Adelaide’s iconic urban streetscapes will be transformed into a high-tech playground of colour and sound when Illuminate Adelaide’s free sensory extravaganza City Lights, returns in July with an entirely new series of larger-than-life installations, stunning artworks, and epic activations.
Presented over 17 nights from 07 – 23 July every night from 6pm-11pm across three CBD precincts (North, East, and West), City Lights will cast new light on Adelaide’s leaf-lined terraces, intimate laneways, and picturesque open spaces with more than 40 site-specific works by an illustrious mix of homegrown and international artists.
From immersive visual soundscapes to exciting light games for every age, the 2023 program is playful and provocative with a major focus on interactive works for visitors to enjoy and explore.
Illuminate Adelaide’s co-founders and creative directors, Rachael Azzopardi and Lee Cumberlidge said: “Whether you get your glow on for one night, two, or all 17, City Lights will awaken your senses with an unforgettable night-time adventure through our city’s heart. Follow the trail of luminous dandelions and trumpet flowers, rouse your inner child at the interactive Laps Games, or plunge into an experimental pixel playground – just don’t miss one magical moment.”
Free, accessible, and family-friendly, City Lights will captivate at every surprising turn, promising a night on the town like no other.
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
Flower power flourishes through the North and East precincts. Electric Dandelions by LA’s Liquid PXL is a towering, sculptural floral field that awakens at night to put on the ultimate fireworks display, while Trumpet Flowers from Sydney-based Amigo & Amigo invites audiences to create their own floral symphony or simply enjoy the score as they explore a super-sized musical jungle of light, colour, and sound.
Elsewhere in the North, there’s no escaping the all-seeing gaze of The Eyes, a large-scale art installation by the crazy-talented CoolShit collective. The young and young at heart will equally love Laps Games by French company Groupe Laps – an interactive techno playground that brings classic children’s games into a new age. Also by Amigo & Amigo is Affinity, an immersive touch-sensitive light and sound installation that takes visitors on a sensory journey through the human brain.
Angela Tiatia’s major work The Pearl conjures a speculative world to recast the idea of the Pacific and will be projected on the façade of the Art Gallery Of South Australia.
Government House will also open its gates for the duration of City Lights for a special premiere work titled Into The Light, projected onto the building’s iconic façade and highlighting a selection of South Australia’s most innovative women. While New Light – a collaboration between Australian Network for Art and Technology and Adelaide Festival Centre’s Moving Image Program -returns for a third year to King William Road with evocative, original moving image works from three rising First Nations creatives Chantel Bates, Elizabeth Close and Jonathon Saunders.
Enticing an exploration of the vibrant East End is a precinct-wide exhibition of exquisite original artworks by Adelaide’s own Poh Ling Yeow. Each stunning piece by this multi-talented powerhouse is a mesmerising portrait based on Poh’s signature series, The Girl.
Continuing in the East Precinct and to commemorate the upcoming 2023 federal referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution through a First Nations Voice to Parliament, the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute will light up with artwork from the YES campaign.
Head to the West Precinct to experience Ammonite – an epically engineered illusionary light installation by French artist Collectif Scale composed of repeated lines of light and with a spellbinding original soundtrack; or look up to take in Wendy Yu’s large-scale video projection work Acts of Holding Dance. Inside The Lab’s creative belly, be embraced by Overture – a pixel-rich, sci-fi abstraction of flashing lights, geometric forms, and organic topologies from Indian-based Bigfat x Myles. Meanwhile, Light Square will host AmandaParer’s massive inflatable Man, which takes its inspiration from Rodin’s famous piece ‘The Thinker.’
Across selected sites throughout the city and brought to life by Monkeystack, will be the inaugural Augmented Revolution series. Utilising emerging technology of augmented reality as a storytelling platform, this special experience showcases works by three contemporary First Nations artists Carly Tarkari Dodd, Temaana Yundu Sanderson-Bromley and Jaydenlee Tong.
The full City Lights map will be released in June, allowing audiences to curate a night in their winter woolies, following the shimmering lights for a brilliant urban adventure.
For more information, head here.
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