To the past and out of this world, the Enlighten Festival program offers journeys through space and time. Go on an adventure around the parliamentary triangle and city centre over 17 days and nights, from 3 to 19 March.

From 3 to 13 March, Canberra’s iconic institutions will glow with stories of our individual and shared histories and our environment. Along with the fabulous light displays will be a number of after-dark experiences.

CW had a sneak peek of just a few of the experiences on offer. Here is what we discovered.

Questacon

Go on a journey of connection to country and our traditional owners at Canberra’s home of science, where the artworks have been created in collaboration with Ngunnawal artist, Lynnice Letty Church, representing people from all walks of life coming together on Ngunnawal country.

Thunderstone Aboriginal Cultural Services gave the institution three words that best describe what a person experiences at Questacon: Binyin – Discover, Wagabaliri – Play, and Winanggaay – Learn.

After dark, the Atomic Carnival experience jets you into space with out of this world flavours and experiments. Grab a glowing slushie or flashing fairy floss while you swing your hips inside the neon hula hoops.

Adults are invited to explore the science of alcohol with Questacon’s resident gin enthusiasts in Pure ImaGINation. Learn more about the juniper-based spirit, what it has to do with malaria, why it has a navy strength option, and more, in this interactive presentation, with a taste of two included.

National Gallery of Australia

Travel to Northeast Arnhem Land and experience country through the lens of the Yolnju People in Djarraṯawun, created by The Mulka Project.

Commissioned for Enlighten, the multimedia experience was created under the leadership of community elders to preserve knowledge of the elemental forces and lifecycles of the country for future generations.

Witness the harsh fire storms, tranquil waters with scuttling crabs, and loud, powerful, electric thunderstorms. Soundscapes found in the environments are married with song lines from the community, transporting the viewer to the action. 

National Portrait Gallery

Travel through culture with the stunning watercolour and digital animation projections from Naarm/Melbourne creative family collective – Kate Benyon, Rali Benyon and Michael Pablo.

Drawing from their diverse backgrounds of Cantonese Malaysian, Afro-Caribbean, First Nation Pima-Mexican, Welsh/Celtic and Nordic heritages, they present imagery of guardian spirits and talismans flowing across the building.

Spirits Shapeshifting aims to create an otherworldly space in a bid to counteract troubled times and earthly anxieties. Among the supernatural characters and animal spirits are stunning botanic, forestry and sky backgrounds.

National Library of Australia

Just as the dusty, old photo album is to families, the National Library of Australia’s photo collection is to Australia, capturing big and small moments in time, and connecting us to those we love.

Director of community engagement at the National Library of Australia, Stuart Baines, says that this time the Library wanted to focus on what got a lot of us through the last few difficult years – family.

Following life through all stages, from birth to old age, the illuminations represent different types of families, ones that we are born into and those we choose.

Supporting the images are voices featured in the Library’s Oral History and Folklore collection. Mr Baines says they aren’t just make-believe tales, they are voices of real people telling their own stories.

The Library’s after-dark events have been curated to bring that warm, welcome feeling of home to their space. Outside will be your typical family backyard with lawn games, picnic areas and food options.

“Inside we’re turning it into the lounge room; we’ve got jazz music and card tables and nice comfy lounges. Then in our reading room, we’ve got a board games library, so we’re going to teach people to play board games and tap into those traditional memories of family time when you’re younger; not Monopoly though,” Mr Baines smiles.

Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House

Travel back through the decades and see the lives of those who worked behind the scenes at the home of Australian democracy.

Until now, their stories have remained largely untold, but what did the lives of the helpers, reporters and groomers look like? The man who made our bus shelters into artworks, Trevor Dickinson, has imagined what their day-to-day lives throughout different eras looked like.

Bright colourful illuminations show tools of the trade and how workspaces may have looked. MoAD’s after-dark event, The People’s House, allows visitors to roam the halls where they might run into a 1940s Hansard reporter, a 1950s maintenance worker, a 1960s typist, a 1970s hairdresser, or a 1980s chef.

Try your hand and see if you would have thrived in these positions with tests and activities in a choose your own adventure game; those who pass the employment test win a prize. Take a stroll with one of the workers and you may learn a trick or two, and perhaps a secret from MoAD’s vaults.

Australian Parliament House

Flying and crawling creatures are projected onto the entrance of Australia’s most iconic democratic symbol, amplifying the natural ecosystem that surrounds it.

The fun and colourful projections come from conservation enthusiasts and designers from Eggpicnic – Camila De Gregorio and Chris Macaluso. Inspired by the life forms found in the parliamentary gardens throughout the various seasons, we witness a changing calendar.

Collaborating Canberra ecologist Dr Michael Mulvaney said the gum trees change with the seasons, as do the insects that come crawling on them. Hear the calls of birdsong of the species in flight. Can you spot the beloved Magpie, Gang-gang cockatoo and the Superb Fairy Wren among the wings in flight?

Discover the belly of the beast at Parliament House with their after-dark event, Unconformity Geology Tour. Here, an expert geologist guides you through the ancient rock formations that occurred millions of years apart and what it tells us about Canberra.

The Enlighten Festival takes over Parliamentary Triangle 3-19 March; the illuminations are on 3-13 March. For the full program, visit enlightencanberra.com

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