Smart Light Sydney - Vivid
Sydney ignites as a supernatural city of light when the switch is flicked on Smart Light Sydney, a sensory smorgasbord of music, light, performance and debate.
The beacon at the centre of it all is the Light Walk, a world-first, totally free journey through 26 interactive light sculptures spanning The Rocks, around Circular Quay all the way to Bennelong Point and a reborn Sydney Opera House.
Smart Light Sydney also incorporates symposia, exhibitions, and a unique orchestral epic. According to artistic director Mary-Anne Kyriakou, the festival as a whole has been designed to revitalise dormant urban spaces and engage Sydneysiders in a debate on the energy that fuels a city, creative and otherwise.
"Sydney is blessed with amazing natural light by day - bright blue skies, shimmering waters, sun-dappled bushlands. But our nights need light to drive economy but also to weave magic and enchantment," Kyriakou says.
The theme for this amazing nightscape is 'City of Memories'. "Cities are full of light pollution - uncontrolled light, flood lighting, light spilling into the atmosphere," Kyriakou points out. "We want to harness that light and redefine it, creating new memories for people in re-energised spaces in old Sydney town."
By day, Sydneysiders can attend free talk-fests on lighting design and the future of architectural illumination. From dusk, they'll be able to stroll the harbour foreshore to see iconic buildings and underrated nooks turned into living canvases.
Light Walk
Fizzing virtual reality displays of animation, projection and video will cast Sydney's past, present and future in a spectacular and inspiring new light. Highlights will include Vessel of (Horti) Cultural Plenty opposite Cadman's Cottage; Cloud of Bats, celebrating Sydney's nightly tide of flying foxes; Janus, a giant floating human face in The Rocks; and Shadows, which shows a convict on the run from the cops in a stairwell opposite the Argyle Cut.
Festival of the Stars
This series of 3D theatre events, food stalls and entertainment celebrates International Year of Astronomy and offers stargazers views of Saturn, Leo and Virgo and even Argo Navis, the constellation named after the legendary ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek myth.
Sydney Observatory, 29-30 May
Art Light
Experimental light installations achieve optimum visual impact at this wholly recyclable, eminently illuminating and totally free exhibition.
University of Technology Sydney, 26 May-14 Jun, 10am-10pm, Free.
Smart Light Symposia
The future of sustainable lighting design discussed over four symposia. Will 'Ban-the-Bulb' advocate and prospective PM Malcolm Turnbull light up these nights? 27 May, 1-2 & 9 June at UTS.
