Canberra’s most exciting contemporary art festival, Art, Not Apart, takes place on 19th March with a  jam-packed program of exhibitions, performances, live music, installations, interventions, street food, screenings and a huge party.

Now in its third year, the festival highlights the theme ‘patterns of now’, with works installed throughout various venues including NewActon Precinct, Westside Acton Park, Kendall Lane and the National Film and Sound Archives.

Emeritus Professor David Williams AM, previous Head of ANU School of Art, is now the Visual Arts Curator for Art, Not Apart and has teamed up with curatorial assistant Anna Trundle to curate ‘Patterns of Now’ at Nishi Gallery. The exhibition includes ANU School of Art graduates Hannah Quinlivan, Blaide Lallemand, Katy Mutton and Tommy Balogh, and explores social, environmental and political issues that the artists feel passionate about.

At A. Baker, see a live studio event by Franki Sparke, and in the basement of A.Baker, Finches Folly by alumna Nicola Dickson is an installation that combines painting, object and sound. It uses porcelain musical birds with an accompanying soundscape of bird song to explore patterns of the natural world.

In Kendall Lane, Furniture graduate Walrus is joined by performer Ross Walker for Contain(ed) - a collaborative large-scale sculpture that houses a staged performance. Photography & Media Arts Masters student John Carolan and Sebastian Chan will be featured at Palace Electric with their interactive video performance Translation, which explores themes of immigration and resettlement.

Painting student Alison Ford is one of the artists opening her studio as part of Where’s Walty?, the art walk along the West Basin from Acton Beach to Westside, where Printmedia and Drawing graduate Caitlin Woodford has collaborated with Elle Dawson in the exhibition Lines Between the Lights.

Art, Not Apart takes place on Saturday 19th March from 1-7pm, followed by after parties. For the full program of events, click here.

Patterns of Now opens at 6pm on Friday 18th March at Nishi Gallery.