The Hills Hoists are alive in stunning new light installation

The iconic Hills Hoists clothesline is the inspiration behind Bruce Munro’s new light installation, FOSO – Fibre Optic Symphonic Orchestra – near the rusty sandhills of Wentworth in south-western NSW.

The celebrated artist, known for his blockbuster – Field of Light at Uluru, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary – has turned lookalike clotheslines into art works of light and sound.

In FOSO, which opened last week, Munro uses 80 illuminated Hills Hoists, which he calls “musicians”, that pulsate in an orchestra-pit layout.

Each clothesline dazzles, shimmers and shines to music in the dark, flashing shades of neon pink, bright orange, citrus green, purple and sapphire blue.

It is as mesmerising as the location, at the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers, surrounded by the 40,000-year-old Perry Sandhills, six kilometres from Wentworth.

Art, sound, and the stunning landscape come together in the luminous open-air setting, accompanied by an original, dynamic score by Emmy Award-winning British composer Nainita Desai.

Munro says his aim was to fulfil a childhood dream and create an experience where one could lie down, sit, stand, walk, cartwheel and dance around an “orchestra” as it played.

“It’s taken five years of planning; made and installed by many talented people,” he says. “I am always happy to see a project come to fruition – on first viewing, it felt somewhat surreal, and I wondered if I was dreaming.”

The installation is promoted as a dual experience with Munro’s sister installation, Trail of Lights at Lock Island at nearby Mildura, a 30-minute drive away. Opened in April 2025, it features 12,500 illuminated “fireflies” and 22 fishing-rod sculptures.

Munro recommends the two-fold light spectacles are best experienced on consecutive evenings.

“The two installations were always planned to be linked like siblings – Trail of Lights is yin, so FOSO is yang,” Munro says.

It’s a joint project between Victoria’s Mildura Rural City Council and NSW’s Wentworth Rural City Council, with grants of more than $7.9 million from both governments.

The multi-city project is aimed at promoting tourism in the area and encouraging visitors to stay for longer periods.

Munro’s other large-scale installations include the Light Towers in the Northern Territory’s Kings Canyon, California’s Sensorio in Paso Robles, Field of Light in Manhattan, New York, Mountain Lights in Hokkaido, Japan, and Fireflies in Bradford on Avon in the UK.

More than 750,000 visitors have experienced Field of Light, which features 50,000 solar-powered light stems, since 2016.