City Lights to beam up CBD precincts for Illuminate Adelaide winter festival

CBD precincts will be transformed by City Lights when artists and studios create more than 40 site-specific works as part of the new Illuminate Adelaide winter festival.

Nocturnal playgrounds of giant inflatable sculptures, immersive installations, pixels and projections will transform three CBD precincts into a City Lights spectacular as part of the Illuminate Adelaide festival in July.

More than 40 site-specific works will shed fresh light along North Terrace as well as in the city’s East End and West End from July 16 to August 1.

Bright sparks Jordan Cumberlidge, 10, and Jack Abbott, 9, get in on the laser action for City Lights as part of the Illuminate Adelaide winter festival. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Illuminate co-founders and artistic directors Rachael Azzopardi and Lee Cumberlidge said the winter festival would showcase another side of the state’s arts as creative industries collaborated with cultural institutions and international artists.

“On North Terrace there will be things at Lot 14, the Gallery, the Museum, the Library,” Ms Azzopardi said.

Another dozen City Lights attractions will be featured along Rundle Mall and Rundle Street, including the Sky Castle – a deconstructed rainbow with inflatable archways of colour – by Australian design company ENESS.

Sky Castle by ENESS, one of the City Lights installations for Illuminate Adelaide.

In the West End, from Hindley Street to Light Square, the Big Picture Series will blend street art with augmented reality.

”It’s not just about a light festival in winter – it’s about focusing on how technology generally intersects with various art forms,” Mr Cumberlidge said.

It will also provide a chance for people to immerse themselves in much of the innovation that is going on behind the scenes in Adelaide’s creative industries, including animation and visual effects companies like Monkeystack and Rising Sun Pictures.

“We really wanted to bring those practitioners or companies out into the public realm,” Ms Azzopardi said.

Emergent Horizons by Pixel Ninjas, in association with Rising Sun Pictures, for City Lights.

“It’s been really exciting for them too, working in a slightly different mode to normal,” Mr Cumberlidge added.

“It’s also about exploring the city as you do that – we’re working with all of the cultural institutions, various galleries and all kinds of other public spaces to transform the city.”

The full Illuminate Adelaide program, featuring more than 150 installations, performances and events, will be released in May.

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