After four years is there still something to attract Melbourne crowds to the now annual display of technical and illuminative wizardry, Lightscape, in the Royal Botanic Gardens? Judging by the streams of people flowing through the entrance and jostling for selfie spots on opening night, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.
But every year that goes by the stakes need to be raised. Now that the initial novelty and ‘wow’ factor has well and truly worn off, it’s up to the organisers to ensure the installations continue to impress by making them more imaginative, more spellbinding and even more worthy of those social media-bound happy snaps than ever before.
The good news is in 2025 that appears to have been achieved. There are 20 new installations, as well as the reappearance of some old favourites, including the by now ubiquitous Winter Cathedral, which is echoed this year by Trapezoid by ArtAV, a more angular 75-metre long multicoloured ‘tunnel experience’.
Effervescence from Culture Creative again takes over large swathes of the Gardens’ lawns, covering the ground with thousands of LED lights, but changing it up from previous years with the installation of a large circular vertical addition featuring dramatic patterns of light and looking for all the world like a huge, somewhat static Catherine wheel. It certainly gives an added oomph to the display.
For many the absolute highlight will be Water Stories, an artwork created by members of not-for-profit organisation, The Torch, and projected onto mists of water over the Ornamental Lake. Designed to reflect the fact that the Birrarung/Yarra used to flow through the Gardens, the work is described as ‘honouring the legacy’ of this history by comprising images of First Nations’ sacred freshwater animals, including the platypus, yabby and Murray cod, as well as turtles, ducks, frogs and eels.
Originally acrylic paintings, the images have been transformed into their otherworldly glory by the clever folk at creative and animation studio, NOVAK.
Considering Birrarung actually means River of Mists in the Woi-wurrung language, there is a beautiful synergy of concept and execution in this work. Plus of course there’s the nice touch that the lake is well-known for the eels that remain denizens of its depths to this day.
As the images rise and fall in a semi circular motion, the effect is enough to transfix the throngs at the water’s edge. It was a smart move to have this located right next to the central café hub, where visitors can pause their promenades to sip mulled wine (always a Lightscape winner), or nibble on some, admittedly, overpriced snacks, while watching the images play out over the water.
After four years, the infrastructure and layout is seamless and very well signposted, for amenities like toilets and drink stations all along the route.
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Each installation has its own discrete music or soundscape and, while a companion considered this the least successful element, opining that it resembles the kind of safe, lowest common denominator selection of tunes that you’d find in a retail environment, this reviewer rather liked it, but, being the kind of person who hums along to supermarket muzak, perhaps I’m not the best judge…
Lightscape at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria runs from 5.15pm to last entry at 8pm, Wednesday to Sunday, and every day during the winter school holidays, until Sunday 10 August 2025; ticketed, with tickets issued in 15-minute increments throughout the opening hours.
