7 + 8 November 2026 | Various Locations

Step inside the studios of Canberra’s makers and discover the creative practices of local craftspeople, designers, artists and arts organisations. Proudly supported by home.by.holly.  

6 + 7 November 2026 | Belconnen Arts Centre

Design and dance collide in a double-bill exploring the interplay between body, identity and cross-cultural exchange. ALTER is an Austral/Asian collaboration presented by dancers living with and without disability - offering a beautiful hybrid of ephemeral visual art and dance, illustrating the power of dissent through lived and imagined realities.  

23 October – 15 November 2026 | M16 Artspace

Bespoke Utopia presents Canberra artists whose practices embrace the principles of slow design that is grounded in care, material knowledge and long-term thinking. Linking global conversations around sustainable design with Canberra’s rich craft history, the exhibition invites audiences to consider how design shapes everyday life and how thoughtful creative practices can challenge fast, disposable production models.  

6 + 7 November 2026 | Canberra Institute of Technology, Woden 

Fashion meets activism. Performance meets purpose. Dissent becomes a work of art.  Across one vibrant weekend, Clothing the Loop unfolds as a spectacular evening event and a full day of activities. Live dance, a runway parade, panel talks, clothes swaps, installations, tours and practical workshops celebrate the intersection of sustainable design, live performance and creative activism.  

5 – 25 November 2026  | Canberra Glassworks

Delightly revives endangered scientific glassblowing skills, transforming salvaged laboratory glass into plasma-illuminated vessels. Harriet Schwarzrock creates objects whose luminous behaviour shifts with viewer proximity, taking science out of the museum. Darkened, subtly interactive installations offer multi-sensory wonder, merging curiosity with playful public engagement in glass and light. 

1 – 28 November 2026 | Designcraft

Design Deviation celebrates the intentional mistake, showcasing furniture by Designcraft employees who have deliberately broken the rules of 'best practice' to discover new aesthetics in unusual materials and unconventional assembly. 

7 – 8 + 14 – 15 November 2026 | National Film and Sound Archive

Digital Dissent is an interactive showcase of innovative microgames exploring dissent, presented by Canberra Game Developers Association (CanDev) and hosted by the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA). Play the games, then join Digital Dissent in Discussion to hear local designers reflect on how Canberra’s game design community embraces dissent.  

7 November 2026 | National Film and Sound Archive

Digital Dissent in Discussion brings together local game developers to reflect on the evolution of Canberra's game design scene, dissecting the innovative microgames presented in Digital Dissent and exploring how Canberra's games industry continues to blaze a trail and break the mould.

6 – 22 November 2026 | Queanbeyan Hive

A powerful act of dissent against the marginalisation of older voices, Elder Art is an exhibition of artworks by older members of the community. Through art and artist talks, the exhibition amplifies these voices, celebrating the richness that a long life and diverse experiences of history can bring to our shared community. 

5 November – 12 December 2026  | Craft + Design Canberra

EMERGENCY: Signal, Repair, Adapt brings together artists and designers working across ceramics, glass, textiles and media to examine what it means to make objects in a time of disruption. A major exhibition that affirms the power of creative practice to imagine alternatives where established systems have failed. 

7 + 14 November 2026 | Lakeside + City

In a spirited act of dissent against the boundaries of public space, Localjinni presents two projected night walks through Canberra’s Civic Centre. Led by local artists these saunters reclaim the right to roam and creatively reimagine the city after dark.  

5 November – 12 December 2026  | Craft + Design Canberra

The National Robert Foster Metal Prize exhibition celebrates 15 finalists from across Australia who are questioning, reinterpreting and evolving the possibilities of metal as a contemporary practice. 

5 November – 6 December 2026 | Civic Square  

NEST | Design for the Displaced Future is a major public art commission for the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival, responding to the theme of Dissent. Located in Civic Square, the temporary public art installation brings together sculptural works exploring the universal instinct to nest and belong in a changing world. 

7 November 2026 | Canberra Spinners and Weavers

Join Rebecca Mayo and Canberra Spinners and Weavers for a special collaborative event as part of Living City: People, Plants and Place, supports by artsACT and the Australian National University School of Art and Design. Experience the Plant Sensibilia Machine, a large-scale, hand-operated textile dyeing device that brings the creative process from the studio to the public realm. 

7 November 2026 –  30 January 2027 | Canberra Contemporary

In the spirit of Dissent, Canberra Contemporary presents POWER – The Future is Here by Denis Golding, curated by Kyra Kum-Sing, alongside Tal Fitzpatrick's solo exhibition Quietly Seething: Fate, Fury and Transmutation. Together, these exhibitions interrogate power, resistance and transformation through bold and uncompromising contemporary practice. 

7 November 2026 –  30 January 2027 | Canberra Contemporary

Quietly Seething  is an immersive handcrafted installation inviting visitors to sit within a dazzling embroidered space while listening to the anonymous and deeply personal confessions of 60 female identifying and AFAB (assigned female at birth) people sharing their experiences of feminine rage. 

6 – 18 November 2026 | Q Gallery

Want to ‘give the finger’ to actions (or inaction) that cause you distress? Sick of responding to issues and concerns with anger or sadness? ‘Radical Joy’ can help you find humour and hope to communicate your concerns.  

5 – 22 November 2026 | Canberra Airport

Raw and Refined presents new work by established contemporary jeweller Phoebe Porter, highlighting the origins of the materials she employs and the labour of making. The exhibition celebrates the handmade as an act of creative dissent, challenging consumerism, mass production and conventional notions of value through thoughtful, enduring design.

19 September 2026 – 31 January 2027  | Canberra Museum and Gallery

RELICS: A New World Rises transforms discarded and obsolete objects into intricate miniature civilisations built from LEGO® bricks. Through creativity, design and storytelling, creators Jackson Harvey and Alex Towler challenge assumptions about waste and value, giving forgotten materials new purpose and inviting audiences to reconsider consumption and obsolescence. 

5 – 15 November 2026 | Australian National Botanic Gardens

Revitrification transforms discarded architectural waste glass into sculptural installations at the Botanic Gardens, in the process researching circular methodologies that give new value to landfill-bound materials. The project embodies dissent, rejecting the convention that discarded glass has reached the end of its useful life in our designed city.