Cape Town is getting another chance to experience the magic of large-scale light art. This November, LUMENOCITY returns with The Art of Light, transforming the gardens of Norval Foundation in Tokai into an illuminated outdoor experience where contemporary art, technology and creative expression meet after dark.

Running from 20 to 29 November 2026, the exhibition brings a selection of installations from LUMENOCITY’s successful April debut into an entirely different setting. Instead of the historic streets and public spaces of the Company’s Garden, visitors can explore an artistic landscape shaped by trees, water, open skies and the surrounding mountains.

It’s a return, but not simply a repeat.

A new setting for an already familiar experience

When LUMENOCITY first arrived in Cape Town in April 2026, it attracted 17,000 visitors to the Company’s Garden. The exhibition featured 24 installations created by South African artists, designers, and technologists, turning the historic gardens into an immersive world of illuminated creativity.

Weekend tickets sold out, with visitors ranging from toddlers to grandparents in their nineties. The November edition builds on that response, bringing selected works back to the public through a new presentation at the Norval Foundation Sculpture Garden.

For those who missed the April exhibition, this is another opportunity to experience the work. For returning visitors, the change of environment offers a different perspective on familiar installations.

As founder and creative producer Gareth Hadden explains, the response to the first exhibition made a return inevitable. The new setting allows the artworks to interact with natural elements, creating a different atmosphere and experience.

Where art, technology and imagination meet

At the centre of The Art of Light is an outdoor exhibition designed to be explored at your own pace. Rather than following a traditional gallery format, visitors move through the gardens, encountering installations that use light, colour, movement, structure and technology to create different visual experiences.

Among the featured works are:

• Beam of Hope – Gareth Hadden: A striking column of light projected into the night sky and one of LUMENOCITY’s signature installations.
• Coral Garden – Cape Town Creative Academy students: A glowing ecosystem developed through LUMENOCITY’s skills-transfer programme.
• Alt Ring Portal – Alan Bradburn: A circular light installation suspended above still water.
• Arboris Lux – Wayne Visual: Trees transformed through colour and rhythmic lighting.
• Cadence – Hott3D Eyecom: A pulsing three-dimensional field of light.
• Lily Pad – Fabric: Illuminated lily pads and fountains moving together in synchronisation.
• Mycoremediation 2050 – Reece Brice: Fungal-inspired light forms imagining a cleaner future.
• Dodecahedron – Showtex: A twelve-sided fabric-and-light structure that visitors can step inside.
• Dual Doors – Waterdixon: Two illuminated doorways offering different routes through the garden.
• Beholder – Lukas Petersen: An intriguing artwork designed to create the impression that it is looking back at its audience.

Each installation brings a different creative interpretation to the exhibition, demonstrating how light can become more than a visual effect. It can shape an environment, change how people experience a familiar space and create moments of interaction between art and audience.

Importantly, the exhibition also highlights South African creative talent, with every featured work designed and produced by local artists, technologists and designers.

More than an illuminated garden

One of the more interesting aspects of LUMENOCITY is its contribution to the wider creative landscape.

Large-scale light-art exhibitions sit at an intersection of disciplines, bringing together visual art, architecture, digital technology, engineering, design and live audience experiences. They also create opportunities for emerging creatives to work beyond conventional exhibition formats.

LUMENOCITY’s skills-transfer programme is part of this approach, giving emerging creatives opportunities to design and build large-scale installations. Coral Garden, created by Cape Town Creative Academy students, is one example of this initiative.

The Norval Foundation’s façade will also feature video mapping by South African artists, extending the exhibition beyond the garden installations and incorporating the building itself into the visual experience.

There is another moment to look out for before the official opening. On Wednesday, 18 November, LUMENOCITY’s signature Beam of Hope will illuminate the night sky above Tokai, marking the arrival of The Art of Light.

Make an evening of it

The exhibition is designed as a relaxed outdoor experience, with visitors able to explore the route at their own pace. Organisers recommend allowing approximately 60 to 90 minutes to experience the installations.

Food trucks and a licensed bar will be available, making it an option for families, couples and groups of friends looking for something different to do after dark.

With the combination of illuminated artworks, the natural surroundings of Norval Foundation and the opportunity to experience South African creative work in an unconventional setting, The Art of Light offers a different way to engage with Cape Town’s cultural scene.

Event details

The Art of Light by LUMENOCITY

Venue: Norval Foundation Sculpture Garden, 4 Steenberg Road, Tokai, Cape Town.
Dates: 20–29 November 2026.

Closed to the public on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 November.

Information	Details
Opening hours	17:00–22:30
Last entry	22:00
Adults	R250
Pensioners	R150
Children under 16	R150
Experience duration	60–90 minutes
Food and drink	Food trucks and licensed bar
Parking	Limited paid parking on site and nearby
Pets	No dogs permitted

Tickets: Available through Quicket or the official The Art of Light website.

Getting there: E-hailing is recommended due to limited parking availability.

Presented with: Norval Foundation.

Media partner: Kfm 94.5.

With the support of: MINI and CanCall.