Let there be light! Must-see highlights of Illuminate’s City Lights
Say goodbye to dark winter nights. City Lights returns to Illuminate Adelaide from 4-20 July with a brand-new free program of mesmerising light installations, interactive art, and roving performances.
Illuminate Adelaide’s fan favourite annual event City Lights is back, making the city shine bright once again. World-renowned artists and creative studios are set to bring their flair to the streets, transforming cultural institutions and heritage buildings along the way.
Kicking off at 5:30pm till late every night for over two weeks, locals and visitors alike can forget the winter chill and head out to enjoy a program packed with free interactive experiences, projections, and – for the first time – roving performance art.
“Each winter, City Lights transforms Adelaide into an open-air gallery where the familiar becomes extraordinary,” says Illuminate Adelaide’s Co-founders and Creative Directors, Rachael Azzopardi and Lee Cumberlidge.
“We love seeing the city reimagined through the eyes of artists locally and from around the world,” they add. “This year’s program offers more to discover, with new street performance works and interactive experiences. We can’t wait for audiences to explore their transformed city.”
Make it a one-time adventure or your weekly tradition for the July school holidays—there’s a lot of ground to cover in the all-new series spanning the East End to Festival Plaza. Kick start your route with these highlights, and see where the night takes you:
FierS a Cheval. Photo: Cie des Quidams
FierS à Cheval by Compagnie des Quidams – Roving
Like something from a dream, this roaming performance by France’s Compagnie des Quidams promises nothing short of delight. Luminous giant inflatable horses will waltz, tango, joust and gallop as they make their glorious city procession. Whether you seek them out, or encounter them en route, they’ll inspire you to embrace the unexpected across the night.
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Illuminated Angels by Born in a Taxi – Roving
You’ll also be awe-struck whenever you see these ethereal floating angels brought to you by Melbourne’s beloved street theatre company, Born in a Taxi. A roaming performance only on the first and final weekend, the angels will float, land and engage with audiences in joyful and always peaceful ways along their travels throughout the City Lights circuit.
A path of light and time by Javier Riera – Government House
Leave your former impressions of Government House behind. Acclaimed luminary artist Javier Riera has come from Spain to transform the well-known historic site’s grounds with his all‑new projection installation. Step through the gates into a meditative garden of light, losing yourself in the artist’s award-winning expressive geometric light interventions.
Emergence by This is Loop_. Photo: Alan Hayes
Emergence by This is Loop – Festival Plaza
Go through one of three entrances into another dimension as the installation’s 75 mirrored nodes and 14,000 pixels turn your movements into hypnotic patterns. With endless surprises, you’ll experience a moment where chaos and order collide, and emerge back into the city with a new perspective of the world around you.
I give you a mountain by Joan Ross – Art Gallery of South Australia
Take time to watch Sydney-based artist Joan Ross’ animation of watercolours by 18th-century British natural history illustrator Sarah Stone of specimens, antiquities, and artefacts collected during Captain James Cook’s voyages.
Projected onto the gallery’s neoclassical façade, Ross transforms this cabinet of curiosities, once held in the Leverian Museum, into a vibrant exploration of power, exploitation, and the cultural history of the Pacific.
SomniUs by illumaphonium – Bonython Hall, Adelaide University
Continue your journey inside Bonython Hall with illumaphonium, creators from the United Kingdom of large scale multi-sensory installations that playfully rethink urban environments. Enter the iconic North Terrace building, watch the sky dance to your movements, and embrace the cosmos.
Even after exploring other City Lights sites, this one will take your sensory journey to new heights with its captivating blend of light, sound, and movement.
Rundle Street East becomes a winter wonderland. Photo: Frankie The Creative
Rundle Illuminations – Rundle Street
As you wander the East End after dark, you’ll find even more exciting large-scale installations, performances, and light works by a dream team of creatives for Rundle Illuminations, supported by City of Adelaide.
Control the passage of time with LAPS by Quebec’s Olivier Landreville, a spinning giant 7.8-foot hourglass wheel, and maybe even catch the Illuminated Angels and FierS à Cheval roving around. Walk at your own pace through Rundle Street and stop to take in the scene on glowing rainbow light benches from Germany. In addition to these installations running nightly, enjoy special weekend road closures of Rundle Street on Friday and Saturday nights, featuring firepits and late-night dining in a warm winter atmosphere.
Base Camp. Photo: Tyr Liang at Xplorer Studio
Base Camp
All that exploring will strike up an appetite. Recharge at Base Camp, Illuminate’s free pop-up winter village, with Adelaide’s most-loved food and beverage vendors, cosy firepits and fun 10 MINUTE DANCE PARTIES to warm you up.
You can also pause and refresh during your City Lights crawl with Illuminate Hosts. Look out for glowing neon signs marking partner venues–2KW, Aurora, East End Cellars, LUMEN Bar, Monica, Mother Vine, NOLA, Sofitel, Station Road and West Oak Hotel–to then sit, enjoy and elevate your night out with Illuminate-themed dishes and drinks.
Illuminate Adelaide offers so much more, with a program of free and ticketed art, music, and cutting-edge technology events, taking over the city’s streets and cultural venues in July.
Step into parallel worlds at Night Visions in Adelaide Botanic Garden, witness Horizons presented by RAA – a drone and light spectacular at Adelaide Oval (with a 2nd show now added due to overwhelming demand), visit Adelaide Zoo after dark to see dinosaurs roam, dance at experimental techno events including the brand-new West End festival Supersonic, fan-favourite Unsound Adelaide, and Icelandic duo Kiasmos at Hindley Street Music Hall.
Explore the full program and start planning your City Lights adventure at Illuminate Adelaide’s website.
