‘A huge canvas’: Illuminate Adelaide takes to the sky for fifth year
Hundreds of drones will descend on Adelaide Oval when Illuminate Adelaide returns in July, along with a Velvet Underground co-founder and new Botanic Garden experience.
After four years of flooding Adelaide’s winter Instagram feeds with hypnotic light shows and shameless selfie-baiting outdoor installations, Illuminate Adelaide’s newly revealed 2025 program invites audiences to lock up their phones and devices.
In an unexpected pivot, co-founders Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi have invited Ilya Kneppelhout, Jordy van Bennekom, and Valentijn Klok, creators of the Netherlands-based cult hit Offline Club, to curate a series of digital detoxes around the city in July.
“We were really keen to explore the idea of bringing people together,” Cumberlidge tells InReview. “You know, Illuminate’s all about that shared experience, of technology and creativity, and I think this is so much about that shared experience as well. It’s also about the idea of human connection, whether that’s connecting with yourself, or with others.”
The Offline Club will invite Adelaide to switch off and re-connect. Photo: Supplied
Cumberlidge says the trio will curate a series of unplugged ‘hangouts’ at locations including The Pear café in Alberton, McGregor’s on HIndley Street, and Queen’s Theatre, along with a ticketed lunch at Paper Shell Farm and an ‘XL’ event at Lumen, the University of Adelaide’s winter hospitality pop-up.
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It’s a sign of Illuminate’s now-established place in the city’s winter calendar that the pair feel comfortable inverting the formula for its fifth year, as they also prepare to tackle their biggest stage yet.
Headlining the July program is Horizons, a one-night-only outdoor experience that will see hundreds of drones take to the sky over Adelaide Oval on Friday July 18.
“For us, it’s a huge canvas for storytelling,” Cumberlidge says. “Essentially we’ll be using all of that technology in the Oval — the video screens, the audio — to celebrate the gathering place that the riverbank has been for many tens of thousands of years.
“We’re sort of talking about it like an opening ceremony event, really.”
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Fresh off its blockbuster Chihuly in the Botanic Garden season, the Adelaide Botanic Garden will once again transform into Illuminate Adelaide’s after-dark centrepiece. This latest iteration, dubbed Night Visions, will feature new additions including the Bicentennial Conservatory, with installations from Melbourne’s laser auteur (and Illuminate mainstay) Robin Fox lighting up the ‘BiCon’.
The Velvet Underground’s John Cale will headline Unsound Adelaide in 2025. Photo: Madeline McManus / Supplied
Joining the previously announced musical headliner Kiasmos — the collaborative project of Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Faroe Islands-raised producer Janus Rasmussen — is Welsh music legend John Cale.
The Velvet Underground co-founder will headline the latest incarnation of Unsound Adelaide at Lion Arts Factory on Friday July 11, in what Cumberlidge understands to be Cale’s first solo appearance in Adelaide.
“I think it’s a real coup for Unsound in particular,” Cumberlidge says. “He’s been such a stalwart of experimental art movements; obviously his connection as a co-founder of Velvet Underground with Lou Reed and through that period, but he also produced records from Nico, Patti Smith, Happy Mondays amongst others.
“He’s really been at the centre of art-making and music-making for a long, long time.”
Curated by Unsound artistic director’s Mat Schulz and Gosia Plysa, the festival will also feature American noise duo Yellow Swans and aya, a rising star in British avant garde circles. In addition to Unsound, Adelaide’s West End will also host Supersonic, a new music event co-curated by DJ-producer Motez, that will run from 5pm on Saturday July 19 to 5am the following morning.
Families should also note Illuminate Adelaide’s free outdoor City Lights program will return to take over the city’s main drags from July 4 – 20, with key buildings including Government House, Bonython Hall and the Art Gallery of South Australia transforming each day from 5.30pm. The Adelaide Zoo is back for another family-friendly night-time experience, this time with a prehistoric twist courtesy of the ticketed dinosaur-centric Universal Kingdom: The Next Era.
“We just try to change it up every year, to keep evolving what we’re doing,” Cumberlidge says. “That’s how we tackle this idea of really bringing the city to life in new ways every winter.”
Illuminate Adelaide 2025 runs from July 2 – 20