52 Art illuminates the beating heart of Australia
THE SAME RED CENTRE journey that sparked the idea for Bruce Munro’s smash-hit installation at Uluru included a stop at Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park. It, too, left a deep impression. Some three decades later and seven years on from the debut of Field of Light, Munro has unveiled an immersive sound and light installation at Discovery Resorts – Kings Canyon, part of the final stages of a $20 million transformation that began not long after the property was acquired by G’day Group in 2021.
Light-Towers sees 69 two-metre-tall towers of solar-powered light pulse gently in the desert during sunrise, sundown and into the inky black of the night. A meditation on synaesthesia, connection and healing, the towers cycle through a spectrum of colours in response to a soundscape that reflects the musical diversity of many nations. Wandering between them is a contemplative experience that works its magic softly and seeks to complement, but never upstage, the astounding natural environment it rests within.
This is Munro’s creative expression of how the landscape makes him feel – joyful and connected – which he hopes will in turn resonate with visitors and prompt them to consider their own response. At the core of Light-Towers is the idea, posited by the book Gifts of Unknown Things by Lyall Watson, that Earth has a natural pulse that resonates at a rate of 69 beats per day. A heartbeat. “And I’ve always associated the heart of Australia with this,” says Munro. “This place has always given me those moments of reflection where I’ve felt this connection with the world around me.”
The installation is a reason to stay longer at Kings Canyon and explore the living landscape of Watarrka National Park. Tread lightly on half-billion-year-old rocks on the Rim Walk, see the abstract patterns cast by the land from above on a scenic helicopter and the new at Uluru, Alice Springs with its Parrtjima light festival and now , this classic outback road trip is emerging as something of a light installation art trail.
