Vivid Sydney

At the darkest time of year here in the Southern Hemisphere, what could be better than a public event featuring light? For the fourth year in a row, Sydney has pulled out all the stops to present the Vivid light show festival. This year is the most spectacular one so far.

If you're in or around Sydney between now and when the show ends on Monday, June 11th, rug up and make your way to Circular Quay where most of the action is. It's fabulous and it's free and it's on from six pm till midnight every night. As with so many Australian events it is "the biggest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere". (It must be dispiriting to be an African, a South American or a New Zealander and be constantly edged out by Australian fireworks displays and light shows.)

The show has many works of art involving light but the highlights (sorry) are the projections on various buildings including the Customs House (now the City of Sydney library), the Opera House and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Last night there were tens of thousands of people out but, because of the height of the projections, no one blocked our view. The only danger was tripping over tripods because of the phalanxes of serious photographers.

The artworks were done by various people including the German light designers Urbanscreen who made the Opera House light projections, the Australian artist Justene Williams' Motion Collaboration # 1 projected on the wall of the Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Electric Canvas whose wonderful cartoon sequence, City Life, is projected onto the Customs House. Judging from the crowds, "Urban Life" is the show-stopper. And, by the way, all these displays have very cleverly designed soundscapes as well. Great stuff. Best in the Southern Hemisphere for sure.

As you can see, my own little pocket camera really can't do the artwork justice. Next year I'll take the proper camera and, yes, a tripod.

Here's a link to a better video of "Urban Life".

Now click on the following link and have a look at Urbanscreen's superior video: "Lighting the Sails".

If you can't make it this year---and I realise that for my Northern Hemisphere blog-friends a quick flight to Sydney is probably out of the question---at least have a look at last year's Custom's House light projection. This year's doesn't seem to be on You Tube yet. And, if you've missed it, unlike the transit of Venus---which we saw last week in Sydney---you won't have to wait till 2117 to see the next one.