This April, Cape Town takes its place among the world’s leading creative cities with the launch of LUMENOCITY - a new immersive light festival transforming the historic Company’s Garden from April 9-12 into a large-scale exhibition of light, art and technology.
Bringing together a curated collective of emerging and established South African artists, designers and creative studios, LUMENOCITY is both a celebration of local creative talent and a bold statement of the city’s cultural ambition.
Spanning sculpture, projection mapping, digital art and immersive installations, the festival showcases a new generation of creatives exploring light as both medium and message - turning public space into a living, breathing canvas after dark.
Featured within the programme is Cape Town-based multidisciplinary artist Yay Abe (Russell Abrahams), who will debut a specially created projection mapping work as part of the wider artistic line-up.
“Light has this incredible ability to transform how we experience space and emotion,” says Yay Abe. “As artists we once painted on canvas - today we also paint with pixels. Projection mapping lets us turn architecture into a living artwork, layering light, colour and motion to create an entirely new visual story.”
LUMENOCITY is presented in partnership with Kfm and driven by MINI with the funding & services support of the City of Cape Town and video-integration support from Iziko Museum.
For Festival founder, Gareth Hadden, he says the vision was always to build a platform - not just a moment: “LUMENOCITY is about bringing together a community of artists who see light as a creative language,” says Hadden. “From emerging voices to established studios, this is a platform for South African talent to experiment, collaborate and reimagine the city itself - while positioning Cape Town as a global destination for immersive art and culture.”
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| Cape Town-based multidisciplinary artist Yay Abe (Russell Abrahams) |
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| Participating artist Mpho Jacobs, one of the featured South African creatives exploring light as a medium |
- Byron Eksteen (Graphic Designer, Artist, Illustrator, Muralist)
- Gabriella Degois (Motion Illustrator)
- Imraan Christian (Multidisciplinary Artist)
- Inka Kendzia (Interdisciplinary Artist)
- Joshua Botha (Digital & Mixed Media Artist)
- Kate White (Multimedia Artist)
- Mpho Jacobs (Interdisciplinary Artist)
- Philip van Heerden (Multimedia Artist)
- Rabatho Laka (Afro-Surrealist; Storyteller Painting Pictures On Digital Screens)
- Rufaro Magara (creative technologist & immersive storyteller; winner of the 2025 Digital Lab Africa Acceleration Program in XR - AR + VR)
- Russell Abrahams a.k.a. Yay Abe (Illustrator & Artist)
- Shana Ellappa (Multidisciplinary Artist)
- Thom Dreyer (Multidisciplinary Artist, Spanning Projection Mapping & Creative Direction)
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| Dual Doors by Walter Dixon. Created in 2019 using mild steel and LEDs |
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| Arboris LUX by Nikolas Botha and Brendan Stein |
Together, they will transform the Company’s Garden into a walkable nighttime exhibition - from monumental installations like the 10-metre high, immersive “Halo Chamber” to interactive light environments that invite visitors to step inside the artwork itself.
Supported by technical and logistics partners including Gearhouse, Sled, MGG and the City of Cape Town, LUMENOCITY combines artistic vision with advanced lighting, projection and installation technology to bring each work to life.
Globally, light festivals have become defining cultural moments for cities - from Amsterdam Light Festival and Lyon’s Fête des Lumières to Vivid Sydney - drawing millions of visitors and reshaping how urban spaces are experienced.
With LUMENOCITY, presented in partnership with Kfm, Cape Town joins this global movement - showcasing its creative depth while offering a distinctly local expression of light, culture and innovation.
LUMENOCITY, presented by Kfm and driven by MINI, takes place at the Company’s Garden, Cape Town, from 9–12 April. Tickets are available at Quicket.co.za.