A Festival in Light

Overview
Solution
result

Where Dreamtime stories meet LED magic

Parrtjima 2025 brought bold storytelling to life through immersive lighting, including a glowing LED hoop installation powered by ENTTEC’s robust control system — blending culture, creativity, and cutting-edge tech in the heart of the desert.

Client	Parrtjima Australia
Type	Entertainment
Location	Alice Springs, Australia
PRODUCTS	Pixelator Mini, PLink Injector and Smart PXL 40 RGB dots
Year	2025
project credits	Grumpy Sailor – Creative Design + Project Lead Lotron Electrical – Electrical installation Yestalgia – Project Partner Northern Territory Major Events Company & We Are Gather – Event Organisers Tradezone & AWM Electrical – Materials Supply

There’s nowhere on Earth quite like Australia’s beating heart — and no festival quite like Parrtjima. Each year, as the desert sun sets behind the MacDonnell Ranges, Alice Springs transforms into a glowing tapestry of art, culture, and connection.

But this isn’t just a light show. Parrtjima is where ancient stories walk hand in hand with modern tech — ten nights of immersive installations, live performances, and powerful storytelling, set against a landscape carved by time (around 300 million years of it, to be exact). And in 2025? The crowd came in droves.

Among the many show-stoppers was one playful, glowing maze that captured hearts across generations: a towering ring of oversized LED hoops crafted into walk-through tunnels of shifting colour. Kids raced through them. Adults paused, entranced. Phones came out. Smiles stayed on. Of course, making that magic happen takes more than a few fairy lights.

The creative minds at Grumpy Sailor brought the vision — a Dreamtime-inspired journey reimagined through thousands of precisely controlled pixel dots — and trusted partners Lotron Electrical and Yestalgia brought the tools (and muscle). Underpinning it all? A rock-solid ENTTEC control system.

Solution

Controls.

Powered by 11 x Pixelator Mini and 27 x PLink Injectors

Lights.

Lit up by Smart PXL 40 RGB Dots

At the core of the installation was a trio of ENTTEC workhorses working seamlessly behind the scenes: 11 Pixelator Minis delivered compact, high-output pixel control without missing a beat, while 27 PLink Injectors ensured smooth, long-distance signal transmission — no matter the dust, distance, or unexpected downpour. And lighting it all up? A stunning array of 1,938 Smart PXL 40 RGB pixel dots, rugged and radiant, designed to thrive outdoors with brilliant colour fidelity and unwavering durability. Each pixel dot was individually addressable, creating fluid animations that rippled through the installation like waves of light.

This wasn’t just about lighting up a space — it was about reliability under pressure. According to Lloyd Gibbs from Lotron, the outback had a few surprises in store. (Spoiler: it rained. A lot.)

At one point, a few PLink Injectors ended up underwater. No stress — the crew cracked them open, gave them a contact cleaner spa treatment, and they powered back on like nothing ever happened. Classic ENTTEC. (Pro tip for next time: we’ve got IP66-rated waterproof PLinks too — ready for anything the elements throw at you.)

Parrtjima isn’t just a festival — it’s a conversation between past and present, told in colour, light, and community. From the first pixel dot to the last, we’re proud to have illuminated the path alongside so many passionate creatives.