Cathedral to light up for Fringe
News
Adelaide’s Catholic Cathedral is set to be illuminated like never before as part of an immersive light experience conducted during the 2026 Fringe.
The event is expected to transform the architectural features of the heritage-listed St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral into a canvas of light, colour and motion.
Outgoing Adelaide Fringe director Heather Croall stressed the event would honour the “sacred atmosphere and heritage of the Cathedral, drawing on its architectural form and spiritual resonance”.
“The Fringe has made a significant investment in the project and is delighted to be working with the Adelaide Archdiocese and Cathedral parish on this exciting initiative,” she said.
“I think people are going to be really blown away – it’s history, architecture and cutting-edge technology all coming together. And it’s for all ages.”
Titled ‘Cathedral Chiaroscuro’, the event will consist of four 15-minute projection loops from 8.30-9.30pm daily (except Mondays) accompanied by a music soundtrack put together by Cathedral music director Timothy Davey.
The projections are being created by Sydney-based company Electric Canvas, which produces the Christmas light show for St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.
Ms Croall said she had worked on outdoor projections in North Terrace and the Sleeps Hill tunnel light show but recently turned her attention to internal architectural projections in churches and cathedrals in Europe and North America.
“They are starting to take these beautiful sacred places and light them up in a way that people can see them in a whole new light,” she said.
After experiencing an event in the Bordeaux Cathedral earlier this year, Ms Croall began looking at venues for Adelaide.
“I really wanted to do St Francis Xavier’s, I just love this Cathedral,” she said.
“My daughter went to school next door (St Aloysius College) and so I came here for certain occasions. I was talking to the SAC principal Paddy McEvoy and she introduced me to the team at the Cathedral.”
St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral has been a venue for the Adelaide Fringe many times with free lunch-time pipe organ recitals held there every year.
“This time, obviously because of projections, we need to do it when the sun is down…there are a lot of Fringe shows in Square and there’s a really nice connection with that,” she said.
“Some people will stay for 10 or 15 minutes with this sort of event but every now and then people let it wash over them for half an hour or so.”
Electric Canvas managing director Peter Milne said nine projectors would be installed in the Cathedral to “acknowledge every nook and cranny” of the central nave and the sanctuary.
“What we want to create inside this beautiful Cathedral is an immersive experience so that people can wander at will and linger and see the wonderful architecture brought to life through the accuracy and colour rendition that projection affords,” he told The Southern Cross.
“There’ll be no particular theme or story; it’s a completely experiential and immersive experience.”
Mr Milne, who has created the projections for the St Mary’s Cathedral Christmas light show, said his team were aware of the need to minimis the “physical footprint” within the cathedral.
“We are using quite compact projectors on vertical stands behind columns so you won’t really see them as you enter the cathedral,” he said.
“We’re really looking forward to working with St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Adelaide.”
Despite a tight time frame, Mr Milne said he “jumped on a plane” and came to Adelaide to scan the Cathedral as soon as he heard about the project.
“It will get people into Cathedral who have never seen it before,” he said.
Tickets range from $10 for preview nights to $15 from opening night (February 20). To book visit adelaidefringe.com.au.
