Illuminate Adelaide

A celebration of innovation, art, light, music and technology 

28 June – 30 July

Each year throughout July, Illuminate Adelaide celebrates that idea by bringing together the best and boldest in art, music, technology and invention from around Australia and the world, and sets them loose across the city and the state.

From 28 June to 30 July, South Australia’s premier winter event turns Adelaide’s streetscapes and iconic locations into a beacon. An invitation. A city-wide spectacle daring you to shake off the winter blues and rekindle a sense of wonder.

Welcoming people from all walks of life to experience a program of free and ticketed events by local, national and international artists, Illuminate Adelaide is about staying up, heading out, and coming together. It’s about looking forward, breaking ground, and making memories. It’s about turning those long winter nights into an opportunity: to wake imaginations and let curiosity run wild.

There are a number of ways you can explore Illuminate Adelaide and all the different venues, buildings and precincts that plan to light up this winter.

Here’s just a few of the amazing events lighting up Adelaide:

Light Creatures (29 June – 23 July) – Light Creatures The Adelaide Zoo is back. After dark, you can encounter up close and immersive experiences from lanterns to interactive performances. Get ready for the newest Light Creature for 2023 – the majestic golden Falcon.

Resonate (29 June – 30 July) – The visionaries behind sell-out phenomenon Light Cycles return to Adelaide Botanic Garden for another breathtaking transformation of this iconic site. Following two sold-out seasons of Light Cycles, Moment Factory is back with six fresh installations on a novel night-time trail through the Adelaide Botanic Garden. Renowned for its use of light, technology, and exclusive soundscapes, Resonate inspires a profound connection with our surroundings.

Commencing from the North Terrace entrance of the Gardens, Resonate advances technical innovation to create a more immersive, vivid, and engaging encounter that celebrates nature’s beauty.

Image credit: Moment Factory

City Lights (7 – 23 July) – Illuminate Adelaide’s FREE, city-wide centrepiece returns with a new series of immersive installations, artworks, and large-scale activations set to turn Adelaide’s most iconic streetscapes into a night-time playground of colour and sound.

With more than 30 installations, projections, and immersive experiences spanning three distinct precincts within the Adelaide CBD, namely North, West, and East you can use the interactive map.

Click here to see the City Lights Map

Base Camp (28 June – 30 July) – We loved this in 2022 and are so glad to see it’s back again, but this time with a new look and in a new location, Rundle Park. Conveniently placed near the start of the City Lights trail Architects of Air’s inflatable luminarium wonderland in Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka, and Adelaide Botanic Garden’s North Terrace gate — the new entrance to Resonate and sequel to sell-out hit Light Cycles, this is the perfect spot to start on end your night. 

Architects of Air: Arborialis  (1-23 July) – Architects of Air, a UK-based company, have become a worldwide sensation, transporting individuals of all ages to alternate realms that are not entirely natural. In its Australian debut, Arborialis is the most recent addition to the company’s innovative installation series, featuring a maze-like wonderland that evokes the light-filtered canopies and stunning trunks of forests from around the globe.

Image credit: Jane Barlow

For the full Illuminate Adelaide 2023 program – click here  

How to book tickets

Online – You can book tickets online here. Simply click the BOOK button next to each event to be directed to the authorised ticket seller. 

In Person – there will be designated box offices available at certain events. Additional details regarding the operating hours of these box offices will be shared closer to the commencement of the event.

Please note: Illuminate Adelaide is a cashless event. All children require a ticket for entry to ticketed events. Free entry with a $0 ticket is available to children aged 4 years and under for Resonate, Mirror Mirror and Light Creatures, and aged 2 years and under for Architects of Air: Arborialis.

Where to park – Illuminate Adelaide events are scattered throughout the city. It is advisable to plan your itinerary thoughtfully and select the most suitable Wilson Parking site based on proximity and accessibility for your event. 

Public Transport – To navigate your movement across Illuminate Adelaide events scattered throughout the city, Adelaide Metro provides a specialised network of buses, trains, and trams. You can access the Adelaide Metro planner to obtain timetables and tickets and select the option that best suits your requirements.

Or you can utilise the Free City Connector bus and tram services, which operate on a continuous loop throughout the city and North Adelaide. These services run every 15 minutes on weekdays and every 30 minutes on weekends.

The public response to this significant annual event has been overwhelmingly positive, with a city-wide program of free and ticketed events drawing over 1.2 million attendees in 2022.