Lightscape | Brisbane Festival

Images from Brisbane Festival.

The internationally acclaimed Lightscape exhibit has taken over the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, and many of our city’s instagram feeds, as a part of this year’s Brisbane Festival. Featuring a two kilometre path of 13 ‘immersive’ light installations and soundscapes from national and international artists, along with a cavalcade of food trucks and stalls to feed the masses, it’s become one of the festival’s must see events.

Lightscape has taken over public spaces in cities around the world, including Sydney and Melbourne, for more than 10 years. Now our turn to experience the global phenomenon during this year’s BrisFest. There’s a lot of publicity about it and many grammable moments that you’ve probably seen in your feeds which has drawn the masses for the length of the festival. The question I keep asking myself though is, is it worth the cost of admission?

Many seem to think so. I had tickets for the last entry of the night at 8.30pm on a Thursday night and there were still plenty of punters streaming through, phone in hand, ready to take in the installations and take their selfies. And anything that draws people into public space on a school night in Meanjin / Brisbane should be a good thing, right?

Images from Brisbane Fesitval

Here’s how it works. Tickets are for 15min slots starting from 5.45pm, with the last entry at 8.30pm, but you can stay for as long as you like. You can also buy an ‘Anytime Pass’ for a higher price to enter when whenever you like on a certain day. The installations are displayed along a 2km track set-out in the Gardens, with a few food trucks and even a station for toasting marshmallows along the way. All at a cost of course. Being a fenced-off event, you do get the rare opportunity in our town of being able to take any drinks purchased inside with you on your walk.

The works on display was primarily from international and interstate artists, with the exception of one of the first pieces, ‘The First Nations Walk’. ‘The First Nations Walk’ features a rotating cycle of artworks from First Nations artist from across Queensland, all backed by traditional songs. Following the whimical floating installation Lillies by Jigantics, it serves as an informal Welcome to Country and a gorgeous welcome to Lightscape.

Other pieces in Lightscape ranged from subtle additions to the landscapes of the gardens to psychodelic immersive zones with booming soundtracks that wouldn’t be out of place at a bush-doof. There were moments when I pondered whether future expansions will include festival nights with touring DJs, installations backed by local live musicians or pieces that include local performers. The highlight for many, at least by the number of selfies taken, was the iconic Winter Cathedral, a 40m tunnel of warm yellow light inspired by arched church windows. Other standouts included ‘Floraison’ by Pitaya, a grove of hundreds of seeminly floating red flowers trapped in a gove of trees, and ITHACA Studios’ ‘River of Light’ and ‘Palm Tree Circle Show’ installations of light that respond to music, both of which I could have watched for ages. The Palm Tree Circle Show’s incorporation and use of a circle of palm trees in the Gardens was a highlight.

Images from Brisbane Fesitval

The question I kept coming back to throughout my visit, and in the days following, was the set-up and price of Lightscape. For the length of the festival, a large proportion of the Gardens, one of our city’s prime free-to-use public space, has been closed down for an installation that you need to pay to enter, primarily featuring and benefiting artists from outside of our state. While I haven’t heard much rumblings about it here, the first time this happened when Lightscape hit Vivid in Sydney, many were up in arms. Notably though, complaints in Sydney may have come from the fact that the festival previous had a free botanic garden walk with light installations that has now been taken over by Lightscape and it’s entry price.

The price also should be taken into account. While $39 per person or $128 for a family of four is cheaper than many shows on offer at this year’s festival, it’s pricier than many public installations through in our city throughout the year. In particular, Brisbane City Council already runs the annual Botanica: Contemporary Art Outside in the gardens every May, a free event that doesn’t include shutting down a large area of the Gardens. Botanica also has a focus on local artist from Australia showcasing innovative and sustainable installations around a theme. A number of pieces I’ve seen at Botanica over the years have left a lasting impact. While beautiful and grammable, I can’t say the same for most at this year’s Lightscape.

This being said, Lightscape certainly has an appeal for many from the streams of punters that have been attending daily since it began. Be it the marketing, the guarantee of good social media content, or an option for a different night out, it seems to have sold well through the run, and will provide you will plenty of opportunities for pics. Ultimately Lightscape does highlight our gorgeous Botanical Gardens and all its recent rennovations, and it will hopefully inspire many return visitors after Lightscape ends its run, which is a good thing in my books.

Lightscape takes over the Brisbane Botanical Gardens almost every day until 8 October. First entry 5.45pm and last entry 8.30pm.

Images from Brisbane Fesitval