Illuminate Adelaide back bigger and better in 2022 | The shows and installations you must not miss

After battling Covid, storms and stresses last year, Illuminate is back in 2022 bigger and better than ever. We take a look at the shows and installations you must not miss.

They battled through Covid lockdowns, storms and stresses last year which pushed them to the brink. But there was never any question Illuminate co-founders Rachael Azzopardi and Lee Cumberlidge would come back for more.

Launching a new winter festival amid the pandemic was never going to be stress free.

But the wild weather which forced the cancellation of Illuminate Adelaide’s 2021 opening weekend left co-founder Rachael Azzopardi, understandably, a little emotional.

“I had a bit of a cry to be honest,” Azzopardi says of her reaction at the time.

“In our industry, opening night is a big thing you work towards. It was three years in the making, and it didn’t happen.”

Worse was still to come for the inaugural light, technology, music and art festival. Days after damaging storms delayed its opening Light Cycles show in the Botanic Garden, the entire state was plunged into a six-day lockdown, courtesy of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Surprisingly, the prospect of a total shutdown hadn’t crossed the minds of Azzopardi or event co-founder Lee Cumberlidge.

“We knew we were working with Covid. But I must admit I don’t think we ever said to each other, ‘What happens if there’s a lockdown?’” Azzopardi says.

“It seems crazy now, how did we not think there was going to be a lockdown?”

Illuminate Adelaide founders and creative directors Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi. Picture: Shane Reid

After the initial shock eased, the pair got to work and set about salvaging their first festival. Liaising closely with SA Health, they extended flagship shows Light Cycles and Light Creatures, among others, and adjusted to the post-lockdown reality of greater restrictions.

But all the challenges proved illuminating – pardon the pun – in one key respect: It showed them Adelaideans would come out and support a winter event.

“We were told they wouldn’t, but they did,” says Cumberlidge.

“That was the silver lining to it. It connected us to our audiences in a way that we didn’t anticipate.”

The response from the public was “unbelievable”, Azzopardi says, with the demand allowing them to extend Light Cycles for three weeks.

“We were just pivoting every day, trying to work out how long the lockdown would last for. But there was a real public response to get out and support what was happening,” she says.

“It restored our faith and now we’re just really excited to bring a bigger and bolder program together this July.”

Both raised in Adelaide, lifelong arts professionals Azzopardi and Cumberlidge first met in 2007 when they were touring separate shows in China.

“We got to know each other a little bit and we kept bumping into one another on different projects,” says Cumberlidge, who produced the arts festival for the 2006 Commonwealth Games and co-founded MONA’s Festival of Music & Art.

“And then we just happened to move back to Adelaide at a similar time.”

He returned home in 2017 and a year later, after two decades away from SA in various industry roles, Azzopardi followed suit.

“We were talking about Illuminate even when Rachael wasn’t back in 2017 and then when she did arrive, we became quite serious about how we would develop the concept,” says Cumberlidge.

Azzopardi, who worked under Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton as the Sydney Theatre Company’s head of programming and artistic operations, adds: “We wanted to create something new at a different time of the year and we were just on the same page creatively.

“There was nothing happening … and winter seemed a perfect time to start something new. It was a perfect storm really.”

The festival is also about more than the spectacular light shows that its name refers to, but a nod to the future that Cumberlidge and Azzopardi envision for the “City of Churches”.

“For us it’s kind of like this idea of a bright future,” Cumberlidge says. “Illuminate Adelaide is about … all of the amazing lighting installations that we do but it also talks about the future technology side of what we’re interested in.”

Illuminate 2022.

Fast forward to 2022, and the pair have expanded their vision for the second annual Illuminate Adelaide, which will run for the entire month of July – twice as long as last year.

Gone are the restrictions, as well as the prospect of another lockdown, but challenges remain for the resourceful duo.

Planning began in September and with Covid variant Omicron still to arrive on our shores, Azzopardi and Cumberlidge worked with overseas and interstate artists to ensure the safe presentation of their projects, even if they didn’t make the trip to SA.

“We knew if we had to, we could still work remotely. We had these two-sided conversations with our artists where we said, ‘If you can come over, this is it, or if you can’t, can we still do it?’” Azzopardi says.

Canadian multimedia studio Moment Factory – which has created stage shows for acts such as Madonna to Ed Sheeran and Billie Eilish – is behind light and sound experience Light Cycles. The dazzling production featured seven digital art installations dotted along an almost 2km path through the Botanic Gardens last year, and it’s returning for another season. Like last year, the studio has decided not to send its full crew to Adelaide but instead will have a small team overseeing its new show.

Illuminate is back for 2022.

“We’ve built this team of technicians and designers who can put it together here. Last year, our technicians were running around with 360 degree cameras to try and show them (Moment Factory) – over video – what the installation will look like around the garden.

“Our industry, like many, has had to adapt to the pandemic to survive. The global shutdown has made that very difficult but they’ve been very good at creative problem solving.”

Filip Roca, an independent visual and new media artist based in Barcelona, Spain, is another who has chosen to stay home and send over his latest installation, which will feature as part of the City Lights spectacle in the CBD.

City Lights will return with a new series of immersive nightly installations, artworks and large scale activations around some of Adelaide’s most iconic streets.

“Australia is a long way from Europe. Artists can travel now but some have decided they want to do it differently,” says Azzopardi.

Soaring shipping and airfreight costs have also impacted the delivery of this year’s event.

The festival has had to factor in longer transportation times and budget for rising fuel costs, adding pressure to the bottom line, says Cumberlidge.

“We’ve had to send our freight over two months early … just because of the uncertainty of when it will arrive and the extra costs,” he says. “That’s been a really big change.”

Of course, environmental concerns and Covid uncertainty hasn’t deterred everyone.

About 70 per cent of the international and interstate artists and producers in the program are coming to SA to showcase their work, including Istanbul-based Ouchhh Studio.

With borders open and restrictions removed this time around, Cumberlidge and Azzopardi are hopeful of an uninterrupted festival, which has a total bill of between $10m and $15m partly funded via commercial partnerships, philanthropic donations, in addition to a major partnership with the SA Tourism Commission and box office revenue.

They understand there’s no guarantees in the post-pandemic world but, regardless, are proud of the tenacity shown by their Illuminate Adelaide team over the past 12 months.

“ I don’t think anything is certain anymore. We’ve just had to adapt to what those risks have become,” Cumberlidge says.

“We’ve committed to doing it from the beginning. We knew we were starting this event for SA in a pandemic and it was really important we just persevered.

“It’s more important than ever to offer the opportunity for people to get together and experience things live, not just through a computer connection. That’s inspired us.”

Ouchhh Studio’s Wisdom of AI Light. Picture: Supplied

LIGHT SHOW WILL LEAVE A LEGACY

Illuminate Festival will spawn a permanent piece of public art in the city centre, with construction to start next month.

The work, to which Adelaide City Council will contribute $300,000, will be designed by Illuminate’s artist in residence Ouchhh Studios.

Ouchhh is an Istanbul-based creative studio which combines artificial intelligence and art to create large scale public displays.

Over the past decade, Ouchhh has created more than 50 such displays in Europe, North America and Asia.

The concept and location will be decided in July but Illuminate co-founder Lee Cumberlidge said the permanent installation would be a “legacy” for the festival.

Ouchhh’s spectacular Wisdom of AI Light show launches on July 16 in a purpose-built venue on Rundle Rd.

TRIP THE LIGHT FANTASTIC - BEST OF ILLUMINATE 2022

From global superstars, to genre-defying experimental acts, to local artists, to attractions that suit the whole family, thevast Illuminate program is doing its best to light everyone’s fuse. Here’s a selection of some of the standouts

GORILLAZ

From a one night only Gorillaz extravaganza at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, to the genre-defying music and visual seriesKLASSIK Underground, through to the international celebration of experimental and electronic music that is Unsound, IlluminateAdelaide’s music program is certainly looking to push the boundaries this season.

For Gorillaz, Damon Albarn, of Blur fame, and Jamie Hewlett have long meshed art, music and technology together to createthe world’s greatest virtual band, which has grown into a global phenomenon. They hit the AEC on Thursday, July 28.

KLASSIK Underground

KLASSIK Underground will make its Australian debut, transforming Adelaide’s Dom Polski Centre into an up-close and immersive concert series combining classical music with live visuals from leading Australian artists, stagedacross the weekend of July 15-17.

Across three nights with three distinct programs, Australian violist and member of the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig (and founderof KLASSIK underground) Tahlia Petrosian, will direct the collaboration between a star-studded ensemble of musicians and leadingvisual artists, navigating a body of work spanning Schoenberg to Steve Reich.

UNSOUND ADELAIDE

Unsound Adelaide also returns to its spiritual home in the southern hemisphere.

Over six Unsound Adelaide festivals, SA established itself as Unsound’s longest-running overseas outpost. Now, after a fewyears away, it’s back.

From its groundbreaking flagship festival in Krakow to 30 locations around the globe, Unsound has become a magnet for someof the most exciting sounds heard in the world and it takes over the Dom Polski Centre on July 22 and 23.

Highlights include heavy hitter Stephen O’Malley of Sunn O))) collaborating with experimental musician Kali Malone, frequentcollaborators Sinjin Hawke (US) and Zora Jones (Austria), 700 Bliss (US) the duo of DJ Haram and Moor Mother and Australiancult favourites HTRK, as well as the late night Unsound Club at The Lab, with Air Max ’97 and Corin and more.

Nexus Arts will also host a collaboration between Chinese-Australian avant-garde composer Mindy Meng Wang and Melbourne-basedTim Shiel. ARIA-nominated Eishan Ensemble will also perform their blend of contemporary and classical music. At Live at theLab, a distinctive music program will feature each weekend across four weeks, from

July 8-31.

LIGHT CREATURES

Light Creatures is back to take audiences behind the gates of Adelaide Zoo after dark after a sold out world premiere seasonlast year. Light Creatures is brought to life by the talents of local and interstate artists, commissioned to create lanternsand illuminations.

This year there’s a series of new highlights, including the giant tiger lantern puppet, right, designed by A Blanck Canvasto celebrate the Year of the Tiger and promote conservation work to save the critically endangered Sumatran tiger.

Named Cahaya (meaning light/glow in Indonesian), the tiger will prowl the zoo with the help of local puppeteers from SouthAustralian youth theatre company, Slingsby. Visitors can also engage in interactive storytelling and animal facts via thenew Conservation Stations activation by Adelaide artist Vans The Omega. Works by local Kaurna and Narungga man Jack Buckskin,Anangu artist Elizabeth Close and Melbourne-based A Blanck Canvas also return. Some of these favourites include Tarutharuthe huge rainbow skink, giant pandas and giraffe lanterns as well as jellyfish and coral in an underwater world.

■ Location: Adelaide Zoo

■ Dates: July 7-31, Thursday to Sunday

■ Times: 6.30pm, 7.45pm

■ Tickets: $26-$30

CITY LIGHTS

Illuminate Adelaide’s free citywide centrepiece returns with a new series of immersive installations, artworks and large-scale activations, with more than 40 free works over 17 days across the city’s laneways, streetfronts and open spaces.

From 6-11pm, acclaimed artists and studios from around the world will create site-specific works including kaleidoscopic projections,immersive installations and interactive exhibits at the intersection of art and cutting-edge technology.

■ Location: Various locations across

Adelaide CBD

■ Dates: July 15-31 July

■ Time: Nightly 6pm-11pm

■ Free

LIGHT CYCLES

The runaway hit of Illuminate Adelaide’s inaugural program, Light Cycles, returns to Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens.

From Montreal studio Moment Factory, Light Cycles’ encore season, following last year’s sell out, will give visitors the chanceto discover this blend of technical innovation and natural splendour through a dedicated garden trail.

Moment Factory has crafted a global reputation for blending light, technology and emotions to reinvent iconic locations andunshackle imaginations.

In Light Cycles they use light, scenography, audio, video content and special effects for maximum impact.

Illuminate Adelaide’s co-founders and creative directors, Rachael Azzopardi and Lee Cumberlidge, say the company has redesignedthe popular installation Crystal Grove to expand its reach across the conifer lawn.

And with Reflection Lake, they are using new technologies to illustrate

the break of dawn over Center Lake, Azzopardi says.

■ Location: Adelaide Botanic Garden, entry via Frome Rd (Ginkgo Gate)

■ Dates: July 7 to July 31

■ Times: Tuesday to Thursday from 6pm. Friday to Sunday from 5.30pm. Closed on Monday. Duration: Please allow 60-90 minutes.Tickets: $38-$40 (RAA Member $32). Bookings essential

IN DEPTH

In Depth is a large-scale multimedia event in response to the Murray River, its history and the community of Renmark.

It will be held adjacent to the Renmark Club from June 3-July 2,

6-9pm.

In Mt Gambier, Digital Garden will again reimagine the cultural centre of the city with installations, projections, and interactivelighting, from August 5-21.

Harbor Lights will transform Victor Harbor across two weeks

from August 26-September 11.

More of the program, details and ticket links: illuminateadelaide.com