Audiences will take a multi-sensory journey through vibrant realms of colour and sound at Adelaide Botanic Garden as Illuminate Adelaide kicks off with brand new event Night Visions.
From drones to luminous horses, parallel universes to international music legends, and immersive eating and drinking experiences, Illuminate Adelaide is back in town for 2025 with another trailblazing program over the next 17 days and nights, providing Adelaidians and visitors with no excuse to stay at home this winter.
Consistently attracting over a million attendances each year, South Australia’s annual celebration of art, light, music and tech has proven itself an elixir to blow off the winter blues – and 2025’s line-up is the best yet, with ground breaking new events like Horizons at Adelaide Oval and Night Visions at Adelaide Botanic Garden, teaming up with fresh takes on past favourites, and an extended offering of free family fun.
“For our fifth Illuminate Adelaide we really pushed the envelope in terms of technology and innovation, collaborating with some of the world’s most ingenious visual and musical creatives. There are over 350 people who have been working tirelessly behind-the scenes to make this year’s event come to life,” said Illuminate Adelaide Co-founders and Creative Directors Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi.
Across nine world premieres and 23 Australian-firsts and exclusives, Illuminate Adelaide will present 134 spellbinding experiences, and feature over 175 artists, including a host of homegrown luminaries alongside acclaimed overseas companies.
“We’ve created two brand new productions for our fifth year, our event centre piece, Night Visions and our one night only spectacular, Horizons,” said Cumberlidge and Azzopardi. “We also celebrate the launch of our all-new culinary offering and a mega musical line-up that teams the perennially popular Unsound Adelaide program, headlined by the legendary John Cale, with edgy newcomers like the 12-hour Supersonic festival in the West End and Lot Fourteen’s 10-Minute Dance Parties – Illuminate Adelaide 2025 will surpass all expectations.”
Programmed for every age, interest and budget, Illuminate Adelaide entices ever-growing numbers of locals, interstate visitors and overseas travellers into the city, with substantial economic impact.
“As a festival that champions innovation across so many realms, the Illuminate Adelaide team is always pushing its own creative boundaries to stay fresh – magically reinventing its program each year,” said South Australian Minister for Tourism, Zoe Bettison.
“Inspiring in its scope and originality, I’m confident 2025 will build on past successes, tempting more record visitor numbers into town through what is a typically quieter time through winter, and generating millions of dollars in economic activity for South Australia.
Horizons is one of two new productions created by Illuminate Adelaide for 2025. For one-night-only (18 July) this world premiere, Adelaide-exclusive event will transform the iconic Adelaide Oval into a living, breathing creative canvas across two sessions.
Presented by RAA in association with Adelaide Oval, AGB Creative and KOJO, Horizons will see hundreds of illuminated drones take to the night sky, combining with state-of-the-art lighting, audio and screen technology to tell the story of South Australia’s past, present and future.
The second work, Night Visions, will draw on cutting-edge light, lasers, projections and sound to morph Adelaide Botanic Garden into a portal of parallel dimensions, taking visitors on a multi-sensory journey through vibrant realms of colour and sound. Among the powerhouse collective of creatives involved are UK light sculpture artist Amelia Kosminsky and Adelaide AV-royalty, Jayden Sutherland and Chris Petridis.
Other key ticketed events include the Australian debut of Dutch digital detox initiative, Offline Club, which invites guests to rediscover the joy of real-world connection, 10-Minute Dance Parties – a high-energy pop-up experience inside a shipping container.
Streetlights and Long Nights – a new take on storytelling from Vitalstatistix where audiences tune into intimate conversations via Bluetooth headphones while seated in vintage cars parked on Port Adelaide’s waterfront, and family favourite Universal Kingdom, which brings The Next Era, the second after-dark adventure in its T-Rex inspired trilogy, to Adelaide Zoo.
The cornerstone of the festival’s free program, City Lights returns to breathe warmth and wonder across the CBD with an all-new series of installations and performances over 17 nights. From the East End to Festival Plaza, lighting up heritage landmarks like Government House and the Art Gallery of SA, City Lights will run nightly from 5:30pm showcasing the talents of an esteemed line- up of local, national and international artists.
In an event first, this year’s free program includes interactive street performances with giant illuminated horses parading through town as part of FierS à Cheval by French outfit, Compagnie des Quidams, and Illuminated Angels floating through the streets.
On the music front, Unsound Adelaide, the sole outpost south of the equator for its cult experimental music namesake in Europe, returns for 2 epic nights (11-12 July) headlined by Velvet Underground founding member, John Cale, while for one-night only (18 July), the patience of Kiasmos fans will be rewarded when the techno maestros play Hindley Street Music Hall as part of their first national tour in eight years.
Supersonic is a brand-new music event taking over several West End venues for 12 hours on 19 July (5.00pm – 5.00am). In this mobile music marathon, audiences can choose their own path through an offering of free and ticketed experiences, encompassing everything from indie jams to experimental sounds and film.
This year, Illuminate Adelaide includes a smorgasbord of culinary activities ranging from seasonal bites served up by stall vendors to accompany art installations at Adelaide Central Market to the Chalk Hill Wines Sensory Odyssey Experience in McLaren Vale – a wine tasting matched with music.
For sit-down feasting, there’s the all-new Illuminate Hosts program, featuring exclusive off-menu events at some of Adelaide’s top restaurants and bars, and Winter Forest – a communal degustation experience from the ILA Immersive Table Series that will enchant the senses and delight the palette.
After the resounding success of its 2024 iteration in the grounds of Lot Fourteen, Illuminate Adelaide’s evening hub, Base Camp, returns to its cosy North Terrace digs, with free entry. The ideal family-friendly place to kick-off or complete an evening adventure, Base Camp will once again champion local culinary talent across a tempting range of food and beverage experiences, with options to suit all tastes and diets.
Illuminate Adelaide continues to 20 July 2025. For more information and full program, visit: www.illuminateadelaide.com for details.
Images: Night Visions – photo by Tyr Liang, Xplorer Studio | 10-Minute Dance Parties – photo by Damien Peck Photography | Horizons (supplied) | Streetlights and Long Nights (supplied) | Kiasmos – photo by Maximilian König