An Ethereal Exploration of Vivid Sydney

Arclight. Image courtesy of Destination NSW

Discover the ethe­real world of Vivid that haunts laneways in The Rocks and enchants vis­i­tors with its sur­real light and sound.

The Milky Laneway by Kate & Marty, Australia

Cam­bridge St, The Rocks — 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

The night sky moves closer to Earth in this laneway instal­la­tion of meteor show­ers, shoot­ing stars and super­nova. As you travel through the laneway, our solar sys­tem comes alive as galac­tic effects flow and swirl, stars align and red dwarfs and blue giants twinkle.

Tidal Reed Garden. Image by @hollie_martin

Tidal Reed Gar­den by Aura, Australia

Campbell’s Cove — 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

This gar­den of reeds bobs and sways with the move­ments of Syd­ney Harbour’s swell, tidal pat­terns and pass­ing boats. Using bio­mimicry, Aura’s artists Gioia Mur­ray and Louise Jarvis design to cel­e­brate and emu­late nature’s beauty and ‘time-tested’ patterns.

Arclight by Stu­dio Work­shop + Mat­sys, Aus­tralia & USA

Hick­son Road Reserve, The Rocks — 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

In its enchant­ing, immer­sive world, Arclight draws form from Australia’s native man­groves and emits chang­ing colours and pat­terns influ­enced by the sur­round­ing envi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions – tem­per­a­ture, humid­ity, wind speed.
Internal Galaxy. Image by @clarisse022Ayla. Image by @dropinking

Inter­nal Galaxy by AJde­signCo. & Andrew Wil­son, New Zealand

Hick­son Road Reserve, The Rocks — 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

A six-meter ship­ping con­tainer has been trans­formed into a mind-bending uni­verse. Com­prised of hun­dreds of lights from floor to ceil­ing, this psy­che­delic galaxy bounces and reflects a mul­ti­tude of colours off mir­rored walls, as you’re pulled fur­ther and fur­ther into this por­tal to an alter­nate dimension.

Ayla by Steensen Varm­ing, Australia

Cir­cu­lar Quay West – 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

Cast­ing the essence of the moon through pro­jec­tion and a halo of light, Ayla demon­strates the sur­real beauty of twilight’s nat­ural light. Every night the sil­hou­ette changes as it moves in sync with the phases of the moon.
The Dresses, Vivid Sydney 2015. Image by @Tom_Brassil

The Dresses by Tae Gon Kim, France

Kendall Ln, The Rocks – 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

These fiber-optic ghostly gowns shim­mer and float in the dark as they haunt the streets of The Rocks, chang­ing in colour and lead­ing you to an ethe­real, oth­er­worldly realm.

Sub­merged by Sin­clair Park, Australia

Campbell’s Cove Jetty – 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

The waters beneath the jetty emanate a mys­te­ri­ous light, ques­tion­ing what lies below in the ‘unknow­able void of the Sub­merged’.

A Melodious Evening at Vivid Sydney

MCA_Silvia Li Photography

Explore the rhythm of the night with these light instal­la­tions that encour­age you to cre­ate your own Vivid soundtracks.

Threads by Res­o­nance, Australia

Cle­land Bond Build­ing, The Rocks – 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

Based on the Res­o­nance team’s ethos that ‘per­sonal con­nec­tions are impor­tant con­trib­u­tors to hap­pi­ness’, this light instal­la­tion beck­ons you to engage with oth­ers to pro­duce your own sound­track. Col­lab­o­rate with the per­son next to you to design a musi­cal mas­ter­piece of light out of inter­twined lines, shapes and par­ti­cles that sig­nify con­nec­tions and rela­tion­ships forged in life.

The Laser Harp by Uni­ver­sity of Syd­ney Optics Stu­dent Chap­ter, Australia

Between Piers 4/5 & 2/3, Hick­son Rd, Walsh Bay – 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

Strum The Laser Harp to per­form a melody, which in turn cre­ates an accom­pa­ny­ing ani­ma­tion of nat­ural and sub­ur­ban beauty. As you pluck more notes, the scenes con­tinue to adapt and trans­form to the music. This musi­cal work was devel­oped as a tool to spread knowl­edge about the nature of light, and to incite curios­ity around the waves of light, sound, water and mat­ter that sur­round us daily.

Beatdice Vivid Sydney 2015

Beat­dice by Toby K, Australia

First Fleet Park, Cir­cu­lar Quay – 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

Con­duct a musi­cal mash-up with these stack­able sen­sor cubes or Beat­dice. Impro­vise some tunes with oth­ers and watch as your song flashes and glows to the beat.

Drum Cir­cle by Kate & Marty, Australia

Mar­tin Place – 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

Will you drum up the courage to bang out an illu­mi­nated beat in the mid­dle of Mar­tin Place? The lights in and around the instal­la­tion con­nect to the drums, chang­ing in colours and pace to the unique rhythm you produce.

Piano Stairs by Reuben Young, Andrew Hand­mer, Jes­sica Chalker, Annalie Kil­lian & Tim Carr, Australia

AMP Build­ing, Cir­cu­lar Quay – 22 May to 08 June, 6pm ‘til midnight

Tickle the ivories with your toot­sies on the Piano Stairs in Cir­cu­lar Quay. Can you get that ‘Heart & Soul’ duet going? Or will you just stick to up and down scales? At least you get a workout.