Illuminate Adelaide has once again proven itself the key to unlocking winter’s steely grip, with attendees flocking into the city over the past 18 days to experience the event’s incredible showcase of art, light, music and technology.
The fourth edition of Australia’s most innovative winter festival wrapped up yesterday, including the much-loved, nightly free program City Lights, and despite a wild weather warning and global IT outage interrupting ticket sales across its final weekend, attendance numbers held strong with over 1.3 million attendees flocking to the city throughout July.
The Adelaide-exclusive event, EDEN – an interactive digital garden celebrating both the beauty and importance of the planet – proved to be a sell-out success, with the season extended due to demand. The world premiere season of Patch Theatre’s interactive work for children, Superluminal will also continue at SA Museum.
Showcasing the talents of almost 150 artists, including 62 shining stars from acclaimed international companies, Illuminate Adelaide drew visitors of every age, interest, and budget, into the city.
Illuminate Adelaide Co-Founders and Creative Directors Rachael Azzopardi and Lee Cumberlidge said: “We’re thrilled that the creative glow of Illuminate Adelaide has once again brightened up the chilly depths of winter for so many people, giving them an irresistible reason to rug up and come into town.
“Over the last 18 days, the city has been teeming with locals and tourists attending Illuminate Adelaide events and enjoying all the other cosmopolitan delights of South Australia’s brilliant capital.
“Illuminate Adelaide’s success is the sum of many parts and we’re so proud to work alongside the State Government and the South Australian Tourism Commission, as well as with the wider Adelaide arts and cultural community, to bring this event to life each year and create a dynamic city landscape through winter.”
Designed exclusively for its magnificent Adelaide Botanic Garden setting by French fire alchemists Compagnie Carabosse, Fire Gardens enticed visitors to wander through its enchanting wonderland of giant fire pots, flickering candlelit archways, captivating kinetic sculptures, and live music performances.
Family-friendly events were among the biggest hits of Illuminate Adelaide 2024, helping the school holidays fly by for kids and carers alike.
As popular by day as it was by night, EDEN left a lasting impression on the minds of young and old. The all-newUniversal Kingdom: Prehistoric Nights brought ancient creatures back to roam the earth once more in a spellbinding after-dark puppetry and animation event that drew visitors in their droves to Adelaide Zoo, while Patch Theatre’s Superluminal attracted streams of curious 4 to 8 years olds to SA Museum for a magical journey by lamplight through colourful interactive spaces exploring animals, the stars and cultural history.
For 17 straight nights, City Lights made every trip to town memorable, with another astounding showcase of visuals projected across landmark sites along North Terrace among its captivating new collection of 40 works. A standout wasGrand Mix by French outfit Inook, which saw beloved Renaissance artworks break free from the Art Gallery of South Australia’s iconic facade, to dance to a playful pop soundtrack. City Lights visitors were also invited to become part of the artistic experience through a whimsical series of immersive activations, highlights of which were the symphonic visual masterpieces of ChronoHarp and Glow – both by Sydney’s Amigo & Amigo, and the melodic swings of Spectrum of Happiness created by Thailand’s 27June Studio.
Music was a magnetic force for Illuminate Adelaide 2024, thanks to a cutting-edge Unsound Adelaide program, an impressive Live @ The Lab line-up that kept the West End jumping till late, and a tempting trio of one-show-only concerts.
Unsound Adelaide delighted devotees of experimental sonic expression across one wondrous weekend at the Dom Polski Centre. Mesmerising performances by trailblazing Australian and international musicians included former Sonic Youth member Kim Gordon and British ambient musician The Caretaker (aka Leyland Kirby) in his first-ever Australian show.
Dutch pianist Joep Beving (Her Majesty’s Theatre) and Helen Svoboda (Nexus Arts), a unique voice on the Australian jazz and art music landscape, both presented exquisite single-performances, with British electronic artist Max Cooper choosing Illuminate Adelaide for the Australian-exclusive presentation of his live event, 3D/AV, a phenomenal cocktail of immersive visuals, breathtaking sound design, and experimental electronica presented to a packed house at Hindley Street Music Hall.
New venues to the Illuminate Adelaide family included Lot Fourteen, which proved a sensational site for Base Camp – the festival’s free entry, fireside food and beverage hub; along with Nexus Arts, which also hosted the world premiere of Fill the Earth, a powerful installation of seven works bringing together physical performance, visual art, dance and video; and Adelaide’s futuristic museum of discovery, MOD, which put on a free screening of Miyazaki’s 1984 film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
Illuminate Adelaide will return in 2025 to put the wonder back into winter with another all-new curated program celebrating the brilliance of art, light, music and technology.
