Vivid Sydney 2016

Overview

Vivid Sydney is really cranking it up this year. With a kaleidoscopic festival program of light, music and ideas, Vivid's 2016 plans will have you squealing over social and locking in dates — lights are on at 6pm May 27 through to June 18.

Vivid Ideas is of course, back for the brainiacs among you — and this year it's bloody huge. Vivid Ideas curator Jess Scully revealed the mega lineup this morning, including House of Cards creator Beau Willimon and legendary US filmmaker Spike Jonze at the top of the bill. They'll be part of the popular 'Gamechangers' series, alongside Orange Is The New Black writer Jenji Kohan and creative wunderkind Margaret Zhang.

Vivid LIVE is back again with one humdinger of a lineup, revealed by curator Ben Marshall. Ready? There'll be 15 Sydney-only performances, including legendary outfit New Order, heartbreak king Bon Iver, chameleonic gem Anohni, alongside Ezperanza Spalding, Polica, Max Richter, Haitus Kaiyote with Sampa the Great (!), Tiny Ruins, Deafheaven, Oneohtrix Point Never, Future Classic nights and more to be revealed.

Vivid Music will expand again, with curator Stephen Ferris behind the wheel. In one heck of a slam dunk, Carriageworks will see a contemporary program in which none other than Bjork (BJORK!) launches a huge virtual reality project dubbed BJORK DIGITAL — a collaboration with some of the world's best filmmakers and programmers. To celebrate the opening, Bjork herself will travel to Sydney to curate a one-off music event at Carriageworks, where she'll DJ with special guests.

Obviously, the lights are the bigwig here, the event millions of visitors descend upon Sydney for. Sydney Opera House will feature Australian Indigenous art with new and iconic contemporary works from Karla Dickens, Djon Mundine, Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi, Reko Rennie, Donny Woolagoodja, and the late Gulumbu Yunupingu. The Light Walk will return, with Sydney's building facades lighting up with spectacular artistry. The eastern side of the Harbour Bridge will be lit up for the first time and Taronga Zoo will play host to an illuminated animal trail, celebrating its 100th birthday. The Chatswood precinct will light up with WildLight, inspired by the animals of Gondwana, and Martin Place will see the technical debut from NIDA in Martin Place called Fountain, a giant installation of human birth rate data as 'water jets'.

There's plenty more where that came from, check the Vivid Sydney website for more details.