Vivid Sydney is an annual festival of light, music and ideas, held in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. It includes outdoor immersive light installations and projections, performances by local and international musicians, and an ideas exchange forum featuring public talks and debates with leading creative thinkers. This event takes place over the course of three weeks in May and June. The centrepiece of Vivid Sydney is the light sculptures, multimedia interactive work and building projections that transform various buildings and landmarks such as the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

and

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...

in and around the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

into an outdoor night time canvas of art. During the 2015 festival, sites of interest were

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

, Chatswood and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

as well as around the CBD,

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. Origin ...

and The Rocks.

History

Sydney Opera House at night during Vivid Sydney 2017, 03

Vivid began as a smart light festival in 2009 for energy efficiency curated by lighting designer Mary-Anne Kyriakou and headlined by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

. Eno, in collaboration with lighting designer Bruce Ramus, projected 'light painting' onto both sides of the

Opera House An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...

. The Festival was championed by Kyriakou, Anthony Bastic, Mike Day,

Davina Jackson Davina Gainor Jackson is a Sydney based international writer and editor of books and websites promoting satellite technologies for urban development and recording pan-Pacific architectural and maritime history. She is a fellow of the Royal Society ...

, Carolyn Grant and Barry Webb. As of May 2019, it was the biggest festival of lights, music and ideas in the world. It is owned, managed and produced by

Destination NSW Destination NSW is a New South Wales state government executive agency established in 2011 to support growth of tourism and events in New South Wales, Australia. The agency falls within the Enterprise, Investment and Trade cluster of New South ...

, the State Government's tourism and events agency. In 2019 a record 2.4 million people attended. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In 2021 Vivid was first scheduled for 6–28 August, it was then postponed to September due to the Delta outbreak and lockdown in Sydney. It was finally cancelled on 6 August.

Commercial success

According to then New South Wales Deputy Premier and government

Andrew Stoner Andrew John Stoner (born 14 January 1960), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Oxley from 1999 state election to 2015. Stoner was the Leader of the New South Wales National Pa ...

, Vivid Sydney 2012 attracted more than 500,000 visitors to the outdoor exhibition and events, generating around $10 million in income for the state, whereas Vivid Sydney 2013 attracted more than 800,000 visitors, contributing more than $20 million to the NSW economy. In 2014, the festival involved the

Walsh Bay Walsh Bay is a bay within Port Jackson, about south of the suburb McMahons Point. It is named after Henry Deane Walsh, Engineer-in-chief of the Sydney Harbour Trust. Walsh Bay is officially defined as that body of water that stretches from th ...

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...

, The Rocks, North Sydney,

, and, joining for the first time, Harbour Lights (the illumination of vessels upon the Harbour),

The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and

Carriageworks Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being used for filming, festivals, fa ...

. A new projection work by

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

based creative team

59 Productions 59 Productions is a Scottish design studio and production company that creates original story-telling experiences for audiences of all kinds. The offices of the company are located in London and New York City. Origins 59 Productions was fou ...

featured for the Lighting of the Sails of the

. In 2015, Vivid Sydney attracted more than 1.7 million visitors to the city. The 2016 Vivid event included an expanded program of multi-genre music, stimulating presentations and Vivid Talks from global presenters and dazzling light projections across the city. In 2016, a display was added at

Taronga Zoo Taronga Zoo is a zoo located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in the suburb of Mosman, on the shores of Sydney Harbour. The opening hours are between 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Taronga is an Aboriginal word meaning 'beautiful water view'. It ...

. In 2016, Vivid Sydney was extended to 23 nights and was attended by more than 2.3 million people. In 2017, Vivid Sydney attracted a record 2.33 million attendees and injected over $143 million into NSW's visitor economy. In 2019, the Surry Hill precinct was included with a montage of Heckler's 50 most iconic women being displayed on the famous art deco Hollywood Hotel. Publican and proprietress Doris Goddard was inducted as the 51st icon.

Artistic program

Vivid Sydney produces programming across numerous streams. These include Vivid Light, Vivid Music, Vivid Ideas, Vivid School, The Lighting of the Sails of

and

Vivid Live Vivid may refer to: Music * Vivid (band), a Japanese rock band * "Vivid" (song), by Electronic, 1999 *"ViViD", a 2016 song by Loona from '' HeeJin'' Albums * ''Vivid'' (Vivian Green album), 2015 * ''Vivid'' (Crystal Kay album), 2012 * ''Vivi ...

Vivid Light

Along what is known as the Vivid Light Walk, through The Rocks,

and

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is a heritage-listed major botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government ar ...

, there are many opportunities for individuals to interact with light installations through such means as unique technologies. This program includes large-scale projection on other historical buildings such as the

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), located on George Street in Sydney's The Rocks neighbourhood, is solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting, and collecting contemporary art, from across Australia and around the world. It is ...

, Sydney's

Customs House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...

, and the historical

Cadmans Cottage Cadmans Cottage or Cadman's Cottage is a heritage-listed former water police station and sailor's home and now visitor attraction located at 110 George Street in the inner city Sydney suburb of The Rocks in the City of Sydney local governmen ...

. The

is also illuminated.

Vivid Music

Vivid Music includes a range of contemporary music events take place throughout the

CBD. In recent years

has played host to a Vivid Music Events.

Vivid Ideas

Vivid Ideas consists of a range of talks, fora, and workshops centred around the Creative Industries. The Vivid Ideas Exchange takes place throughout the festival at the

Vivid School

Introduced in 2019, the Vivid School program targets talks, fora, and workshops centred around creativity and innovation to young people. The program includes topics such as vocational pathways in creative industries.

Past light installations

''Musical Cubes'', a light installation, was an interactive activity in the harbour. In this activity, a group of six individuals would take part in a musical experiment. Each member would be given a three dimensional cube. Each cube represented a different instrument (guitar, piano, etc.) and each side of the cube would represent a different pace (measured in beats per minute). Every member of the group would take their cube, select a side, and place the cube on a table. A computer program would then interpret all the information from the cubes and play the resulting musical beat over loud speakers that surrounded the table. Participants would be allowed to change the tempo of their instrument and as they changed them, the program would react to reflect the change and play the new tune. In 2015, ''Heart of the City'', was another light installation located in the harbour. This was one of the more popular activities at Vivid due to its immersive nature. ''Heart of the City'' resembled a large, solid beanbag chair and was located near the Sydney Opera House. Upon reaching the front of the line, participants would be asked to seat themselves in the middle of the chair. Once seated, they would be instructed by a Vivid Sydney volunteer to insert their finger into a small hole located near the chair. If your finger was inserted correctly, the chair would begin to light up red to match your heartbeat. As participants began to notice this, their heart rate sometimes increased causing the chair to light up more rapidly. In June 2022, a huge painting called ''Yarrkalpa — Hunting Ground'', painted by

Martumili The Martu (Mardu) are a grouping of several Aboriginal Australian peoples in the Western Desert cultural bloc. Name The Martu people were originally speakers of various Wati languages in the Western Desert dialect continuum whose identity coa ...

artists in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, was projected onto the Sydney Opera House as part of the festival, accompanied by the music of electronic music duo

Electric Fields Electric Fields are an Aboriginal Australian electronic music duo made up of vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding and keyboard player and producer Michael Ross. Electric Fields combine modern electric-soul music with Aboriginal culture and sing in Pi ...

and animated by creative technologists Curiious. The design symbolically depicts the area around

Parnngurr Parnngurr is a medium-sized Aboriginal community, located 370 km from Newman in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, within the Shire of East Pilbara. Parnngurr was originally known as Cotton Creek, the name of the ephemeral creek t ...

, showing the seasons, cultural burning practices and Indigenous management of the land and natural resources.

Gallery

File:Museum of Contemporary Art projection Vivid 2015 - 01.JPG,

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

File:Vivid Sydney 2015.jpg,

File:Opera house projection VIVID 2015 04.JPG,

File:Sydney Harbour during Vivid Sydney.jpg, Tourists on

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

during Vivid Sydney Affinity interactive sculpture Vivid 2015 - 01.jpg, 'Affinity' interactive sculpture File:Space Folding.jpg, Space Folding

References

External links

* {{Sydney events, state=collapsed Art exhibitions in Australia Australian sculpture Cultural conferences Cultural festivals in Australia Festivals established in 2009 Festivals in Sydney Light festivals 2009 establishments in Australia