Vivid Sydney 2016 for Kids - Fri 27th May to Sat 18th June 2016
The Vivid Sydney 2016 lineup is looking amazing and we cannot wait to see the sights or should we say lights! Here's our list of must see Vivid Sydney events to show the kids, the best thing is - most of them are free! We cannot wait!
Vivid Light Walk - Circular Quay - FREE
The world-famous Vivid Light Walk returns with more than 60 spectacular light art installations, large-scaleilluminations and mesmerising 3D-mapped building projections to light up Sydney’s waterfront. Lined up along prime harbourside locations that include the Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay, The Rocks, Campbells Cove and Walsh Bay, the Light Walk is free and open to all. You can enjoy this enticing world from any number of places along the way; just give yourself plenty of time to stop, connect, express yourself and have fun.
Vivid Light Walk - Circular Quay - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
Dress Circle (part of Vivid Light Walk) - Sydney Opera House - Circular Quay - FREE
Dress Circle takes the interactive lighting of the massive buildings in Circular Quay to a whole new level – and incorporates the illumination of the eastern side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the very first time. Visitors to Vivid Sydney will be able to colour and pattern the skyline in Circular Quay – nicknamed 'The Dress Circle’ – and transform the backdrop to Vivid’s world-renowned Light Walk.
Dress Circle - Artist: 32 Hundred Lighting (Iain Reed (Australia)) - Vivid Light Walk - Circular Quay - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
Sydney's Hidden Stories - Customs House - Circular Quay - FREE
The façade of Sydney’s Customs House at Circular Quay will play host to the fantastical wonders of Sydney’s Hidden Stories, where a blue-tongue lizard leads visitors through haunting landscapes of warty witches and wizards, gnomes and cocky cockatoos.
Sydney's Hidden Stories - Artist: Jason French (Australia) - Customs House - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
I Love You - Selena Griffith - Circular Quay - FREE
I LOVE YOU is a giant illuminated heart-shaped ‘Love-O-Meter’ that delivers a playful, participatory and often hilarious take on expressions of love.
I Love You - Artists: Selena Griffith (Australia) / Edison Chen (Australia) / Nila Rezaei (Australia) / Nathan Adler (Australia) - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
Treehugger - Sydney Opera House - Circular Quay - FREE
The organic structure of a living tree is enhanced by a series of sound and lighting responses that are activated by a simple hug from a human being.
Treehugger - Artist: Ciaran Frame (Australia) - Light Walk Circular Quay - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
Cathedral of Light - The Royal Botanic Garden - FREE
Cathedral of Light draws physical inspiration from traditional arched windows, typically found in historic churches, to create a 70 metre long tunnel illuminated by tens of thousands of LED light globes.
Cathedral of Light - Artist: Mandylights (Richard Neville (United Kingdom)) - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
Laser-Dragon Water-Theatre - Cockle Bay - Darling Harbour - FREE
The next astonishing and technologically advanced incarnation of the much-loved multimedia water theatre, featuring four video projected water-screens, forty 20m-high vertical fountains, sixteen 25m-high moving fountains, twenty-two 15m-high flame jets, and ten powerful lasers. The Laser-Dragon Water-Theatre will introduce a world-first: a water-screen mounted on a 13m robotic arm. Floating high above fifty-six fountains, arranged in snake-like coils, this moving water-screen assumes many forms, from ferocious dragons to the characters of commedia dell’arte.
Laser-Dragon Water-Theatre - Artist: Oracle Liquid - Cockle Bay - Darling Harbour - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
Australian National Maritime Museum - Darling Harbour - FREE
The journey of Norbert the Nautilus continues in 2016 with a projection on the museum’s rooftop named The Nautilus and the Sea. Characters from this film come to life as giant lanterns in this undersea fantasy by the harbour foreshore. Check out the free viewing vantage point from the Action Stations lookout on weekends.
Australian National Maritime Museum - Darling Harbour - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
Electric Jellyfish - Museum of Sydney - FREE
Visitors are invited to enter the domed structure of the luminous, breathing Electric Jellyfish. Here they enjoy a multi-sensory experience created by breathtaking moving visuals integrated with an ethereal soundscape. Innovative technology delivers multi-directional sound and music of astonishing clarity, depth and detail.
Electric Jellyfish - Artist: Equilibrium Design / Dolby Australia / Sofie Loizou (Australia) - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
Be The Light For The Wild - Taronga Zoo - Entry Fee Applies
Vivid’s wildest precinct will light up with an illuminated trail comprised of giant animal multimedia light sculptures at Taronga Zoo, which is also celebrating its Centenary in 2016.
Be The Light For The Wild - Taronga Zoo - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
WildLight - The Bio-Kinetic City - Chatswood - FREE
WildLight - The Bio-Kinetic City will transform Chatswood with an amazing collection of installations and activities inspired by the animals of Gondwana.
WildLight - The Bio-Kinetic City - Chatswood - Vivid Sydney 2016 - photo credit: Vivid Sydney Website 2016
There's a lot more events for the rest of the family if you have teenagers, checkout Impossible Voyage, Wormhole Galaxy and Robowars.
Tips to attend Vivid Sydney 2016:
- Go during the week Monday to Wednesday for less crowds
- Avoid Friday, Saturday and Sunday as those days attract the big crowds
- Lights come on at 6pm and end at 11pm so head out early so it's easier to see and move around or go after 9pm as it is less crowded then
- Take public transport as there will be road closures throughout the CBD, the Rocks, Walsh bay and Chatswood
- Go on State of Origin night as there will potentially be less crowds
- Go when it rains as it puts off some people and the event is not weather dependent
- Some of the best vantage points are Circular Quay, The Rocks, Hickson Road Reserve, Sydney Opera House, Walsh Bay, Darling Harbour, Pyrmont Park, Bradfield Park (under the Harbour Bridge at North Sydney), Luna Park, Lavender Bay, or on the harbour itself.