Walk the Biennale: Two Days of Art, Photography and Discovery in Ballarat

Your Festival Pass is a ticket to see the world’s best photography, right here in Ballarat. Stay overnight and enjoy some local hospitality, we’ve prepared a suggested itinerary to make the most of your visit.

Here are a few highlights and some “must-sees” you can build around:

• The 11th Ballarat International Foto Biennale runs until 19 October and the Core Program explores the theme ‘Lifeforce’.
• The Core Program ticketed venues are open from 10am-4pm daily. A Festival Pass is required to visit the five Core Program venues, and there are many free exhibitions, both indoor and outside as well.

The Core Program venues are:

• Ballarat Town Hall (225 Sturt Street) – Catherine Leroy: One-Way-Ticket to Vietnam 1966-1968
• Post Office Gallery (cnr Sturt and Lydiard Street North): Enninful x Mapplethorpe
• Ballarat Mining Exchange (12 Lydiard Street North): I Love Campbell
• The Miners Tavern (120 Lydiard Street North): Long Exposure: The Legacy of Prahran College and Prompted Peculiar International AI Prize
• Ballarat GovHub (101 Armstrong Street North): Martin Kantor Portrait Prize

The Open Program offers many smaller exhibitions in cafés, shops, laneways etc. A great opportunity to wander and discover unexpectedly.

Day 1

Morning

• Arrive in Ballarat. Get a coffee and light breakfast at a café near Lydiard Street.
• You can pre-book your tickets online to get started early or call into the Festival Hub (12 Lydiard St North) to buy in person.
• At 10am, head to The Miners Tavern to see Long Exposure: The Legacy of Prahran College and Prompted Peculiar International AI Prize upstairs in this grand heritage building open exclusively for the Biennale this year.
• Then take a photo walk: start at Backspace Gallery on Mair Street (cnr Camp St) to view Multipurpose by local photographer Brian O’Dwyer, then over to Guma featuring works by Leicolhn McKellar, capturing the everyday lives of First Nations families on the Art Screen (Alfred Deakin Place, Camp Street). Wander onto Police Lane which will bring you back onto Lydiard Street where you can find Jac Hartje’s exhibition Algorithmic Landscapes upstairs in The Regent Cinema.
• Call into 101 Lydiard (corner Mair Street) and view Where the Reds are the New Black – Alistair Firkin and Helen Myall, Obnubilation – Patriot Mukmin, Slow Curtain by Lisa Walker and works by primary school students in I♥ FOTO.

Lunch

• Try lunch around Mair, Lydiard or Sturt Streets — there are plenty of cafes and restaurants in the area.
• After lunch, start with I Love Campbell at Ballarat Mining Exchange. Big works, striking portraits by a photographer on the rise.
• Walk to the Post Office Gallery to view Enninful x Mapplethorpe, an elegant exhibition of black and white works carefully curated in pairs.
• Then head to Catherine Leroy: One-Way Ticket to Vietnam 1966-1968 at Ballarat Town Hall. Powerful war reportage by a pocket-size adventuress.
• Your last stop in the Core Program is the fifth and final edition of the Martin Kantor Portrait Prize at Ballarat GovHub. (Find the exhibition adjacent to VicRoads and the Ballarat Library off Armstrong Street.)

Late afternoon

Make time to wander through outdoor installations including:

• Memory Matrix (The Goods Shed & Bridge Mall) and
• High Exposure in multiple locations including Town Hall Lane, Armtrong Street North and Doveton Street North.

Go to the National Centre of Photography to see Mumu Mirri – a striking public artwork by Dave Jones in collaboration with Wadawurrung artist and knowledge holder Dr Deanne Gilson – impressive by day, illuminated come nightfall.

Evening

• Dine in one of Ballarat’s atmospheric restaurants or try a local pub like The Mallow on Skipton Street – there’s an exhibition here as well – Trouble Rides a Fast Horse, Michael Danischewski.
• After dark, it’s a great time to wander between Open Program exhibitions in various nightspots such as Jo Armstrong’s Echoes of Fear at The Crypt, Camp Street and Nick Orloff’s Ghosts of Bulgaria’s Past at Ellington’s Wine Bar.

Day 2

Morning

• Begin with breakfast in a café hosting a show from the Open Program. If you have a vehicle, try Webster’s Market and Café showing Andrew Chalk’s Chasing the Light or Drive Café to check out Melbourne Collaged by Ruth Woodrow.
• Head out to RACV Goldfields Resort (Creswick) to see Nature~ista, Niijournal and Hagoromo (Full Flower Moon) with international artists Hiromi Tango, Maria Fernanda Cardoso and Campbell Addy.

Midday

• Lunch at the resort or stop at a nearby café in Creswick on your way back to Ballarat.

Afternoon

• After lunch, visit Ballarat Library for Thành Phẩm. Then pop into nearby Open Program shows or shops/cafés with smaller exhibits.

If you only have a morning or an afternoon:

• Focus on a few headline Core Program shows (e.g. I ♥ Campbell, Enninful x Mapplethorpe and Catherine Leroy).
• Add one stunning outdoor or public art piece like Mumu Mirri or Memory Matrix.
• Grab lunch in town, perhaps combine with one or two Open Program stops nearby.