LUMA festival returns to Queenstown to boost visitor low season

LUMA: Queenstown's annual art-show will be returning to brighten up the Queen's Birthday Weekend. Photo / Euan Mitchell

After a two year hiatus, Queenstown's leading light festival will return to illuminate the low-season on the Lake.

The LUMA light festival is back for a fifth time to the shores of Lake Wakatipu, combining light installations, sculpture and performance in the Queenstown Gardens.

The light show will take place over the Queen's Birthday Weekend, from the 4-7 June. 500 local artists and contributors have contributed to this year's festival.

Falling in the traditional 'dark period', in between peak summer and ski seasons the light festival was held to bring visitors to the town. It has attracted up to 60,000 international visitors annually. However, this will be the first time the festival has not been able to rely on inbound travellers.

"This year will be a first ever when the event is exclusively designed by Kiwis, for Kiwis..." says LUMA trust Chairman Duncan Forsyth, "unless the bubble is unlocked and we're letting the wallabies into the yard."

Illumination: Mountain of Light by artist Angus Miur and Puck Murphy at the Luma 2017. Photo / File

New Zealand artists will also be well represented in the selection of visual arts, performance and musical shows held over the long weekend.

Among them is Angus Muir of Angus Muir Design Auckland, who is a regular contributor to LUMA, NZ Fashion Week and a self-proclaimed "human moth" - who can't resist the draw of a light show.

"I just love light and how it can transform a space," says Muir. "Queenstown Gardens themselves are just so amazing because there's no ambient light so everything is just so colourful."

Bright costumes at LUMA, Queenstown. Photo / Leigh Jeffery

Last year Covid restrictions saw the traditional LUMA festival forced to switch up its plans. Moving from central Queenstown the LUMIFY festival encouraged residents to put up their party lights and Christmas decorations for a Lakes District-wide project.

LUMA Southern Light exhibition will be held in Queenstown Gardens over Queen's Birthday weekend, form 4 – 7 June, 2021. For more info, visit luma.nz

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