Illuminate Adelaide Reveals 2025 Program
This year’s winter festival includes a new music experience, Supersonic, taking place across several venues to close out the program.
Image Tyr Liang Xplorer Studio3
Illuminate Adelaide returns in 2025 with a spectacular program of visual art displays, interactive installations and musical acts from across the globe.
Held at various locations and venues throughout the city across three weeks from Monday, July 2 to Sunday, July 20, the wonderful winter festival is an all-encompassing visual and aural experience that takes over the CBD throughout July.
Rachael Azzopardi, Co-Founder of Illuminate Adelaide, says, “We are forging new frontiers… and continuing to commission local artists to create new installations while inviting some of the best makers from around the globe.
“This is a festival that’s not just about art—it’s about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and bringing the city together to celebrate creativity in its purest form.”
The centrepiece of this year’s event is Night Visions, an hypnotic interactive experience taking place in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens where you’ll experience lasers, lights, projections, and cutting-edge sound in a parallel dimension.
Hozions is the first of its kind, an immersive light and sound show transforming Adelaide Oval into a living, breathing canvas. Hundreds of illuminated drones and a state-of-the-art lighting system will tell the story of South Australia and the importance of human connection.
The family-friendly Universal Kingdoms returns to Adelaide Zoo with new instalment – The Next Era. This after-dark experience from renowned creative studio Erth and A Black Canvas brings the age of the dinosaurs back to life. Scream in delight (or terror) as three-horned Triceratops, a soaring Pterodactyl, and a towering Tyrannosaurus Rex take over the Adelaide Zoo.
The annual City of Lights is back once again. This free event transforms the Adelaide CBD into a breathtaking display of lights and sounds, with over 40 immersive installations and projections cropping up across the city.
READ MORE: Vino & Vibes Returns to the City’s South this Month
Illuminate Adelaide 2025 also sees the launch of the inaugural Supersonic – a sprawling live music event set to revitalise the West End. Running all night long from 5pm–5am on the final weekend of the festival, catch 19 performs, including Kuiper, NELYA and Hello Moto, strutting their stuff at seven iconic venues, including Ancient World, Nexus Art, Jive and more.
Local hero Motez has curated a lineup of incredible electronic acts who are performing at Lion Arts Factory as part of Supersonic, while Shalom Almond has lined up eight Australian music docos on the big screen at Mercury Cinema.
Unsound Adelaide offers music lovers the thrill of witnessing international acts such as the legendary John Cale and explorative London-based three-piece Moin performing at some of the best live music venues in the city. Held across two nights (Friday, June 11 and Saturday, June 12), the local contingent of artists includes dancefloor starter xxxquisite and producer and DJ Strict Face.
Other highlights of this year’s stacked program include the free winter village pop-up Base Camp, 10 Minute Dance Parties and the immersive Winter Forest feast.
South Australian Minister for Tourism, Zoe Bettison, says, “2025 will be the fifth year Illuminate Adelaide has presented a widely accessible program of both free and ticketed events and experiences, helping Adelaide come alive in Winter while attracting over a million attendances each year.
“Over the years this Illuminate Adelaide has become one of South Australia’s most popular events capturing the hearts and imagination of locals and interstate guests… the event has helped bring our city to life during the traditionally quieter winter months, encouraging people to explore and experience the immersive magic of these artistic unique installations.”
Illuminate Adelaide runs from July 2 to July 20. For the full Illuminate Adelaide program and ticket information, visit illuminateadelaide.com.
