Hub Goes to: Fire Gardens at Illuminate Adelaide

‘Journey through a wonderland of captivating flaming sculpture as Adelaide Botanic Garden Takes on New Surprises when Painted with the Pallette of Fire’

When: 12 Nights between the 4th and 21st of July 2024
Where: Adelaide Botanic Gardens
Rating: 5 Stars.

Fire Gardens created by French Team Compagnie Carabosse is an evening, self-guided experience where you immerse yourself in the Botanic Gardens newly ‘painted by fire’. It is an immersive experience with various metalwork sculptures that masterfully incorporate varieties of flame around every corner.

This is my second time attending Fire Gardens, the first being in 2020 when Fire Gardens was first introduced to Adelaide audiences during the festival season. While I loved it the first time, this second iteration, which now spans almost the entire Botanic Gardens and involves the lighting of over 1300 flames, makes the first seem like a mere proof of concept.

This iteration of Fire Gardens incorporates both the indoor and outdoor spaces of the Botanic Gardens to create a non-linear experience that allows you to ‘choose your own adventure’ and be fully absorbed in the magic of large-scale sculptures that incorporate fire, metal, movement and even water with Adelaide being treated to Carabosse’s first ever sculptures that combine both fire and water, wild!

Ample pathways throughout the Gardens and short, even grass make the event mostly wheelchair accessible bar one small sawdust segment that acts as more of a shortcut between displays rather than a display itself. I also felt pretty safe attending as all front-of-house people had fire blankets and extinguishers at the ready, however, it is difficult given the ample space between you and the flames to burn yourself or knock something unless you were really trying. Moreover, I found that the smoke emitted from the fires was significantly less than the first time which is a win for my fellow asthmatics.

One can very easily spend hours getting lost in the installation, which is encouraged and accommodated by ample seating, lighting, food and drink for purchase, and heating. There is even a section where live musicians play music throughout the evening in a flaming sculpture which encourages an all-senses experience. Moreover, if you come during the first few sessions each evening you can see the creators light their sculptures throughout the park which adds to the fanfare of the overall display.

I would call Fire Gardens the centrepiece of the Illuminate Festival. It is so broad, diverse and engaging as an installation and evokes deeply the human fascination that fire stirs within us. I would highly recommend that you go if you attended and loved the first one or are new to the Fire Gardens experience, and recommend that you bring a coat and some good walking shoes because it is so easy to spend a lot of time traversing this beautiful installation.