By Rama Gaind.
All eyes will be on the iconic Sydney Opera House during the Vivid Sydney 2018 Festival which marks the 10th anniversary of spectacular light art, cutting-edge music and innovative ideas programs.
The Vivid Sydney 2018 Festival celebrates a decade of creativity and innovation.
The world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas has returned with a spectacular new precinct at Luna Park, the return of much-loved Customs House and an incredible blend of everyday objects and Australian-inspired motifs on the Sydney Opera House sails.
On 25 May, Vivid Sydney 2018 switched on with the Lighting of the Sails of the Sydney Opera House marking the festival’s 10th anniversary and the start of spectacular light art, cutting-edge music and innovative ideas programs.
Over 23 nights, until Saturday 16 June, Vivid Sydney is painting the Harbour City in the colour and spectacle of vivid light, taking over Sydney stages with vivid music’s electric performances and collaborations and provide a global forum for thought-provoking debate and creative discussion.
All eyes turn to the World-Heritage-listed Sydney Opera House at the centre of the Vivid Light Walk for Lighting of the Sails created in 2018 by award-winning Australian artist Jonathan Zawada.
Neon colours and bold geometric designs transform the magnificent sails of the Opera House. Visitors are sure to be captivated by Metamathemagical, a bold and dynamic display of morphing digital sculptures inspired by recognisable Australian motifs across science, nature and culture.
FantaSea Cruising
The world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas, returns with a spectacular new precinct at Luna Park, the return of much-loved Customs House, and a fantastical blend of everyday objects and Australian-inspired motifs on the sails of the Sydney Opera House.
It’s an exciting line-up of activities and you’re sure to be mesmerised by the Vivid Sydney program. Why not look on it from a different angle. Be clever and avoid the queues and crowds and see the spectacular lights of Vivid Sydney as part of a comfortable cruise.
To celebrate Sydney’s unique annual winter occurrence, Fantasea Cruising is offering a range of Vivid cruises. From 25 May to 16 June 2018, guests can enjoy a complimentary drink as they float in comfort past the Vivid light festival precincts in Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, Taronga Zoo, the Botanical Gardens and Walsh Bay.
Vivid Sydney is a unique event of light, music and ideas that illuminate Sydney for three weeks and transform the harbour into an outdoor lights/sculptures exhibition.
The general manager of FantaSea, Angus Campbell, says: “our aim is to give Sydneysiders and visitors a unique and wonderful experience, with a choice of two Vivid cruises per night departing from Darling Harbour”.
“Our harbour cruises are one hour long and give you the best view of a selection of shore-based light installations and projections. Although Vivid is an interactive shore-based display, there’s a unique aspect which can be appreciated from the water.”
FantaSea Cruising delivers Australia’s most personalised experiences on the water. With the flexibility to cater for two to 1,200 people, FantaSea offers charters in a range of vessel sizes from 16-seater water taxis to large vessels across a range of locations. Its fleet on Sydney Harbour operates evening cruises, special event cruises and daily whale watching cruises.
Vivid highlights
Enjoy the sights, avoid the crowds and see the spectacular lights of Vivid Sydney by joining one of a range of Vivid cruises with FantaSea Cruising.
For the first time, Vivid Sydney’s dazzling light walk extends to new precinct Luna Park Sydney, where the recognizable amusement park comes alive with large-scale projection on the façade of Coney Island. The show celebrates the history, magic, creativity, engineering, fantasy and imagination that have come together to create millions of memories on this unique and special site.
This year also marks the first time Luna Park’s important ferris wheel will be lit for the festival following an LED refit, which has included a massive boost in the number of lights adorning the wheel.
Vivid Sydney’s bright lights will illuminate the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney again this year, where visitors will follow a pathway that weaves through an exciting nocturnal environment inspired by nature. Here, parrot party inspired by the New Zealand kea parrot and the Australian rainbow lorikeet, comes alive as people gather, breaking into song and radiating colourful light. Aqueous will dazzle with its interactive landscape of meandering pathways of light, which will flow and glow in full illuminated interactivity, engaging visitors in collaborative play.
The bloom, a giant electric, metallic flower with petals adorned with mirrors that refract and reflect light, puts you in the centre of the flower capturing the perfect photo moment.
In celebration of their 100-year anniversary, May Gibbs’ iconic and immortal characters, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and their stalwart companions come to life on the façade of Customs House, as they journey through the Australian bush and encounter the weird, the wonderful and things quite unknown altogether.
Music attractions
Vivid Light Walk for Lighting of the Sails is created in 2018 by award-winning Australian artist Jonathan Zawada.
Sydney’s iconic buildings will once again be transformed, including the façade of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) with Virtual Vibration, a highly- collaborative creative work produced in conjunction with MCA Collection artist Jonny Niesche and composer Mark Pritchard. Interactive lighting display Skylark will let visitors put their own colourful mark on the city, stretching from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the skyscrapers of Circular Quay to the reaches of Sydney Harbour.
Popular precincts Taronga Zoo, Darling Harbour, Chatswood, Barangaroo, The Rocks and Kings Cross will return in 2018. Vivid music ups the ante in 2018 with an electric line-up, from noise to jazz, sonic experimentation to soul. There’s so much more.
Other highlights include the powerful laser beacon illuminating the harbour from on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the welcome return of Customs House as a venue and the many light sculptures that stretch for more than 2km around the harbour foreshore.
Expect live bands as well, including some of the best Australian and international acts, at iconic venues and intimate bars and clubs around the city. In 2018 Vivid Live at the Sydney Opera House features Solange, Ice Cube, Mazzy Star, Dreams: Daniel Johns & Luke Steele and Cat Power. Carriageworks will feature Grammy Award-winner St. Vincent, Curve Ball and Clipped.
Vivid Sydney and in 2017, attracted a record-breaking 2.33 million attendees to Vivid Sydney, delivering an incredible $143 million of visitor expenditure into the NSW economy in 2017.
Vivid Sydney is where art, technology and commerce exceptionally intersect. You will have a hard time doing justice to the schedule.
DETAILS BOX
Destination NSW
Vivid Sydney
FantaSea Cruising
