{"id":539285,"date":"2026-03-14T05:09:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T05:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539285\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T05:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T05:09:26","slug":"worlds-largest-light-installation-hosted-in-western-australia-combining-ancient-times-the-land-and-the-cosmos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/539285\/","title":{"rendered":"World’s largest light installation hosted in Western Australia combining ‘ancient times, the land and the cosmos’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A spectacular light show that lit up the Albany night sky has drawn thousands of tourists to Western Australia’s south coast.<\/p>\n

Over 750 LED lights installed along the King George Sound, shining over a 12-kilometre stretch, have illuminated the Albany night sky.<\/p>\n

The installation, called Lighting the Sound, is the creative brainchild of Finnish light artist Kari Kola. It was commissioned as part of the City of Albany’s bicentennial.<\/p>\n

\"people<\/p>\n

Thousands of people lined the King George Sound to view the display.\u00a0 (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding\u00a0)<\/p>\n

\"people<\/p>\n

The 12-kilometre-long light show is the largest ever put on display. \u00a0 (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding\u00a0)<\/p>\n

World first<\/p>\n

It’s Kola’s first project in Australia.<\/p>\n

But the Finnish artist has created several similar installations around the world, including in the Connemara Mountains in Ireland and Stonehenge in England.<\/p>\n

Mr Kola, who first visited Albany two years ago, said the original plan was to create a much smaller display, but the installation had since grown.<\/p>\n

The display that lit up the Great Southern sky on Friday night was the largest light show ever constructed anywhere in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Finnish light artist Kari Kola drew inspiration from Menang people. (ABC Great Southern: Rosemary Murphy)<\/p>\n

He said the inspiration for the light show was drawn from the culture of the region’s traditional owners.<\/p>\n

“I found the bloodroot plant and the Menang people, and the bloodroot is Menang, and everything started from there,” Mr Kola said.<\/p>\n

“I took the colours from the plant itself, and combined the ancient times, 200 years, present times, the land and the cosmos.”<\/p>\n

The multi-million dollar light show was one of several installations commissioned to commemorate the City of Albany’s bicentennial.<\/p>\n

It was created in collaboration with Menang elders and local community members.<\/p>\n

\"clouds<\/p>\n

Over 750 LED lights and 15 red pencil beams were used. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Cameras and phones captured the full spectrum of colours projected by the lights.\u00a0 (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Cultural connection<\/p>\n

Menang and Nadju woman Carol Pettersen, who worked on the project, said the show’s cultural connection helped bridge the gap between the region’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous history.<\/p>\n

“This has given us a position, us as in a Menang position, even though it’s about settlement, European settlement,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Much of our story has been missing from the history books about our contribution in terms of social, economic and spiritual stories.<\/p>\n

“This has given us a position to make sure our story is included in the bicentenary of 200 years.”\"a<\/p>\n

Menang woman Carol Pettersen was a consultant for the light show. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)<\/p>\n

Running for nine nights over three weekends, Lighting the Sound is expected to attract thousands of tourists to Albany.<\/p>\n

Mayor Greg Stocks said the installation was expected to pump over $30 million into the local economy.<\/p>\n

“We think each weekend, we’ll see about 15,000 people,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re thinking around $30 to $40 million into the local economy over those three weekends.”\"three<\/p>\n

Kari Kola said the bloodroot plant was the basis for the colours used in the show. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding\u00a0)<\/p>\n

\"lights<\/p>\n

Trung Savage travelled hundreds of kilometres to photograph the light show.\u00a0 (Supplied: Trung Savage\u00a0)<\/p>\n

‘No-one else could deliver’<\/p>\n

It’s the second light show hosted by the city in as many weeks, with three massive night-time drone performances illuminating King George Sound last weekend.<\/p>\n

However, even those shows have been dwarfed by the scale of Mr Kola’s Instillation.<\/p>\n

Finland’s Ambassador to Australia, Arto Happea, said there were links between the two countries.<\/p>\n

“We have Aurora Borealis in the north, you have Auroral Australis here, I think there’s going to be something similar that we will see here,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Arto Happea describe the show as “spectacular and beautiful”. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)<\/p>\n

Mr Happea, who spoke with Mr Kola before the inaugural show, said the artist had promised something no-one else could deliver.<\/p>\n

“This will be the biggest [in the world], of course, and quite spectacular in the way it’s been put together,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s technically quite demanding, and I spoke to the artist earlier. He was not very modest when he said he’s the only person in the world who can do something at this scale.<\/p>\n

“I think that it’s going to be very, very beautiful to see.”<\/p>\n

\"red<\/p>\n

A light on the south side of the King George Sound at dusk.\u00a0 (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

The lights display changed as the night became darker.\u00a0 (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A spectacular light show that lit up the Albany night sky has drawn thousands of tourists to Western…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[40358,11480,64,63,267234,267238,267239,104231,267237,267236,267235,22549,44,25962],"class_list":["post-539285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-albany","tag-art","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bicentenary","tag-bicentennial","tag-carol-pettersen","tag-city-of-albany","tag-kari-kola","tag-light-show","tag-lighting-the-sound","tag-lights","tag-news","tag-wa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}