The Illuminate Adelaide 2024 lineup has been revealed with Joep Beving, Max Cooper, Kim Gordon and so many more.
Illuminate Adelaide is one of Australia’s greatest arts festivals and its lineup in 2024 celebrates the intersection and innovation between art, light music and technology across three full weekends from 04 – 21 July, it features a dedicated program of major ticketed events, music performances and free installations taking over the Adelaide CBD.
Now in its fourth year, Illuminate Adelaide anticipates increasing the audience at its 2024 program, after attracting 1.3 million attendees in 2023. The event supports almost 150 local, national and international artists including 62 coming from overseas and 54 from South Australia.
Illuminate Adelaide music lineup highlights
Joep Beving
Co-presented with Adelaide Festival Centre, Joep Beving, the Dutch pianist renowned for his minimalist style and profound connection with the piano will perform his latest album, Hermetism at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Beving became an overnight sensation at the age of 38 after streaming his debut album Solipsism for fun and attracting 85 million views, and is now ranked alongside Nils Frahm, Max Richter and Ólafur Arnalds.
Max Cooper
Belfast-born, London-based scientist, electronic musician and artist Max Cooper brings his live 3D AV phenomenon to Illuminate Adelaide, as part of a major world-wide tour. For this Australian-exclusive performance, Cooper will merge immersive visuals, breathtaking sound design, and experimental electronica, creating a truly thrilling experience.
Helen Svoboda
At Nexus Arts, Lion Arts Centre, Helen Svoboda, will showcase her skills in a solo performance that promises to be playful, expressive and masterful. As a double bassist, vocalist, and composer, she brings a unique voice to Australian jazz and art music.
Kim Gordon, The Caretaker, Lee Gamble and more at Unsound Adelaide
Hailed as one of the world’s most exciting and progressive experimental music festivals, Unsound Adelaide is ready to turn up the volume in Adelaide’s Polish heartland – the Dom Polski Centre.
This year’s line-up includes former Sonic Youth member Kim Gordon; British ambient musician The Caretaker (aka Leyland Kirby) in his first ever show in Australia; the visionary force behind BOREDOMS, Japan’s ∈Y∋ performing with C.O.L.O.; Australian collaboration Yirinda; Shanghai’s 33EMYBW; an Unsound commission with British artist Lee Gamble collaborating with Spanish choreographer/action artist Candela Capitán to bring his new album Models to the stage; Japanese multi-instrumentalist Eiko Ishibashi in partnership with renowned producer and musician, Jim O’Rourke; and Norwegian saxophonist and performance artist, Bendik Giske.
Unsound Club features HiTech, Manuka Honey, Crescendoll and more
Once the speakers have powered down at the Dom Polski Centre, Unsound Adelaide’s late-night counterpart, Unsound Club takes over The Lab @ ILA with an epic line-up that will move at full throttle.
Filled with blinding beats and live visuals, the program includes a live show from Detroit outfit HiTech (USA), combining footwork, slippery techno and rap to make singular music; Manuka Honey (AUS), who brings sensual chaos to the dancefloor by colliding club genres from across the globe, from baile funk to gqom, pop edits and more; Lee Gamble (UK) playing an exclusive Unsound Club DJ set, taking us on a rapid-fire unpredictable but danceable journey; and Crescendoll (AUS) a Gamilaraay woman and Gadigal based DJ who flirts with juke, jersey, footwork, hard drum, UK bass, garage and acid.
Illuminate Adelaide’s co-founders and creative directors, Rachael Azzopardi and Lee Cumberlidge said: “This year the 2024 Illuminate Adelaide program features some of the most exciting creative innovators and artists the world has to offer – and we can’t wait for July when they will brighten our winter with installations, projections, performances and immersive experiences across the city for a full 18 nights.”
Other lineup highlights
City Lights
Running for 17 nights, and coming to life from 5:30pm each night, City Lights will transform some of the city’s most cherished cultural institutions and heritage buildings including Government House, Bonython Hall, Art Gallery of South Australia and Lot Fourteen.
From interactive experiences to breathtaking visual spectacles, this year’s instalment will feature a spectacular line-up of immersive activations, created by a stellar mix of national and international visionaries, alongside local South Australian artists.
Fire Gardens
Experience the magical world of dynamic flaming sculptures at the Adelaide Botanic Garden with Fire Gardens by French fire alchemists, Compagnie Carabosse. Over 12 spectacular nights, witness more that 7,000 giant handcrafted fire pots, enchanting candlelit archways, captivating kinetic sculptures and live music performances, which will transform the garden into a bewitching night-time wonderland.
flora&faunavisions’ EDEN
Acclaimed Berlin design studio, flora&faunavisions have created a breathtaking immersive journey through EDEN, a magnificently imagined interactive digital wonderland where art, nature, and science spectacularly collide. Exclusive to Adelaide, and designed to inspire audiences of all ages, EDEN celebrates both the beauty and importance of the planet.
Fill the Earth
At Nexus Arts, Lion Arts Centre, Fill the Earth presents seven stories about how we fill our world, spaces and lives. A giant caterpillar giving birth to green balloons, a man negotiating a door, and a woman creating a garden from dead branches are just some of the stories created by the 12 artists through physical performance, visual art, dance and video.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Join us at MOD. for a free screening of Miyazaki’s 1984 film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, featuring warrior princess Nausicaä’s battle against an evil queen’s army amidst environmental destruction. Also, at MOD. explore the 2024 exhibition of BROKEN, an exploration of how the world could be different if we imagine new ways of being.
Base Camp
View this post on Instagram
Base Camp, Illuminate Adelaide’s popular after-dark bar and eatery village will beckon festivalgoers of all ages from a brand-new location at Lot Fourteen. Conveniently located on North Terrace between two of the festival’s centrepiece events for 2024, Fire Gardens at Adelaide Botanic Garden and City Lights, Base Camp is the perfect launching pad for an evening of luminous experiences or simply toasting toes fireside afterward, cocktail in hand.
Find out more here.
