Five Events At Vivid Ideas You Need To Catch

Many people solely associate Vivid Sydney with a showcase of light exhibitions and artworks, possibly as the installations are free and the easiest to access, but Vivid Sydney also sections their festival into two other categories — Vivid Music and Vivid Ideas.

Vivid Ideas is a celebration of innovation and creativity, using an array of business and creative leaders to speak at a variety of events, starting a conversation on topics as diverse as film and screen content, architecture, design, start-up culture, lighting and advertising. 

This year's Ideas program features a myriad of interesting and inspiring speakers and events, but we've narrowed down five public ideas forums and conferences we think are particularly great.

game-changers: matthew weiner

Matthew Weiner, the Emmy-winning creator and executive producer of our favourite period drama, Mad Men, will be speaking at Sydney Town Hall in an exclusive event. He'll be discussing the ending of the eight-year running show (so you better get your series finales out of the way pronto) as well as insights into the show's iconic characters, how he creates such encapsulating stories and other things he's learned along the way. You can also bring questions to ask Weiner about the Emmy and Golden Globe winning drama — maybe how we can get Jon Hamm dressed as Don Draper down to Australia? 

robowars

Robowars may be one of only carnal pleasures you'll get to fulfil at Vivid Ideas — it features robots constructed from power tools, remote control toy parts and metal, fighting to the death against each other. These robowars have apparently been held over the last decade in Australia, but like something you'd see in Blade Runner, we're loving how futuristic this concept is. This event is free and takes place in Overseas Passenger Terminal's Cargo Hall.

semi-permanent

A week-long design event filled to the brim with exhibitions, workshops, installations, discussions and parties about every aspect of the design world, Semi-Permanent features a host of creative industry speakers that can offer their learnings about their work to the community. Among the artists, photographers, architects and chefs speaking at the event, we thought Noah Taylor, an established member of the film industry and now venturing out into the art world, would be a great person to catch. Archibald-winning Ben Quilty is also hosting a talk about his struggles as a fine artist. 

the gin revival: how nana's favourite drink became the spirit of the moment

This one's for all you G&T drinkers and marketing execs. The Gin Revival looks at the way the clear spirit has changed in use and style over the years, with gin industry heavyweights offering their insight to brand experts about how gin can be revived for today's contemporary milieu. Targeted at marketing and PR professionals, brand managers and product developers, The Ginstress' Elli Michelle Clough will lead the discussion on why gin has risen in consumption by 50% over the last five years, going from an uncool drink to a hip spirit to throw back at a craft gin bar. Your ticket even includes a gin on arrival.

Bill drummond at modulations

So, imagine this. One of the world's biggest rockstars wants to hang out outside Carriageworks and shine your goddamn shoes. Bill Drummond, the face of UK's The KLF, performance artist and one of the world's largest pop culture aggravators, is doing just that. Aside from the keynote he's hosting at Carriageworks as part of Modulations, he'll be shining shoes for an hour beforehand as part of his 1,000 Pairs Of Shoes street art project. We're not quite sure why, but we know it's awesome. Drummond will also be building one of forty beds on the footpath, which you can win and get hand-delivered by winning a raffle. 

The eccentric muso is also known for doing such things as burning a million pounds, delivering soup to people's houses who were lucky enough to live on the Soup Line he drew across the UK and creating a No Music Day, which many movie theatres, schools, restaurants and radio stations such as the BBC all adhered to, because Bill Drummond said so. Drummond will be shining shoes from 4pm outside Carriageworks, on Saturday, 6 June, and building the bed all day outside Carriageworks on Friday, 5 June and Saturday, 6 June.