Richard Lindsay said …. “We wanted to create things that people could identify with and there are some Sydney elements that keeps it deliberately local – but it’s not a tourism piece. I think if there isn’t a little bit of magic to it then we’ve failed.” “Riskier (and risqué) ideas were toyed with in the beginning but what Spinifex settled on was an ever-evolving sequence of imagery that – they’re hoping – might just spark a knowing smile from the locals.

Without giving too much away, images will move through six themes ranging from ‘play’ to ‘chameleon’; there’ll be neon, flipping tiles, city landmarks”

As one of the nation’s great international success stories, the record-breaking agency has undertaken some of the largest projection mapped projects ever seen, displaying their versatility and expertise across international sporting events (Beijing Olympic Games 2008), euphoric cultural celebrations (Shanghai World Expo 2010) and large-scale interactive installations (Cisco House London 2012)..

Sydney electro-pop dup Heavenly Antennas will open Vivid Light with an original musical score created to accompany the light projections by local creative company, Spinifex.

Heavenly Antennas is a marriage between the divergent skills of Kyls Bertland’s orchestral and song writing background and the electronic sounds of her sound mixer, Josh Wermut.

Heavenly Antennas is a boutique music & sound post production house, catering for Film, TV & advertising.

With seven TV Series, 350 TVCs, and 45 films and documentaries under their belt, and comprising three award-winning composers and sound designers who are also active in the arts community as performers, re-mixers, album producers and creators, this is a formidable service for film makers who love an authentic, moving,  non-corporate sonic-palette for their films

“It’s wonderful,” says Burtland, when we speak to her about working on such a grand project like Vivid Light. “The Sydney Opera House is such a beautiful big canvas and it’s a job in which we spend a large amount of time writing what we want… you don’t often get that.”

With a background in music production and writing musical scores for film and large-scale audio-visual installations, the duo were asked to be the first Australian group to create the musical score for Vivid Sydney’s Lighting of the Sails.

“It’s going to be a mash-up of orchestral and electronic sounds, from the grand and bombastic to the cinematic. We’ll be using old synthesizers, objects and a whole bunch of trombones.”

The Vivid footprint extends this year to include Fort Denison, the Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay, The Rocks, Walsh Bay and Darling Harbour.

The Vivid journey starts at Fort Denison and continues on the western boardwalk of Sydney Opera House where a series of stunning projections transform the famous sails with a medley of light projection, video mapping and motion graphics. From here, a series of interactive and immersive light art sculptures and installations paves the way. Some have a message, some are pure fun, most are interactive.

Either way it’s an engaging, colourful, startling and beautiful way to experience Sydney Harbour on a winters night beneath the stars.

On the Circular Quay promenade, Bucky Bulb is hard to miss; a huge, old-fashioned light bulb is criss-crossed with translucent tubes, pulsating with colourful LED lights.

At Morphic Mirror marvel at your reflection as its shimmers and shifts your rapid movements will induce waves that rippling across the mirror’s surface.

From this vantage point, you can see the Colours of Vivid splashed across the CBD and skyscraper buildings of the Sydney Harbour foreshore.

Vivid Sydney returns with the longest ever Light Walk featuring interactive light installations, illuminated skyscrapers and large-scale 3D mapped projections around Sydney Harbour’s iconic foreshore.

Light installations from Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, USA, South Korea, Malaysia and New Zealand will feature alongside Australian works.

Head along George Street in The Rocks to discover the cobblestone laneways of Sydney’s historic precinct filled with interactive installations such as Human Effect; as you approach, a beautiful “garden” appears to be growing in a laneway, only to wilt and slowly die before your eyes.

The Electric Canvas returns to VIVID in 2013 with an engaging interactive projection at Cadman’s Cottage.

Using a large touch screen, people of all ages can create their own architectural projection. With a variety of themes, tools and pallets the participant is able to select different architectural regions and then apply textures and animations to the cottage in real time.

At the conclusion of each timed session, a photo of each artwork is pushed to a Twitter account where the pictures can be viewed, downloaded or retweeted.

Make your way to Campbell’s Cove in The Rocks where you’ll discover the Enlightened Piano, a grand piano set on a small stage. Whether you’re a professional musician or an amateur, you’ll be able to create a piece of music that produces a unique light pattern – under the stars by Sydney Harbour.

Further on, take a ride on the We See Saw where a LED screen lights up in your own individual colour scheme with each bounce of the see-saw. At the Nocturnal Pianola, you can play a free-standing piano keyboard and watch in awe as the keys light up in a spectrum of fabulous colours.

Continue around to Walsh Bay and discover Sydney’s newest arts precinct where there are more stunning installations.

At Polka Kucha, generate your own unique experience of space, light and colour – by simply turning a wheel. Get a feel for this historic precinct through Walsh Bay Whispers when all your senses are engaged in a discovery of the past. You can even imagine what the rat plague of 1900 was like with Rats, capturing the chaos through sound, light and interactive elements on land and in the water.

Also for the first time in 2013, the Sydney Harbour Bridge will be the centrepiece of a new interactive light installation, extending the Vivid Light Walk across the harbour and into North Sydney !

Using the latest interactive lighting technology, you’ll be able to select a section of the bridge to light up, choose your own colour and watch in awe as your illuminated creation brings to life the beautiful grey arch and spans of this iconic piece of Australian architecture.

It’s a rare treat to play with something you drive, walk or cycle over on a regular basis!

The result is not just a beautifully lit bridge, stacked with an amazing over 100,800 energy-efficient LED lights.

The lighting of the world-famous bridge is another major collaboration designed especially for Vivid Sydney by 32 Hundred Lighting with partner, Intel, who is delighted to turn the Sydney Harbour Bridge into an interactive light experience using the Intel Core processor family.

 

Lighting installation designed by Iain Reed and software design and production by Martin Bevz.

This year, for the first time, Customs House becomes interactive with Move Your Building spectacular 3D mapped projections that are controlled by you and accompanied by music illuminating the façade of one of Sydney’s landmark heritage sites.

You just choose a tune from a playlist, decide the graphic theme for the building and start dancing on a mini dance floor located in front of the building.

As you dance and move, you’ll be interacting with the building via the latest projection and mapping technology.

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Move Your Building is a collaboration between French design company, Danny Rose, TDC – Technical Direction Company, Customs House and the City of Sydney.

Spinifex Group is also working with the BBC and Vivid Sydney to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who for one night only !  Sat June 1st 2013

The grand façade of the Customs House at Circular Quay will feature a visual feast of 3D-mapped projections of the Doctor and some of his greatest enemies. The soundscape with the projections will feature music from the TV show including I am the Doctor and the iconic theme tune.

Darling Harbour is now officially part of the Vivid Sydney event footprint.

Ever wanted to play video games on a screen that’s 150 metres wide and 4 stories high ? Who hasn’t ? !

Luminous returns to Darling Quarter with it’s huge, interactive LED facade.

Vivid Aquatique is a completely immersive water theatre, combining a magic 20-metre wall of light, colour and music inspired by the fountains of Versailles.

This is the first time a spectacular show of this scale has been staged in Australia. Aquatique Show International are considered to be unrivalled experts in water shows and special effects.

Vivid LIVE Festival Director, Fergus Linehan said, “This year’s Vivid LIVE has been a real pleasure to program – from Empire of the Sun to Kraftwerk, from Karl Hyde to Sunnyboys, it will be a time to be inspired and elated in equal measure.  We look forward to welcoming people from all over Australia and overseas to the Opera House.”

Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House will feature local and international artists, including German electronic music legends Kraftwerk and the the world premiere album show of Australia’s Empire of the Sun.

German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk performed the first two concerts of their groundbreaking master works in 3D KRAFTWERK – THE CATALOGUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, with Autobahn and Radio-Activity

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