The inaugural 17-day Illuminate festival had been open for only a few days when SA’s lockdown was announced. Light Cycles – a 2km trail featuring video projections, light effects, lasers, smoke and soundscapes by Canada’s Moment Factory – had already had its first two nights cancelled due to severe weather warnings.
Organisers announced late this afternoon that planned sessions will resume and the lost week will be replaced with further sessions from August 3 to 8 to accommodate demand.
An approved COVID-safe plan is in place for the event, with reduced capacity, masks “strongly encouraged” and the Light Cycles Bar on Frome Road open for seated food and beverage consumption only.
The Light Creatures after-dark experience at Adelaide Zoo resumes from Thursday (July 29) and has been extended until August 8, while the City Lights free trail of large-scale installations and projections across the CBD resumes from Thursday until this Sunday evening.
“We are thrilled to be able to welcome audiences back to Illuminate Adelaide this week, turning the lights back on for Light Cycles, Light Creatures, City Lights and Van Gogh Alive, all of which brought so much joy before being paused,” Illuminate Adelaide co-founders and creative directors Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi said in a statement this afternoon.
“Although it won’t be the full program we had planned, we are extremely grateful for the opportunity to light up our wonderful city once again.”
The inaugural 17-day Illuminate Adelaide was to have run from July 16 until August 1, with many live events having to be cancelled or postponed due to the lockdown and state border closures.
It was announced yesterday that the planned performance by The Avalanches with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the Entertainment Centre this Friday has now been rescheduled for October 13. All ticketed MAAD (Music and Art After Dark) events planned for this weekend in the West End – including a DJ set by The Avalanches – have been cancelled.
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However, the easing of SA’s restrictions means that the Van Gogh Alive digital exhibition – also part of the Illuminate Adelaide program – reopened this morning.
Almost 80,000 tickets have been sold to the multi-sensory experience, located on the old Le Cornu site in North Adelaide. Producer Andrew Kay said it will operate at limited capacity for the season that runs until August 22, with tickets still available for this weekend.
The state-wide Umbrella Music Festival, which is run by Music SA and was just a few days into its three-week run when the lockdown began, will also resume with reduced-capacity gigs. Around 80 music performances across 40 venues had to be cancelled over the seven-day lockdown period, and it is hoped some can be rescheduled in the coming months.
The latest pandemic restrictions have also affected the annual SALA (South Australian Living Artists Festival), which runs throughout August. The official opening event planned for this Friday at the Art Gallery of South Australia has been cancelled, with a number of other exhibition launch events postponed.
However, SALA operations manager Bridget Alfred said organisers were excited that the festival – which this year features a record 9167 artists across 600 exhibitions – will go ahead in line with current COVID-19 restrictions.
“The beauty of visual arts is that we are able to go ahead with the vast majority of the exhibitions in the festival, so long as people wear their masks and keep in mind the social distancing requirements.
“We’re really pleased that our tours, events and open studios can run as planned, with appropriate changes to keep everyone safe.”
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