One of the most difficult aspects in planning the annual Vivid Lights extravaganza is staying ahead of the digital technological curve. Because when it comes to defining what’s “cool”, no one knows better than a 12-year-old, says Vivid’s artistic director, Ignatius Jones.
“Kids are so hard to impress and they are way ahead of us in their grasp of technology,” he says. “That’s why we think about them first when we’re curating the event. A big part of the process is being open to anyone who comes to us with an idea that can make a kid go ‘wow’.”
Vivid 2017 is Jones’ seventh. “My whole philosophy is to make every Vivid look bigger and better than the year before – and I emphasise the word ‘look’ because we never have a budget rise,” he says.
This year’s Vivid, which runs from May 26 to June 17, also faces other challenges. Tramline works in the CBD have changed the way people circulate through the city, and the construction has temporarily robbed Vivid of Customs House, one of its best canvases and family-friendly meeting points.
“Customs Square is full of building works this year so we’ve transferred all the fabulousness right across the city but especially to Martin Place and the Opera House,” Jones says.
This year’s display on the Opera House sails, Audio Creatures, will turn it into a colossal menagerie of iridescent imaginary animals created by Sydney artist and art director Ash Bolland. Brazilian electronica star Amon Tobin provides the soundtrack.
Bolland says each fantasy creature fits the shape of the Opera House sails or shells. “We’ve tried to make the Opera House one giant creature. Over 15 minutes, you’ll see the projections change into 15 or 16 different animals. All imaginary, all very colourful. It’s not crazy energetic or fast-moving, it’s more wonderful and extraordinary to look at as it changes.”
Viewers need to see it in person to get an idea of how big the lighting art work is, Bolland says. “You have to see it from all angles. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to walk around it as much as possible. You can’t just look at photos on Instagram.”
Bolland has been a fan of Vivid for years. “I have two little boys and we go every year. The thing I love about Vivid is how the whole city opens up in winter.”
Photo ops abound at Vivid. Photo: Keith McInnes
Family Highlights by Precinct
The city’s recent growth spurt is being matched by Vivid’s expanding footprint.
Martin Place
Urban Tree 2.0: Architect Harry Seidler’s concrete mushroom – AKA the Commercial Travellers Association building – comes alive with colourful projections of a giant tree, home to exotic creatures from an eco-system a million miles removed from this bustling city thoroughfare.
Wow factor: “Staggeringly beautiful,” Jones says. “It’s all animated cell-by-cell, like an old Walt Disney film.”
Artist’s impression of Urban Tree 2.0 at Vivid. Photo: Andre Castaldi
Twelve-Tone: Experience hi-fi dodecephonia in this installation of 12 poles that uses cutting-edge sound and light technology to turn viewers into creators.
Wow factor: Unleash your inner composer.
Re/FRACTION: Another architectural feature of Martin Place – the Lloyd Rees fountain – is transformed into a 20-metre-wide curtain of shimmering light and animated characters that seem to live behind the wall of water.
Wow factor: The combination of light, colour, movement and the rushing sound of water will make this one of the most hypnotic installations of the festival
Darling Harbour
Magicians of the Mist: Using state-of-the-art pumps to throw 28 tonnes of water into the air every minute, this conjures up the stories of three scientific pioneers on a screen of mist 40 metres high by 60 metres wide. “It’s based on [sci-fi writer and thinker] Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law: that any sufficiently advanced technology looks like magic,” Jones says.
Wow factor: This is world’s-best water-meets-light technology.
Botanic Gardens
Electric Forest: Trees become sculptures crawling with life and draped with pulsating fruits in this collaborative work created by designer-mentors Nicholas Tory and Mark Hammer and TAFE students studying 3D art and animation, production design and electronic music production.
Wow factor: Could there be a better showcase for the teachers and students of NSW TAFE system?
Overseas Passenger Terminal
Robowars: While the focus is on digital wizardry, Jones admits to one guilty analogue pleasure during Vivid: Robowars, a gladiatorial battle to the electro-mechanical death between homemade robots held in the cargo hall of the Overseas Passenger Terminal. “Last year, I really loved one with a giant hammer on top,” Jones says. “And one that had a chainsaw and would try to saw its opponent in half! What is more cool than something like that?”
Wow factor: Screeching metal, showers of sparks, the occasional fire. What’s not to love?
Taronga Zoo
Lights for the Wild: One of the world’s most beautifully situated zoos turns nocturnal during Vivid. While the real-life inhabitants sleep, Taronga’s leafy trails will glow with giant light sculptures of endangered animals including the Asian elephant, a Sumatran Tiger and the Tasmanian Devil. Look out for the swarm of tiny buzzing bees and PJ, a 20-metre Port Jackson shark you can walk through. “We have made a family of gorillas for this year – they are enormous,” says Lucy Keeler, co-creative director of Lights for the Wild by Ample Projects. “The dad is over four metres tall. He’s a bit scary. The mum and the baby are set up like a family photo. You can sit on the mother’s lap to be part of the family. We call it Gorillagram – your Instagram shot with a gorilla family.”
Wow factor: The ferry trip back to Circular Quay, with the city skyline alive with lights, is magical.
Chatswood
Steampunk Waterworld: In a homage to the sci-fi of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, the godfathers of the “steampunk” aesthetic, Chatswood’s Concourse precinct will be transformed into a retro-futuristic cityscape featuring a giant virtual pumping engine created in interactive light (titled Gear Shift), a firmament of 9000 glowing spheres (Voxelscape), and The Octopoda, a sound-and-light installation that invites audiences to play one of eight, tentacle-like drum pads.
Wow factor: An enveloping, all-ages audio-visual experience and you don’t have to cross the bridge. There’s Asian street food, too.
East Circular Quay
Dreamscape: Paint the town red? Why not purple? In an interactive installation titled Dreamscape located near the “Toaster” buildings, budding lighting designers can create their displays and have them projected onto the facades of nearby buildings. “We are currently in the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s largest interactive light display,” says Iain Reed, managing director at 32 Hundred Lighting, the company behind the concept. “Last year, people actually sat down and thought about it. The oohs and ahhs from kids and mums and dads was brilliant. Wow, I did that! It makes it all worthwhile.”
Wow factor: See your own ideas on a canvas hundreds of metres wide. The biggest buzz at Vivid.
Customs House Square
Cradle: Inspired by those click-clack chrome toys that no executive desk was complete without in the 1980s, Ashley Corbett-Smith’s Cradle illustrates the conservation of momentum and energy in a playground-sized installation of giant glowing spheres that change colour every time they collide.
Wow factor: Who knew Newtonian physics could be such fun?
Barangaroo
Trapdoor: The city’s newest precinct is being turned on big time this year. Don’t miss the amazing optical illusions of Trapdoor, created by Sydney digital maestros Spinifex Group.
Wow factor: Dare to look down and you’ll see the ground opens up to reveal a spectacular subterranean world.
Artist’s impression of Spinifex’s work Trapdoor. Photo: Destination NSW
Vivid’s Best Bite-sized Routes
The walks you can reasonably do in one evening:
Museum of Contemporary Art to Botanical Gardens
Take in the sails from outside the Museum of Contemporary Art, and then walk through the light installations in Circular Quay and Customs House Square before heading to the Botanic Gardens via the entrance near the Man O’ War Steps. The pathway of light has been extended this year, and you can stop for a bite in a pop-up eatery and bar.
The Rocks to Dawes Point
Take the Vivid Light Walk around The Rocks and Harbour foreshore to the Harbour Bridge and discover more than 65 whimsical, spooky and fun interactive light installations. Start at First Fleet Park, next to the MCA. Take some photos of the Sydney Opera House projections as you walk around the waterfront towards the Bridge, head all the way up to Campbell’s Cove to see Freedom of Movement, a mind-blowing set of swings, and on to Dawe’s Point for Eora: Bennelong, a projection on the south pylon of the bridge created by Bangarra Dance Theatre.
Circular Quay to Taronga Zoo
Catch a Taronga-bound ferry at Circular Quay (Wharf 4) at sundown, and within 20 minutes you will be strolling among the zoo’s illuminated sculpture paths. Allow at least two hours. The trip back is a stunner.
Barangaroo South to Darling Harbour
Wander the new laneways in Barangaroo South, check out the food offerings and take a breathtaking walk along the waterfront to King Street Wharf and Darling Harbour. Allow an hour to look at the lighting installations at Barangaroo. The walk to Darling Harbour is 15 minutes. Allow a further two hours to see all three water light shows. The lengthy but beautiful stroll is likely to be less busy than the Opera House and Circular Quay.
Like a Boss: Tips for Families
Visit early in the week: There’s no such thing as a quiet evening for Vivid (if the weather is dry), but Monday to Wednesday tend to be less crowded than Thursday and Friday and the weekend. Visit early in the evening if you can. The lights go on at 6pm (5.30pm at Chatswood and Taronga Zoo) and you can stroll around while everyone else is eating dinner.
Spread your visits: Vivid is too big to take in at one sitting. Explore one or two precincts per visit (Barangaroo and nearby Darling Harbour, for example, or the Opera House and Botanical Gardens), give yourself time to appreciate the works, and let the children enjoy things in their own time rather than against a bedtime deadline.
Get an ID wristband for the children: Children may think it’s a magical world to get lost in but parents invariably suffer conniptions if they lose track of their children, and it’s easily done in such stimulating surroundings. Free wristbands are available at Darling Harbour, Customs House and West Circular Quay. Write your phone number on the band and tell your children to look out for one of the Vivid volunteers (you can’t miss the hi-vis pink jackets) if they get separated.
Don’t leave it to chance: Leave your car at home. With tens of thousands of people converging on the city every night, you’ll be lucky to get even a premium-price parking space. Spare yourself the frustration and take the train to Wynyard or Circular Quay (extra services are on), catch a bus or enjoy the sight of an illuminated city from a ferry.
For precinct and accessibility maps, transport options and activities, see vividsydney.com or download the festival smartphone app.
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/vivid-sydney-2017-where-to-find-the-best-of-the-fest-20170516-gw5zg5.html
Article for smh.com.au by Elisa Blake