Opening this month at Immersive Light & Art (ILA) will be the South Australian premiere of Bob Brown Foundation’s Art for Takayna exhibition. The exhibition will feature a huge array of the artwork from over 20 artists, an incredible immersive display, and several special events and performances during its run between the 18th of September and the 10th of October.
One of the world’s most distinctive environmental art projects, Art for Takayna brings multidisciplinary artists from around Australia into Tasmania’s Takayna for a unique and inspiring residency in one of the world’s most significant and threatened wilderness areas. Immersed in the landscape, the artists respond to the ancient rainforests, towering eucalyptus forests, beaches, mountains, and the flowing rivers that have carved this landscape for millennia.
Glam Adelaide spoke to Sarah Bleby, Head of Creative at ILA, about Art for Takayna, the special performances included in the exhibition, and how the exhibition came to be showcased at ILA.
“This exhibition came about because a bunch of artists that I know over the last couple of years did the incredible Art for Takayna immersive artist residency in the Takayna forest with the Bob Brown Foundation. I’ve been following several artists’ residencies and the things that they’ve been saying about how transformative it was, how they felt such a profound sense of connection with the forest, the land and each other through doing these residencies and the people around them. I found that completely compelling from the outside. Also, the Bob Brown Foundation’s work is really advocating for the forest and nature, and how important that is for our survival as a species. So all of that really resonated with me. What I didn’t know until I saw these artists doing this work is that they’ve had an exhibition that has had an outing in Hobart and in Melbourne before but it’s never been to South Australia. When I started working here at ILA I thought this is something we could do and do it really well. So I got in touch with them and I cannot wait for South Australians to see these incredible works.”
The Art for Takayna exhibition invites visitors to experience the extraordinary beauty of Takayna through photography, painting, mixed media, and an immersive digital installation. Unlike anything Bob Brown Foundation has presented before, at the heart of the exhibition is a breathtaking, immersive film projected across ILA’s 110m² LED-screen studio, accompanied by an original score improvised by Adelaide pianist Dave McEvoy to the sounds of Takayna awakening at dawn.
“In the ILA gallery, which is the space that you walk through before you go into our immersive studio, we have more than 30 artworks by artists who have done the residency from all over Australia. They include people like the late Jon Kudelka, several South Australian artists like Heidi Kenyon, Bianca Hoffrichter, and Corrie Hosking. They are all represented in this beautiful collection of visual artworks that will be on the walls in our gallery. There’s photography, drawing, lino cutting, posters, paintings, prints––all kinds of different media.
“After the gallery, you walk into our immersive studio. We’re making it as much like a forest as we can and the Bob Brown Foundation has made a film especially for our studio that goes on that big u-wall screen that surrounds you and then on the flat screen that’s also part of that space. The film they made especially for this exhibition has been designed to accompany a film of the incredible Dave McEvoy playing the piano at dawn in the forest. It also includes an incredible showcase of the Takayna wilderness. It’s incredible footage. The whole cycle in the studio runs for around 30 minutes.”
Throughout the exhibition there will be several special performances to accompany the artwork, including a high tea curated for the event.
“Our first event is on Friday the 18th of September, where we’re going to have a talk about activism, about why we need the artist’s lens on crises, and why we need artists to be talking about this environmental issue. Then on September 19th Anya Anastasia is going to launch her single that she wrote and was inspired by the forest––all the incredible communication between the trees and the plant life and the fungi. She’s going to perform a set with her trio, which is going to be absolutely beautiful. They’ll be performing in the round inside the studio surrounded by that footage of the forest and the audience will also surround them. We have several other events as well, including Naomi Keyte and her trio and Tessa Leon. There’s also a high tea on Saturday the 19th of September where we’ve curated a special menu in our bar.
“Later in the exhibition season Dave McEvoy is working with the brilliant Barkindji Songwoman Nancy Bates to bring an interactive performance for 0 – 6 year olds called Forest Songs for Little Ones. That is going to be a very special performance. Then of course we have Dave McEvoy playing with his trio live inside the forest setting on a grand piano just like the one he took into the forest. The piano is being brought in with thanks to our friends at the Australian Piano Warehouse, which is just around the corner from ILA as well. Dave and his trio will be doing two performances: Friday the 9th of October and Saturday afternoon the 10th of October.”
Art for Takayna will run at ILA in Light Square between Friday 18th September – Saturday 10th October.
“I’m really looking forward to hearing the audience’s reaction as they walk into the studio, because it is breathtaking. I’m really looking forward to seeing audiences being surrounded by the footage of Takayna settling and being engulfed by the incredible soundscape that goes with the film. It brings the real sounds of the Tasmanian wilderness right into our studio. It’s going to be mesmerizing to be seated in that space, seeing the footage and hearing the soundscape as the lights dim and our performances begin amongst it all. There is so much packed into the duration of the exhibition.”
For full program details, including further information on the special events and tickets, visit: ILA’s website.
Art for Takayna
Immersive Light & Art (ILA)
63 Light Square, Adelaide
Friday 18 September – Saturday 10 October, 2026
https://immersivelightandart.com.au/event/art-for-takayna/
Photo credit: Jack Timberlake
