The Canberra Art Biennial is continuing its legacy of transforming how we see our city

Posted on 29 September, 2022

Back for its fourth year, Contour 556 returns under the 2022 iteration ‘The Canberra Art Biennial’.

This year’s festival features some of its most expansive and impassive works to date, expanding its presence liberally across the ACT.

Kicking off this weekend and running through to November, Contours 556, 606 and 656 will take you on a journey through place and landscape, reimaging our city in unexpected ways.

An impressive selection of international, interstate, and local artists will bring to life this year’s body of work, thematically linked yet vastly different in each interpretation.

Contour 656 showcases artworks at the Arboretum, inviting audiences to discover a magical world below ground and the mesmerising relationship between the trees, air, and soil. Contour 606 shines the spotlight on the nonplussed beauty that lives at the University of Canberra, transforming its heritage buildings into profoundly moving and reflective art pieces— and the infamous Contour 556 will move across Canberra, with artists such as Kerrie Poliness reeling us into her captivating world.

For Festival Director and Curator Neil Hobbs, the Canberra Art Biennial creates a unique opportunity to intimately connect the public through this creative lens, illuminating the depth of talent that ripples through each location.

“It’s just really nice to see the diversity of the artworks, and the diversity of the artists and how they respond to Canberra through installations and performances. This is our fourth festival now and we’ve probably seen over 200 artists involved over time.”

“And it’s interesting to see how people’s perceptions change by altering the regularity of a space by having a temporary artwork.”

With both free and ticketed workshops (which are selling out fast), the beautiful, geographical journey that is the Art Biennial is not one to be missed—telling a story of our city in ways that are both inspiring and audacious.

Upcoming highlights at each Contour location include:

Contour 556 (Lake Burley Griffin)

This ambitious contour will make its presence known across the North and South of Canberra, centred around lake Burley Griffin.

• The Canberra Theatre Centre will be putting on a showstopping free performance from 5:45 pm to 6:05 pm in Civic Square.
• Breathtaking city installations from artists such as Tom Buckland and Nigel Dobson, Ngaio Fitzpatrick and Ian Hubbard, Elvis Richardson and Ros Lemoh are open to the public from 5 pm until 8 pm.
• Artist Alex Asch has opened up his studio up to the public at the COX gallery.
• Australian Dance Party Contour Cruise #1 will take place at Lake Burley Griffin on Saturday 29 October 29.
• Artists talks by Tony Clark, Neild Hobbs, and Virginia Rigney happening in Civic square on Wednesday 30 November.

Contour 656 (National Arboretum)

At this contour, 12 mesmerising works brought to life by 13 artists that will enchant and transport.

• Sarah St Vincent Welch chalks poems on paths and chats to passers-by, reflecting on locations at the Arboretum.
• A range of diverse artworks are on display, from steel sculptures to subtle reflective pieces. A 40-metre green painted line across the visitor’s centre is a showstopper, creating a horizon line between the trees and the soil.
• Ticketed workshops will further connect visitors with themes of the landscape. Textile artist Marianna del Castille will allow audiences to immerse themselves in the Himalayan Cedar Forest, where they can respond to patterns of nature through eco-dyed fabric bundles. Tickets are still available from Friday 14 October from 10 am to 12 pm.
• The Shinrin-Yoku Forest Bathing Night Walk on the Friday 21 October will take you on a magical journey, harassing the powers of the forest and the moon.

Contour 606 (The University of Canberra)

Opening on Friday 7 October from 5 pm until 7 pm, Contour 606 will transform the Bruce campus into an exciting and deeply creative experience.

• A satellite event will be set up at the Bruce campus, working closely alongside Canberra’s staff from Associate Professor Julian Raxworthy, discipline lead of the landscape architecture program and Ben Ennis-Butler, senior lecturer and Program Core Coordinator, Design.
• Works such as red film on empty resident buildings will create new meaning within old buildings.

For more information about each of the contours visit contour556.com.au