October 14

Hello Canberra,

📆 Today: It’s Tuesday, 14 October. There are some spooky events coming up for Halloween including paranormal investigations and horror film festival.

☀️ Weather: 22° and sunny.

Something to do: 👻 Halloween in Canberra

Lovers of all things spooky are in for a treat with some great events coming up:

SciFright: This Halloween, Questacon opens after dark for an adults-only SciFright—featuring creepy science, the Liquid Fright-rogen show, parasites and plagues, cane toad dissections in Q Lab, a Halloween dance floor, and themed cocktails from Atomic Café. Dress to impress (or terrify). Details here.

Paranormal Investigations of Old Parliament House: Named one of the 35 most haunted buildings in the world by Travel + Leisure magazine, Old Parliament House is hosting special after-hours tours where you’ll gather evidence with ghost-hunting tools to see just how haunted it really is. Details here.

Horror Tropfest: Canberra's spookiest horror short film festival. The screening is followed by an award ceremony and costume contest. Details here.

Ring at the NFSA: This Halloween, the National Film and Sound Archive is screening Hideo Nakata’s masterpiece Ring, credited with revolutionising the horror genre. Details here.

Foreshore Ghosts, Tales and True Crime: Join local comedian, storyteller and ghost hunter Sarah Stewart on a tour of Kingston Foreshore and the Causeway, and learn about what was once the most notorious area of Canberra. Hear history and tales of ghosts and true crime that will chill your blood and throw a whole new light on this side of town. Details here.

I’ll be including Halloween-themed nightlife events in an upcoming issue.

🖼️ Arts Around Canberra

This week’s arts wrap:

Artists Society of Canberra Spring Exhibition: More than 200 artworks are on display at the Fitters’ Workshop in Kingston for the Artists Society of Canberra annual exhibition, opening this weekend. Details here.

Seckou Keita: Described as the Hendrix of the Kora—the stringed instrument from West Africa—Seckou Keita is performing his solo show at the Albert Hall. Details here.

Land and Sky: Canberra Art Gallery is taking over an aircraft hangar for a one-day pop-up art event, bringing together Australian art and aviation in this unique location. Details here.

Inner Being: Bringing together ten contemporary artists from across Australia, Finland and Japan, Inner Being at Megalo questions our relationship with trees as communicative beings. Details here.

Belco Arts Openings: Three new exhibitions are opening at Belco Arts this week, including Millinery – A Fine Art—a visual feast of wearable millinery that can also adorn a room as a work of art—and Kaleidoscope IV—an open exhibition celebrating LGBTQIA+ pride. Details here.

Survive and Thrive: Look down the microscope for a scientist’s view of seeds in an exhibition celebrating the work of the National Seed Bank. Discover how seed scientists and horticulturalists at the National Botanic Gardens are working together to ensure that Australia’s subalpine species survive and thrive in an exhibition combining science and art. Details here.

Brocante: Old Barn Gallery in Pialligo is hosting Brocante by Antoinette Karsten, a nostalgic and whimsical collection of oil and mixed media paintings that explore themes of heritage through vintage silverware, contemplating the emotions and stories that often surround these objects. Details here.

Canberra Contemporary Openings: Two new exhibitions are opening at Canberra Contemporary this week: In Masked Memory, Rosalind Lemoh presents new works focusing on personal cultural objects from her family home in Sydney, reflecting on her connection to Mende and Themne cultures from West Africa; and Inheritance by Phuong Ngo reconfigures post-colonial, familial and geographical relationships across South Vietnam and Australia in an attempt to deepen connections with the past, present and future. Details here.

The Queanbeyan-Palerang Arts Trail: The Arts Trail makes its final stop at Queanbeyan this weekend. Explore open studios, markets, galleries and more. Details here.

Death and the Maiden: The Australian String Quartet will perform one of the great masterpieces of the string quartet repertoire, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, at the National Gallery as part of its national tour. Details here.

Around Canberra: 🎂 Dickson Shops Turns 60

Originally earmarked by the Griffins as Canberra’s industrial area, Dickson’s role changed when that plan shifted to Fyshwick. In the 1960s, Dickson became Canberra's first district centre, designed by leading urban designers George Clarke and Don Gazzard, who pioneered a people-centred, pedestrian-friendly approach to planning. The precinct also features the modernist Dickson Library, designed by Enrico Taglietti in 1968, and the nearby Dickson Pool, which opened in 1965.

This weekend, the Dickson Residents Group will host a 1960s-themed celebration in Taglietti Square (outside the library) with live music, stalls, cake and retro fashion. Details here.

📰 Tidbits

National Ride to Work Day: Tomorrow is National Ride to Work Day—Australia’s biggest celebration of commuter cycling. It’s returning to Canberra for the first time in six years, and Pedal Power is holding a raffle to celebrate. Details here.

Graffiti Jam: Over 70 artists converged on Canberra this past weekend to take part in the longest graffiti jam in Australia. The Woden Drains is one of Canberra’s legal graffiti sites, and Mustard Flats documented the weekend. Watch here.

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