The fifth edition of Illuminate Adelaide features nine world premieres across art, light, music and technology this July.
Illuminate Adelaide 2025 promises to brighten the winter months with hundreds of drones creating a living canvas over Adelaide Oval.
The event’s fifth edition will deliver 134 experiences including nine world premieres and 23 Australian exclusives. Illuminate Adelaide will showcase extraordinary art, cutting-edge technology and diverse music across multiple venues throughout the city.
Illuminate Adelaide 2025
- When: 2-20 July 2025
- Where: Multiple venues across Adelaide including Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Botanic Garden and throughout the CBD
Stay up to date with what’s happening within the region’s art scene here.
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Horizons, an Adelaide exclusive on Friday 18 July, will transform Adelaide Oval with drones, light and sound creating a breathtaking aerial display against the night sky. Meanwhile, Night Visions invites visitors to journey through parallel dimensions at Adelaide Botanic Garden using lasers, projections and immersive soundscapes created by a team of visual luminaries including UK light sculpture artist Amelia Kosminsky.
The free City Lights program returns from 4-20 July to enliven Adelaide’s CBD streets with more than 40 illuminated installations and performances from local, national and international artists. For those seeking relief from screen time, the Australian premiere of Offline Club encourages participants to surrender their devices and rediscover face-to-face connections across five exclusive events.
Music enthusiasts can experience career highlights from Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale, compositions by Icelandic techno duo Kiasmos (Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen), and explore experimental sounds at Unsound Adelaide on 11-12 July. Supersonic, a new 12-hour music festival, will take over Adelaide’s West End on Saturday 19 July with an eclectic lineup showcasing South Australian talent alongside Australian acts.
Other unique experiences include Streetlights and Long Nights (15-20 July), an immersive audio work experienced while seated in stationary vintage cars near Port Adelaide waterfront, and Winter Forest, an immersive dinner set inside a winter forest. Families can look forward to Universal Kingdom: The Next Era (3-20 July), where dinosaurs roam Adelaide Zoo in a spectacular after-dark experience.
Base Camp returns to Lot Fourteen as a free food and entertainment hub, featuring 10-Minute Dance Party – a high-energy pop-up experience inside a shipping container with DJ Jof O’Farrell. The new Illuminate Hosts program will see venues like LUMEN Bar, Garçon Bleu and Adelaide Central Market offering bespoke food and beverage experiences.
Co-founders Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi have expanded the festival’s scope for 2025, commissioning new works from local artists while bringing international creative visionaries to South Australia. The pair aim to forge new frontiers in immersive art and light-based experiences during the depths of winter.
The festival continues its mission to transform Adelaide into a hub for innovation and creativity during the coldest months of the year, providing warmth through cultural experiences that challenge and delight.
For more information, head here.
