Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the central business district of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

It has been been described as the “civic heart” of Sydney.

As home to the Sydney GPO, Reserve Bank of Australia, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Macquarie Bank, Westpac, Channel Seven news centre and other corporations, it is a centre of business and finance.

Martin Place runs between George Street and Macquarie Street, and provides entrances to the Martin Place railway station below street level. Other cross streets include Pitt Street, Castlereagh Street, Elizabeth Street and Phillip Street.

The initial “Martin Place” was the section between George Street and Pitt Street, officially opened 1892, and was named in honour of Sir James Martin, the three time Premier of New South Wales and Chief Justice of Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Closed to traffic in stages from 1971, Martin Place is surrounded by many heritage buildings and features the 1927 World War I ANZAC Cenotaph, water fountain, entertainment area, railway access and pedestrian seating.

Martin Place has traditionally been considered the ‘centre’ of the city of Sydney, so it’s more than suitable that it should also be the ‘centre’ of Vivid Sydney.

See cutting-edge projections, extraordinary installations and a showcase of the Creative Industries Food inspirations.

Deep Forest at Martin Place is where an oasis has been created by the fusion of artists and chefs for you to enjoy!

Everywhere you turn, you’re surrounded by glittering colour, movement and incredible food.

Note the video below commences around the 3 min 20 secs mark

Vivid Sydney 2017 – Projects at Martin Place

Deep Forest at Martin Place was designed by culinary and art duo Motti+Smith, who have assembled a talented young team to realise the idea eg Porteno, LP Quality Meats, Archie Rose Distillery and Stanbuli

Including the production expertise of Paper Moose and Stagekings, they have fashioned an oasis which brings both forest and feasting place to the urban jungle of Sydney’s CBD.

54 )  re/FRACTION

Artist: The Buchan Group

re/Fraction fills the Lloyd Rees fountain with brilliantly glittering, refracted light, where artists of the Buchan Group have taken a very familiar landmark and reinvented it in a most unexpected way, using light to add vibrancy and moments of newfound delight.

re/Fraction hides behind the constantly undulating, curved water veil of the fountain by day; however, at ‘lights on’ each evening of the festival, the installation reveals itself by throwing brilliantly glittering, refracted light across the fountain’s length.

Scenes play out continuously over the 20-metre-wide turbulent canvas, looping throughout the evening to greet festival-goers as they move along the length of Martin Place.

Some scenes are sparse, with animated characters moving smoothly along just behind the curtain of water, gliding over the black stone of the fountain; other scenes will fill the cascade with colour and movement.

55 )  Waratah

Artists : Inflatable Artwork Design ( Fabrication: Sarah Harvie / Technical Design & Installation: Dylan James Tonkin / Lighting Designer: Christopher Page / Interaction Designer: Anthony Zeater )

The majestic waratah is native to Australia and is the floral emblem of the state of New South Wales: it is difficult to cultivate and slow to mature, but flowers riotously in its native bushland setting.

To honour this extraordinary plant, the artists have created a huge inflatable light sculpture, rich in colour and beautiful by day; at night it opens out to give visitors a larger-than-life experience of the aesthetics of this magnificent bloom.

Waratah, like all flowers, is sensitive to its immediate environment: it responds to sound and movement, shifting from its ambient resting glow to an explosion of light.

Visitors can walk right up to it and make direct contact and it responds playfully, creating integrated wave patterns with light.

The interactivity built into the sculpture is inspired by scientific research that suggests that plants and their flowers are more like us than we think.

Just as humans respond emotionally to different types of contact or interaction, some plant specimens appear to respond to physical contact and sound.

Different sensations can trigger a cascade of physiological and genetic responses; for example, some plants can ‘hear’ when insects are chewing them and release chemicals to stop the damage.

Plants are also able to sense changes in their environment, and appear to communicate these changes to other plants via a subterranean ‘internet’ of underground fungus.

As they interact with Waratah, visitors not only celebrate the organic design of a marvellous work of nature, but experience a sense of that often-unseen relationship that exists between humans and plants.

56 )  Atmos

Artists : Motti+Smith and Paper Moose

Atmos, Paper Moose’s magical display of rippling ghost-like scrims and ribbons is positioned above the dining area, recreating the majesty of our ‘Southern Lights’, the Aurora Australis.

This overhead delight is symbiotic to the grander dining experience, transporting Martin Place customers to a magical forest buried deep in their imagination.

57 )  Lux Populi

Artists : Motti+Smith and Stagekings

Lux Populi by Stagekings is a tree light that soars 10 metres above the forest floor, with a kilometre of glowing neon rope reflecting off the skyscrapers in the finance district and transforming glass and concrete into a sparkling corridor of light

Beneath the CTA tree, Motti + Smith have brought in renowned Argentinian restaurant Porteño to roast barbecue treats on an open-flame asador fire pit that casts a warm glow across the surrounding bar and dining area.

Some of NSW’s best fire chefs will join Porteño, creating exciting culinary collaborations with NSW wines and beverages.

58 )  UrbanTree 2.0

Artist : Ample Projects

The popular UrbanTree installation returns this year with UrbanTree 2.0 at the Commercial Travellers Association (CTA ) building in Martin Place, known as the Harry Seidler modernist designed ‘ Mushroom Building ’

The much-loved building is already a notable contrast to the soaring angular geometry of the surrounding skyscrapers

The organic curves of the building become a canvas for breathtaking projections and animations that take viewers deep within a forested eco system where rivers flow, plant-life grows and each night a glowing frog succeeds in catching a hiding caterpillar.

It gives Vivid Sydney’s visitors a unique glimpse of how interdependent creatures and habitats are on our delicate and beautiful planet.

Created by Ample Projects this concept has won local and international awards.

The work is a fresh chapter of the multi-award winning Urban Tree 2.0 that launched Martin Place’s entry as a Vivid Precinct in 2014.

The first work explored themes associated with the impact of high density living on the natural environment and the human need for green space.

The 2017 projections extend this theme further by giving viewers a unique glimpse of the interdependent creatures and habitats on our delicate and beautiful Earth.

59 )  Black Start Pastry  & N2 Gelato

While Sydneysiders are want to complain about cold weather, Vivid Sydney is one of the few things that’ll get them out of hibernation.

The crew at Black Star Pastry ( Newtown ) have been working overtime as they prepare to shine with their latest creation for Vivid.

Black Star’s  Glow-nut – is a glow in the dark glazed doughnut which has had Vitamin B added to the icing mix

But if the kaleidoscope of colour and lights isn’t enough to get you out of home, this year Vivid has combined Sydney’s two loves – colourful things and doughnuts – for a glowing dessert that has us real intrigued.

Black Star Bakery ( known globally for its watermelon cake, a delicate dessert that has been deemed the most Instagrammed cake in the world ), is set to debut a new star, the Glo-Nut, a glow-in-the-dark doughnut.

But it’s just one treat to tempt at the Glow Cave Dessert Bar in Martin Place.

In addition to glownuts, you can grab Black Star’s glowing doughnut balls or a slice of black sesame yuzu cake, matched with warm glowin’ white chocolate and honey drinks from N2 Gelato

60 )  Twelve-Tone

Artist : Unqualified Design Studio

Twelve-Tone is an interactive visualisation of the tones of a musical scale.

It comprises a series of twelve poles, or stacks, representing the 12 musical tones that make up an octave.

Each pole is constructed from timber and lit from inside using LEDs.

The interaction of light and structure creates patterns and visual effects similar to a hologram.

Using cutting-edge mesh-network technology and an interactive keyboard, users are able to ‘play’ the array of stacks, creating an aural and visual representation of the musical scale.

Each stack produces textured light and sounds corresponding to the notes being played on the keyboard.

When participants are not interacting with the keyboard, a spatially-composed arrangement of light and music takes over the space