The annual Carnevale celebration of Italian culture, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, First Fridays at the Art Gallery of SA, and Paul Simon & Sting on stage together are among this weekend’s entertainment picks.

Three new exhibitions of Indigenous art are opening at Tandanya, and a huge public artwork by Melbourne’s Ash Keating is being launched on the Adelaide Festival Centre’s River Deck.

Carnevale Italian Festival

From sport and music to fashion, food and fireworks, the annual Carnevale Italian Festival promises two jam-packed days of entertainment at the Adelaide Showgrounds. The outdoor plaza will be transformed into an Italian piazza with alfresco dining, and there will be cooking demonstrations, coffee master-classes, pasta-eating competitions, artisan craft displays, bands, Calabrese dancers, fashion shows and kids’ activities. Sporty types can play bocce and foosball (table soccer), plus there will be a display of classic Italian cars. Carnevale runs across Saturday and Sunday, with the full program available online.

Paul Simon & Sting – on stage together

This international tour by music legends and friends Paul Simon and Sting lobs at Coopers Brewery in Regency Park this Sunday afternoon. Fans can expect to hear songs from the pair’s solo careers, performed individually and together, as well as Police and Simon & Garfunkel hits – all with support from a sizeable band. Australian singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko will also be performing at the Adelaide show, which begins at 4.30pm, with tickets still available.

St Jerome’s Laneway Festival

The touring Laneway Festival takes over the redeveloped Hart’s Mill site in Port Adelaide today (Friday), with an international line-up including Flight Facilities, Highasakite, Caribou, Andy Bull, Mac Demarco (right), St Vincent and Vic Mensa. A selection of Adelaide beat-makers will play on the Vitalstatistix Stage, while the Waterside Workers’ Hall has been transformed into “a glammed-up industrial streetscape” with two video artworks. This year’s Laneway Festival after-party will be at Rocket Bar & Rooftop (tickets on the door).

First Fridays at Art Gallery of SA

This after-hours event at the Art Gallery of South Australia will feature live performances by Adelaide group Trio Montagne and harpist Carolyn Burgess. There will also be a talk by assistant curator of Asian Art Russell Kelty, and guided tours at 7pm and 8pm of the gallery’s spring-summer exhibition of Parisian fashion, Fashion Icons, which continues until February 15. First Fridays are held on the first Friday of every month, when the gallery is open from 5-9pm.

Moonlight Cinema

Nobody puts baby in a corner … yep, you guessed it, ’80s teen romance Dirty Dancing is coming to Adelaide’s Moonlight Cinema in Botanic Park on Saturday night. Tonight (Friday), you can see new zombie apocalypse film Wyrmwood (read InDaily review here), and on Sunday they will be screening the classic Monty Python satire Life of Brian. Entry to the cinema is via Plane Tree Drive; gates open at 7pm and screenings start at sundown.

Ash Keating art on the River Deck

Adelaide Festival Centre has announced it will be keeping its River Deck open on Friday nights throughout February and March, with the launch tonight of a new public artwork by Ash Keating. The Melbourne-based artist uses a fire-extinguisher-type apparatus to spray his huge pictures, with his latest work covering the Festival Centre windows facing the River Torrens. Beginning at 5pm, tonight’s event – which will feature DJ Decker – also marks the launch of the 2015 program for the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA), which is presenting an exhibition of Keating’s video works until February 15.

Ronnie Taheny

SA-born singer-songwriter Ronnie Taheny, who says 20 years of touring have given her a new view of Australian eccentricities such as the serious art of barbecuing,  is back home for a gig at The Gov on Saturday. Backing the new tracks from her pending eighth release will be a band comprising Felicity Freeman (bass), Mark Ferguson (keys) and Jarrad Payne – “on drums and an impressive range of instruments, including BBQ tongs if provoked”.  Taheny will be supported by Ben Ford-Davies, with doors open at 7.30pm.

Tandanya exhibitions

Seasons, by Jandamarra Cadd

Three new exhibitions displaying more than 40 works are opening today (Friday) at the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Grenfell Street. 14 Nations features works by Archie Moore focussing on the varied symbolic uses of flags, while Kinship showcases works in a range of styles and mediums by 2014 Archibald Prize finalist Jandamarra Cadd. The third exhibiton, Nganampa, comprises works created by Adelaide-based Pitjantjatjara artists from the Tandanya Urban Arts Studio 2014-2015 pilot project. All three shows will continue at the Tandanya gallery until March 21.

Iridescence – SA Museum

This exhibition at the South Australian Museum features beetles, bubbles, shells, fossils and myriad other items that illustrate the beauty of iridescence, “where colour is seen despite the absence of pigment”.  Exhibits have all been drawn from the museum’s own collection, and will be on display until March 15, 2015.

Brighton Jetty Classic Sculptures

This annual indoor and outdoor exhibition of sculptures features more than 100 works on display at the Brighton Surf Life Saving Clubrooms, Bindarra Reserve and along the Esplanade Sculptures Walk. It will be open from 8am until 8pm every day until February.

On screen

See InDaily’s reviews of the latest films screening in Adelaide:

Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead
The Theory of Everything
Still Alice
Wild
Taken 3
Birdman