May to June · New South Wales · Sydney
Vivid Sydney
The largest light festival in the southern hemisphere, with projection mapping on the Opera House and installations across Sydney Harbour.
Three weeks of light installations, projections, music and ideas across Sydney. Vivid is the biggest festival of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
Vivid Sydney started in 2009 as a modest light festival and has grown into the largest festival of its kind in the southern hemisphere. It runs for three weeks from late May to mid-June and combines large-scale outdoor light installations, projection mapping on major buildings, a music programme at the Vivid Live venue in the Sydney Opera House, and an Ideas programme of talks and panels.
The signature moment of Vivid every year is the projection mapping on the Sydney Opera House sails, which changes theme each year and is visible for free from the surrounding harbour foreshore. The Royal Botanic Garden, Circular Quay, the Rocks, Darling Harbour, Chatswood, Taronga Zoo and parts of western Sydney all have light installations throughout the festival.
The festival is free to attend in its outdoor form, with ticketed events at the Opera House and other venues for the music and ideas programmes. It regularly draws more than 3 million visitors over the three weeks and is the biggest contributor to Sydney's winter tourism economy.
While you are there
