What to do in SA this weekend
This weekend, head to Illuminate Adelaide for a celebration of art, light, music and technology, or learn a new skill at the Firstival festival by Libraries SA.
Illuminate Adelaide 2025
The Adelaide CBD will be lit up this July for a celebration of art, light, music and technology at Illuminate Adelaide. Taking place until July 20, Illuminate Adelaide features local, national and international artists in major ticketed events, music performances and free installations. Highlights of this year’s program include Night Visions at Adelaide Botanic Garden, and an incredible drone, light, and sounds show at Adelaide Oval in Horizons, as well as a return of the Base Camp food and beverage hub at Lot Fourteen. Other must-sees include the free City Lights installations, the Unsound Adelaide experimental music festival and Supersonic, a new, all-night music festival in the West End, or put away your phone and create genuine human connections at The Offline Club.
Libraries SA’s Firstival festival
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but it’s never too late to learn a new skill. Libraries SA will be encouraging South Australians to try something new this July at its Firstival festival. More than 300 events will be offered until July 31 at the state’s 130 public libraries, with everything from nature journaling to a ukulele workshop for beginners, pasta making workshops and paint and sip sessions. Other highlights include Kaurna language workshops with Jack Buckskin at Payneham Library, a workshop at Roxby Community Library where you can learn to create your own DIY bird feeder, and K-pop dance classes at Unley Library.
Dangerously Modern at AGSA
Make your way to the Art Gallery of South Australia this weekend for Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890-1940. This is the first major exhibition to focus on the vital role of Australian women in the development of international modernism and explores the art and lives of fifty trailblazing artists. Dangerously Modern features more than 200 works of art, ranging from public statements to private portrait miniatures in styles such as realism, impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism and abstraction. This exhibition is open daily from 10am-5pm until September 7, and until 9pm on AGSA’s First Fridays.
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Surf lifesaving state champs
The best surf lifesavers in South Australia will be crowned this weekend at the state champs for the Sharkskin SA IRB Series 2025. Held at West Beach on Sunday, the Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) racing competition is a chance for drivers and crew to put their lifesaving skills to the test, with races simulating real-life rescue situations. Competitors will navigate buoys as they pick up a member of their team in the water and bring them back to safety on the shore. Somerton Surf Life Saving Club is the team to beat heading into this Sunday’s final with 433 points, followed by Aldinga Bay with 314 points and Port Noarlunga with 312.
Wise and Wonderful Women exhibition
Wise and Wonderful Women explores the pivotal role women have had in shaping universities over the past 50 years. There was a time when the sandstone corridors of the world’s universities were the exclusive domain of men. But from the late 20th century onwards, women have entered universities in increasing numbers, creating lifelong careers, producing cutting-edge research and teaching the next generation of students. Wise and Wonderful Women is based on oral histories of women who worked at South Australia’s three universities from 1970 until 2024. This free exhibition will be shown in the Ira Raymond Exhibition Room of the Barr Smith Library until July 9.
Don Rankin and Georgina Mills at BMG Art
Head to BMG Art on Halifax Street from July 11 to August 2 for a joint exhibition featuring oil on canvas by painter Don Rankin and bronze sculpture by classically trained figure sculptor Georgina Mills. Don’s part of the exhibition, titled Positively Blooming, features exquisite still life paintings of rose petals and fruits inspired by greats like Morandi, Chardin, Matisse and Baselitz. Meanwhile, Georgina’s installation features bronze sculptures depicting the human form.
