Vivid Sydney Transforms the Harbor City with Light, Music and Ideas
Lighting of the Iconic Sydney Opera House Sales, Harbor Bridge and KraftWerk Kicks-Off Largest 18-Day Festival in Southern Hemisphere
Sydney, May 24, 2013 – NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner officially opened the fifth annual Vivid Sydney festival (May 24 – June 10) by lighting the sails of the Sydney Opera House to unveil a stunning visual feast of color, movement and world-class lighting artistry, with amazing 3D-mapped light projections by Australian creative innovators, The Spinifex Group.
Launching a greatly expanded Vivid Sydney this year, including lighting the Sydney Harbor Bridge and transforming Darling Harbor into a spectacular water theatre, Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner said the festival, which is owned and managed by Destination NSW, the State’s major events and tourism agency, reinforced Sydney’s position as Australia’s global city and the creative hub of the Asia-Pacific.
“After a few short years Vivid Sydney is now the Southern Hemisphere’s largest festival of light, music and ideas, and a globally renowned celebration of creativity and innovation,” said Stoner.
“2013 will be the biggest and boldest Vivid Sydney yet, showcasing the city like it’s never been seen before to visitors not only from Sydney and NSW, but interstate and overseas, and promoting the world-class creative industries of NSW.
Vivid Light Shines Bigger and Brighter
“The Vivid Light footprint has tripled in size and for the first time Sydney’s famous Harbor Bridge will come alive with a spectacular installation created through a collaboration between Vivid partner Intel Australia and Sydney’s 32 Hundred Lighting, with support from North Sydney Council, in a world-first interactive programmable lighting installation on the bridge’s western face, controlled by the public from a touch screen located on the Luna Park boardwalk.
“With the Sydney Harbor Bridge installation visible from Balmain, North Sydney and a multitude of harbor-side vantage points on the western side of the bridge, Vivid Light illuminates more parts of the city and is accessible to more people than ever before.
“In another first, Vivid Light has extended into Darling Harbor, transforming the area into a spectacle of dancing water fountains, water screen projection performances and dazzling light and water shows, never seen before in Australia, masterminded by France’s legendary Aquatique Show International. Water shows will play on the hour, every hour from 6 p.m. each night of Vivid Sydney, with fireworks joining the choreographed performances each Saturday.
“Crowd favorites Customs House, Circular Quay, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, The Rocks and Walsh Bay will again become a canvas for the public to enjoy wonderful light projections and installations that will appeal to all ages,” said Stoner.
With a record number of applications to be part of Vivid Light, one-third of all light installations are from overseas artists, demonstrating the unique platform Vivid Sydney offers to engage with the best of the global creative economy and foster international business opportunities.
“Vivid Sydney is where technology, commerce and art intersect—delivering real business outcomes. With 37 per cent of Australia’s creative industries located in NSW, supporting creative industries through events like Vivid Sydney is key to the NSW Government’s strategy to grow the NSW economy,” said Stoner.
“In 2012 Vivid Sydney attracted more than 500,000 spectators and we anticipate numbers will reach well over 550,000 in 2013, injecting around $10 million in new money into the NSW economy.”
Vivid LIVE and Vivid Music – Loud and clear with a spectrum of world class talent
Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House tonight opens with performances by r’n’b soul legend Bobby Womack, as well as electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, who began the first of a four-night presentation of their acclaimed retrospective series that also sold out at MoMA in New York and TATE Modern in London.
With more than 25 music events by leading international and national artists, highlights include the world premiere of Australia’s Empire of the Sun’s much-anticipated second album Ice On The Dune, Underworld’s electronic king Karl Hyde, and the 45-piece Heritage Orchestra performing Vangelis’ original Blade Runner score.
For the first time, an additional music program Vivid Music will be staged in the last week of the festival, focusing on electronic, experimental, improvised music, including the Terminal Project at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Vivid Sydney at Seymour’s New Wave: Sound, and special programs for ISEA2013 and the Argyle.
Vivid Ideas assembles big thinkers in biggest line up yet
The Vivid Ideas program brings leading creatives and thought leaders from across the world to Sydney in over 120 creative industry business events as part of Vivid Ideas, and was voted one of the world’s top ten ideas festivals in the world by the UK’s influential Guardian newspaper.
Vivid Ideas’ program focuses on innovation, discussion, and collaboration. Highlights include Australian-exclusive talks from visual artist and cult icon David Shrigley (UK), streetwear entrepreneur Johnny Cupcakes (USA), digital artist and storyteller Jonathan Harris (USA), IDEO’s Chief Creative Officer Paul Bennett (USA), and revolutionary product designer Jane Chen (USA/India).
Creative industry business events partnering with Vivid Sydney include Australian International Design Festival, The Digital Playground by IDEA Australia, International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) 2013, Semi-Permanent, Sydney Writers’ Festival, Reportage Photography Festival, X|Media|Lab, SPARC International Lighting Event, Sydney Film Festival, Mumbrella360, Head On Photo Festival, AMPlify, and CeBIT Australia.
Destination NSW CEO Sandra Chipchase said, “Vivid Sydney is a ground-breaking event that builds the creative community of Sydney, as well as generating visitation from our key tourism markets. It is Sydney and Australia’s major festival in winter, and a signature event on the NSW events calendar. This year we have a free Vivid Sydney Harbor Shuttle ferry servicing Walsh Bay, North Sydney and Darling Harbor.
“I thank partners Intel, Citibank and Audi and other supporters, and encourage everyone to come and experience Australia’s global event city in a completely different light during Vivid Sydney.”
Stills, broadcast quality video and time-lapse are available and will be regularly updated at: http://www.vividsydney.com/media-centre/
The Vivid Sydney program is available at http://vividsydney.com
Lauren Russ at 773.868.0966 or lauren@connectcomsinc.com
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