Vivid Sydney

Begin your journey at First Fleet Park with Embrace. Taking inspiration from children's paper chains, this interactive installation invites you to actively embrace the joy of human connection.

Watch as the iconic sails of the Sydney Opera House are wrapped in swaths of Gutman's textural work. Through dance, music, and puppetry, Echo tells a story of wonder, vulnerability, and strength. It weaves together the imagined and the real, the public and the private, the dark and the light. Echo is a call to look inwards and meet our shadows head on.

Plunge into Guan Wei's visionary world at the MCA , as his signature iconography illuminates the night. Journey from deep space, the depths of the ocean to a busy day-in-the-life of Bondi Beach, as this light projection illustrates the connection between the macro and the micro, the mystical and the everyday. 

We are our faces. They are a canvas for human emotion and expression. An invitation to connect. Mutual States explores this idea, putting the complexities of emotion and the self on full display. 

We are standing at a literal, and figurative, crossroads. Looming in front of us is the ASN Clocktower, with its three facades illuminated. On the left, humanity is represented. On the right technology, in the centre, AI, interpreting and amalgamating the two.

Step into a canopy thick with countless LED ropes and connect to our shared humanity. As individuals, we are connected by countless invisible threads — a fact Angus Muir explores in this technicolour, immersive installation. Wander through a circular 'forest' of luminous ropes, run your fingers along the strands and press any of the eight interactive posts to set off dynamic patterns.

The grey of the Harbour Bridge Pylons explodes into a kaleidoscope of surrealistic, colourful life. Watch as Indigenous artist Tori-Jay’s exaggerated, cartoonish characters explore humanity’s deep connection to nature, through the prescient story of the Torres Strait 8.

Follow the Vivid flock along the Light Walk where you’ll spot stylised light sculptures resembling our native birds. This ‘birdwatching’ adventure highlights the diversity and survival skills of Greater Sydney's feathered friends whose habitats and existence are encroached upon by our sprawling cityscapes, increasing populations and lifestyles.

Global Rainbow is a beacon of hope and inclusivity and a guiding light above the Vivid Sydney festivities. A spectrum of light reaches out from the Sydney Tower Eye, extending the footprint of the Vivid Sydney Light Walk into the night sky for all to see.

Our Connected City brings our city together through light. Colourful pulses of light will begin at the northern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and travel across the world-famous span, through The Rocks, around Circular Quay and onto the Sydney Opera House forecourt in a visual spectacle.

See the elegant Hickson House transform into a multi sensory dark room adventure, complete with bespoke cocktails, light effects and natural ingredients that change colour! 

Step away from the crowds and take in the sparkling views from level 36 of Shangri-la Sydney. 

Embrace this year's theme of 'Humanity,' with Twilight Tapas, the perfect way to bond, share and connect at the dinner table.

Find awe in a multi-sensory culinary experience harnessing sight, sound, and incredible taste.