artworks around the lake with creative director Tegan Garnett.

Hobbs told CityNews how the event had benefited from both Garnett’s more youthful outlook and her knack for explaining it to the funding bodies as they moved to expand their scope.

Karina Harris and Neil Hobbs in their garden in Deakin. Photo: Sean Davey

At a pre-festival launch in the National Arboretum in late August, Garnett said that the art collaborations all across the city made the biennial “the festival that dispels the myth that Canberra is boring”.

Under her watch, she said, the question as to whether public art needed to be outdoors would be investigated, and one aim would be to move the program into different genres, seen with Third Run Cinema curated by Hannah de Feyter in Verity Lane Market and in Localjinni’s art walk, a regular inclusion in the event’s five years, where participants take a walk around the National Triangle, the experience enhanced by dance, music, poetry and play.

Just Holding Out, by Ro Murray and Mandy Burgess, at the National Arboretum

The event continues to find new outdoor locations.

This year the sculptural installation, Just Holding Out, by Ro Murray and Mandy Burgess, at the National Arboretum, highlights the dangers for the survival of species such as the Regent Honeyeater.

Isaac Kairouz’s work, New Aesthetic, at The Vault in Dairy Road, recognises the “digital ghosts” of architectural drawings, sometimes representing imagined experiences through childlike monsters or phrases.

One work that will be hard to miss is Bronte Cormican-Jones’ neon installation, Of line, of light, on the NFSA lawns until October 26. Commissioned by the biennial to create a lighting interventions that respond to the architecture of the site, it sees steel elements act as sculptural frameworks for neon lighting, which comes alive at night.

Canberra Art Biennial, around Lake Burley Griffin, until October 26.

Bronte Cormican-Jones’ neon installation, Of line, of light, NFSA lawns

First published at Canberra City News, October 1, 2024