A Seven-Metre-Tall Palace of Light and Colour Is Popping Up on the Gold Coast This Month

Spring, southeast Queensland and eye-catching outdoor displays: it's quite the combination, and it's in full force in 2022. Up in Brisbane, giant moon sculptures, a boat decked out with glowing orbs and a tower of bubbles have popped up for Brisbane Festival. Head west to Toowoomba and Carnival of Flowers is back and blossoming. At Currumbin Beach, Swell Sculpture Festival is about to take over a one-kilometre stretch of sand again — and, still on the Gold Coast, HOTA, Home of the Arts will soon be temporarily home to a towering palace.

That structure, called Alcazar, spans seven metres in height — and 13 metres in width. Mixing art and architecture, it looks like a series of stacked circles, reaching up three levels. Yes, you can indeed walk through the installation. In fact, you're meant to in order to see how both light and colour shift throughout the space. Even better: it's a different experience in the daylight, when the sun beams over the outer facade, and at night, when internal lights get luminous.

Free to see at the site's outdoor stage for ten spring days, Alcazar hails from the artists at Sydney-based design studio Atelier Sisu, and is having its world premiere at HOTA during the venue's Wonder arts festival. On display from Friday, September 16–Sunday, September 25, it joins the group's past works at i Light Singapore Festival, Vilinuis Light Festival and Enlighten Canberra, and at Vivid Sydney as well.

On Sunday, September 18, an early-morning yoga session will take over Alcazar, too — and on Saturday, September 24, the Lux de da Luna dinner will serve up a five-course meal with the installation as a backdrop.

There's plenty more on the Wonder lineup, including Alternative Symphony taking on the music of Daft Punk, plus a candlelit Queen tribute concert.

The big Friday-night lineup features an art battle between six artists on Friday, September 16, as hosted by Tom Thum, and then Flamenco House with Cameron De La Vaga providing a Spanish soundtrack on Friday, September 23.

Alcazar will be on display at HOTA, Home of the Arts, for the Wonder arts festival from Friday, September 16–Sunday, September 25. Head to the HOTA website for further details.