What you need to see at Vivid Sydney 2017
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05/04/2017 Experience an explosion of light and colour at the Vivid Sydney festival this May and June.
One of Sydney’s most magical events is taking place between May 26 and June 17.
Sydney by night is always a spectacular sight to behold, but during Vivid Sydney, the entire city will be dancing with artistic masterpieces and illuminated with every colour of the rainbow.
Sydney’s iconic attractions and central areas, including the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Taronga Zoo, The Rocks, Darling Harbour and the Royal Botanic Gardens, will host an array of art, music and idea-focused events and attractions.
This is a festival best enjoyed on foot, and if you’re staying at The Macleay Hotel, you’re lucky enough to be in walking distance of incredible views and the festival’s best attractions.
What is Vivid Sydney?
Vivid Sydney is an annual lights, music and ideas festival that takes place all over the city.
This festival is the largest of its kind in the world and is one of Sydney’s premier cultural events, attracting both Aussies and travellers from all corners of the globe.
Most events are free to attend, so you can wander around the city streets and harbour foreshore enjoying all the funky art installations, light displays and entertainment without breaking the bank!
This festival is the largest of its kind in the world.
What’s the best way to experience the festival?
Lights are switched on at 6 p.m. each evening and remain on until 11 p.m. Public transport is available, but it’s better to walk as you’ll save yourself serious time waiting in line with all the other people attending the festival. Many roads in the CBD are also closed for the event, so navigating the glowing streets is much easier on foot.
Vivid gets packed with people each night, but if you go on Monday-Thursday nights you’ll avoid the worst of the crowds.
What should I see at Vivid?
There’s so much happening at Vivid, so it’s best to check out the online program to decide what you’d like to experience. One of the most enjoyable things you can do is simply walk around, observe the colours and soak up the atmosphere from one of the many vantage points, such as Pyrmont Park, Darling Harbour or Hickson Road Reserve. Feel free to craft your own itinerary, but make sure you don’t miss these events and sites along your route:
The best thing about Vivid is there’s so much happening for free.
Organic Vibrations involves projections of animated abstract images on the facade of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Circular Quay. The artwork, a collaboration between artists Julia Gorman and Danny Rose, turns the building into a moving entity of colour and light.
Possibly the biggest attraction of Vivid is the Sydney Opera House, onto which images and animations created by different artists are projected each year. The theme for 2017 is ‘Audio Creatures’, and viewers are promised “tableaux that evoke the pulsing sea creatures, eye-searing bird-plumage and iridescent plant life of an organo-mechanistic future”.
Around the Royal Botanic Gardens (just a twenty minute walk from The Macleay Hotel) and The Rocks will be an array of interactive displays, some of which offer social commentary and others that will simply stimulate your imagination.
These are just a few ideas of things to experience at this year’s Vivid Sydney, but there’s plenty more to enjoy, including concerts, musical performances, workshops and conferences.
Why not make The Macleay Hotel your base for exploring the festival? We’re centrally located in Potts Point, in walking distance of all the most exciting attractions.
Please visit the official Vivid website here – www.VividSydney.com
