After a hugely successful run in the CBD, Illuminate Adelaide is lighting up in the Fleurieu Peninsula for the first time when Harbor Lights switches on in Victor Harbor this Friday.
For two weeks and three weekends, Harbor Lights will transform the town’s foreshore with a collection of immersive installations, lighting, and mind-blowing projections.
It follows the success of regional activations of Illuminate Adelaide 2022 in Renmark – which attracted 11,000 visitors over four weeks, and Mount Gambier which saw 17,000 people head to the state’s south-east over two and a half weeks.
The highlight of the Victor Harbor program will be ‘Monuments’, an internationally renowned work by Australian artist Craig Walsh. A site-responsive works, it uses night-time projections to transform trees into impressive sculptural monuments.
Monuments will celebrate influential First Nations peoples from across Ramindjeri and wider Ngarrindjeri Country, including Ramindjeri/Ngarrindjeri elder and operator of Kool Tours, Mark Koolmatrie, and proud Ramindjeri Narungga man and South Australia’s 2019 NAIDOC Artist of the Year, Cedric Varcoe.
Other artists featuring in Harbor Lights include Affirmation Stations by Vans The Omega, Submergence by Squidsoup, and Under The Neon Sea and I Am Here by Carla O’Brien.
The regional presentations are an initiative supported by the South Australian Tourism Commission, in partnership with innovative regional councils and award-winning artists, with the aim to shine a light on South Australia in winter and drive visitation across the state.
Harbor Lights 2022 | Victor Harbor
- Friday 26 August – Sunday 11 September
- Nightly, 6-10pm
- Warland Reserve, Victor Harbor
Minister for Tourism Zoe Bettison said the regional activations are helping extend the benefits of the state’s new wintertime festival across the state.
“On the back of Illuminate Adelaide drawing more than 1.2 million visitors to the CBD, it’s fantastic to bring satellite events to the regions and to be lighting up Victor Harbor for the first time,” said Minister Bettison.
“It’s the final of three regional activations of Illuminate Adelaide, after successful events in the Riverland and Limestone Coast which drew a combined 28,000 visitors. I’d encourage people to rug up and head to the Fleurieu to not only enjoy Harbor Lights but all of the incredible offerings across the region.”
Illuminate Adelaide co-founders and creative directors, Rachael Azzopardi and Lee Cumberlidge said: “We are delighted to launch this satellite event in Victor Harbor, Harbor Lights. The Fleurieu Peninsula is such a magnificent region to explore, and we are excited to share this final event in Illuminate Adelaide’s 2022 program.”
City of Victor Harbor Deputy Mayor, Nick Hayles said: “We are so excited to be welcoming Illuminate Adelaide’s ‘Harbor Lights’ to our very own Warland Reserve from 26th of August. I love that Victor Harbor is an increasingly popular regional destination for events, and our proximity to Adelaide means both locals and visitors to the Fleurieu can come and take in the work of award-winning artists being projected across our foreshore.”
“I encourage everyone if they’re visiting from Adelaide, or anywhere else, to make a weekend of it and check out everything on offer across the Fleurieu Peninsula right now. With both the Fleurieu Food and SALA Festivals bringing our region to life, there’s plenty to keep you busy!”
Fleurieu Peninsula Tourism, tourism executive Dylan Beach said wintertime in the Fleurieu Peninsula is “truly special” and events like Harbor Lights “will bring it to light”.
“The foreshore of Victor Harbor has also seen some significant upgrade in the recent years, so it’s fantastic to see Illuminate Adelaide, with the support of the South Australian Tourism Commission and Victor Harbor Council, come to the region and activate the area with some amazing technology and displays. It will bring something for everyone, and give visitors another reason to see the Fleurieu, so I can’t wait to see Victor Harbor come alive.”
