Canberra's Civic Square has filled with public art for the return of the Craft + Design Canberra Festival.

This year's theme is Dissent. The festival brings 11 days of installations, performances, workshops and public experiences, plus a month of exhibitions, with more than 130 events across the ACT.

Two installations are already up in Civic Square: Salvaged Light, by artists Matt Curtis and Harriet Schwarzrock, and NEST: Designed for a Displaced Future.

Dates to know

  • Thursday 5 November: official festival launch and exhibition openings, Civic Square, from 6pm
  • Saturday 7 November: Canberra Kinetic Sculpture Race, a free spectacle of human-powered art machines crossing land, sand and water at the National Carillon
  • Thursday 12 November: Wing It!, a children's clay atelier at The Learning Nest Co.
  • 13 to 15 November: the free Undercurrent Design Market at Ainslie Arts Centre, with more than 50 makers from across Australia
  • Saturday 14 November: Pattern Play, a free drop-in printmaking workshop with recycled materials at Ainslie Arts Centre

The festival is supported by the ACT Government through the City of Design Fund.