Our regular TMLer’s know we love Vivid Sydney – the annual explosion of light, ideas and music. The Emerald City buffs up even more showing off its built and natural beauty. Bragging rights are never more deserved. In 2016, the program shines even longer – over 23 nights from Friday May 27 to Saturday June 18.
TML were just 2 of the 1.7 million Sydneysiders and tourists who were dazzled last year by what has become the world’s largest festival of bright, beautiful and thoughtful. This year, there are walls that talk, and Customs House will tell Sydney’s Hidden Stories courtesy of a blue tongue lizard guide.
There will be over 80 light installations and projections across the harbour city and suburbs, including for the first time The Galeries, the festival’s first indoor precinct.
To celebrate it’s bicentenary, the best positioned major public garden in the world, Royal Botanic Garden will light up for the very first time. Garden of Light takes visitors on a dazzling journey through the historic gardens with Cathedral of Light made from hundreds of thousands of white LED’s which radiate from all angles.
For its 100th birthday, Taronga Zoo will plead the case for the preservation of 10 critical species. From Asian Elephants to our own Corroboree frog, Be the Light for the Wild will underline the significance of these endangered creatures.
Always the centre of the Vivid Lights universe, the Sydney Opera House’s sails will celebrate Australian Indigenous Art with Songlines. Six artists trace spiritual connections, indigenous astronomy and more through the series of outstanding projections.
Vivid Music headliners include New Order and Bon Iver and the world premiere of a new virtual reality project from Björk at Carriageworks. The Enmore Theatre hosts 80’s chart-toppers The Models, the Machinations and the Reels for one night only.
Vivid Ideas brings together the brightest creative from tech, science and art. Storytellers Beau Willimon (House of Cards), Jenji Kohan (Orange is the New Black) and Academy Award winning writer/director Spike Jonze will join photographer and stylist Margaret Zhang as part this year’s Vivid Ideas Game-Changers program. From Smart Cities and Urban Innovation to Meet the Makers, there is something for everyone at Vivid Ideas.