Illuminate Adelaide has today unveiled its 2026 program, returning from 1 – 19 July with a dynamic lineup, including 11 world premieres, 11 Adelaide exclusives and over 100 experiences and performances transforming South Australia’s capital into a vibrant winter playground of light, art, music, technology and culinary discovery.
Led by the Australian debut of Augmented Games, a large-scale interactive gaming experience created by Moment Factory – the masterminds behind Illuminate Adelaide smash hits Light Cycles and Resonate – this year’s program signals a bold evolution for the major event.
From musical world premieres in the coveted Unsound Adelaide lineup, to the wildly popular sensory odyssey return of Night Visions, to the spell bounding interactive journey through a magical underwater garden with Digital Abyss, to the well-loved, free and brand-new City Lights installations, to the playful prehistoric after dark experience at Adelaide Zoo with the final iteration of Universal Kingdom: Ice Age and more, Illuminate Adelaide 2026 will offer a compelling mix of free and ticketed events designed to captivate audiences of all ages.
Illuminate Adelaide Co-Founders and Creative Directors, Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi said:
“We are excited to deliver our sixth fully curated program. We are immensely proud to deliver both ticketed and free experiences that invite the public to explore, play and interact with the work of some of the world’s most exciting artists and creative studios, all pushing the boundaries of creativity and technology.”
Augmented Games by global creative studio, Moment Factory from Canada, will transform the Ridley Centre at Adelaide Showground into a life-size arcade. Players become the controller, competing in a series of electrifying multiplayer games that merge physical fun with digital technology. Making its debut in Australia and exclusive to Adelaide, this interactive play zone boasts its largest iteration yet with eight play areas in the mix.
Back by popular demand, Night Visions will once again take over Adelaide Botanic Garden, inviting audiences into a mesmerising night walk where light, technology, sound and nature collide in a reimagined parallel world.
Audiences are invited to explore the experience at their own pace, with the option to elevate their evening by dining at Botanic Lodge, where a specially curated Illuminate set menu complements the Night Visions experience. Visitors will wander through six zones and will be blown away by cutting-edge light, lasers, projections, and immersive soundscapes.
Across the city, wade into the depths of the ocean with Digital Abyss. A groundbreaking new work by internationally renowned French artist and Illuminate Adelaide’s 2026 luminary artist-in-residence, Miguel Chevalier. A true pioneer of the digital art movement, he has spent more than four decades pushing the boundaries of art and technology. Chevalier has established himself as a leading figure in generative, interactive and virtual art on the global stage.
Presented at Immersive Light and Art | ILA, this underwater-inspired experience brings AI-generated ecosystems to life, evolving and responding to human presence in a poetic fusion of nature, innovation and imagination.
Universal Kingdom: Ice Age is the third and final in the Universal Kingdom series at the Adelaide Zoo. With Illuminate Adelaide and presenting partner SA Power Networks, the Zoo will transport visitors to a frozen prehistoric world. Featuring spectacular puppetry and magical light installations by acclaimed creative studios Erth Visual & Physical Inc and illuminart. Expect to see woolly mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers and towering dinosaurs, alongside immersive installations and family-friendly interactive zones.
Illuminate Adelaide’s entirely free program City Lights returns with the biggest trail ever presented. It will feature more than 50 interactive artworks, roving performances, and dynamic projections descending on the city from around the world.
Stretching further across the city than ever before, the trail now extends into Rymill Park, inviting audiences to explore more. Highlights span playful, interactive works including Amigo & Amigo’s Piano Walk and Checkmate, alongside striking large-scale projections and captivating roving performances.
Among them, the otherworldly Birdmen by Close-Act Theatre of the Netherlands, towering up to six metres high and four metres wide – bringing an illuminated, surreal presence to the streets.
Music will remain a cornerstone of the program, with Unsound Adelaide delivering a boundary-pushing, experimental sound across multiple venues. Supersonic returns in a bold new format, taking over Hindley Street Music Hall for a one-night-only. The fully immersive club experience will be headlined by the internationally recognised DJ, Skin On Skin.
Illuminate Adelaide continues to break down the barriers that technology creates within society with a musical performance of a different kind with The Lost Art of Listening. Presented by Vitalstatistix, this performance brings people together with their phones to play in a shared sonic experience that explores listening and its place in human existence, framed by a stillness that is rare today.
Featuring cult pianist Erik Griswold, this show for prepared piano and a choir of smartphones combines field recordings, vintage synths, and the sounds of the elements, creating vibrations that travel through your body and swirl through space.
Beyond the lights, Illuminate Adelaide’s food and beverage offerings sport its most ambitious yet, and has been reimagined, expanded and embedded in the fabric of the city more than ever before.
Building on a long-standing commitment to supporting Adelaide’s bricks-and-mortar hospitality scene, this year’s offering places local restaurants, bars and producers firmly at the centre of the experience, inviting audiences to eat, drink and explore their way through the city after dark.
Following overwhelming demand in its debut year, the Illuminate Hosts Program returns in 2026 with a broader and more curated line-up of over 30 hosts across the city, encouraging eventgoers to discover some of Adelaide’s most celebrated venues alongside exclusive menus, offers and experiences designed especially for the season.
Complementing this, a network of City Lights Pitstops – including LUMEN Bar, Art Gallery of South Australia, Lot Fourteen, Rymill Park and the State Library of South Australia – will anchor the trail with vibrant hubs to refuel with snacks and drinks along the journey.
At the heart of the 2026 food and beverage offering is a bold new suite of immersive dining experiences that push the boundaries of traditional hospitality. Highlights include Illuminate After Dark, an intimate cheese and caviar masterclass inside the iconic Adelaide Central Market where guests are guided through a luxurious tasting journey by Valerie Henbest of Smelly Cheese.
Additionally, Ocean To Plate: Immersive Dining Experience will be presented in collaboration with Adelaide Convention Centre. It offers a multi-course celebration of South Australian seafood, set within a fully immersive environment of ocean-inspired projections and soundscapes.
Symphony of the Senses at Sofitel Adelaide will bring together a live performance from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra with refined French-inspired canapés and premium beverages, culminating in a breathtaking candlelit finale.
South Australian Minister for Tourism, Hon Emily Bourke MP said:
“Illuminate Adelaide continues to shine in our non-stop events calendar and has launched into the ranks of Australia’s fastest-growing festivals. Last year we saw the winter staple triple its annual total attendance and deliver a record $74.7 million boost to our state, with hotel rooms packed across the city.
“This year’s program is set to again draw huge crowds and I can’t wait for South Australians – and tens of thousands of interstate and overseas visitors – to come and experience world-class artists and support our local businesses.”
With a diverse program spanning blockbuster experiences, intimate works and free city-wide installations, Illuminate Adelaide 2026 invites audiences to explore, play and connect – transforming winter into a season of discovery.
Illuminate Adelaide runs from 1 – 19 July 2026 at various locations around Adelaide.
Tickets are on sale today at the website.
Website: https://www.illuminateadelaide.com/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/illuminateadelaide/
Hero image: City Lights, Amigo & Amigo’s Piano Walk, supplied.
