Five Parts Of Vivid Light You Can't Miss

As Vivid Sydney returns for its seventh year, another stellar 18-day program has been unveiled for Sydney's annual winter festival of Light, Music and Ideas. This year's program will take place across a number of locations around the city including Circular Quay, The Opera House, Carriageworks and Sydney University, and will feature a variety of awe-inspiring shows and spectacles around the city.

Given that Vivid Light pulls the largest crowds most years, being an entirely free and public event and a treat for photographers and tourists alike, we thought we'd take a look at the five best Light exhibits you shouldn't miss. If you're in the mood for a little wandering around our beautiful Sydney city while taking in the sights, definitely check out some of these innovative light shows. For Vivid Sydney's whole Light program, head here. 

Beatdice

Held at Circular Quay's First Fleet Park, Beatdice is a collaborative musical experience with the use of sensor cubes or "beatdice" that light up and illuminate. This one will be particularly fun for those who dabble in music production or DJing, though if you're lucky you may also come across a quiet stranger who is a master improviser and composer. The cubes can be manipulated to distort and mash up music, with sounds ranging from viola to break beat. In reward for your cooperation, the cubes respond by creating an artwork that pulsates with light. 

Lighting The Sails

Lighting The Sails is a must-see for the Vivid Light festival — let's just say it's the installation that features on Instagram the most. UK digital art practice Universal Everything have been chosen this year to create an artwork for the World Heritage-listed sails of Sydney Opera House, having previously collaborated with Radiohead, Warp Records and worked on large scale events like the 2012 London Olympics. The light show on the sails is mesmerising — constantly changing, the animations often feature bold, colourful imagery, hand drawn sequences and geometric designs that evolve and change before your eyes. And while you're there, you may or may not be left wondering where and how the projector responsible for this gargantuan affair is located. 

paint the town

Created by the innovative Aussie production house 32 Hundred Lighting, Paint The Town allows visitors to express their creativity on the largest scale imaginable — by using the Sydney city skyline as a canvas. Controlled using an interactive state-of-the-art touch screen located at Circular Quay's Overseas Passenger Terminal, low-energy LEDs will allow the user of the touch screen to paint the town however way he or she wishes. Paired with the glittering office windows and the psychedelic colours the six-year-old having a go on the touch screen will probably choose, this is a chance to see the buildings making up Sydney's skyline like never before. Your move, New York City. 

Enchanted Sydney

Enchanted will project images of Sydney's flora and fauna onto Sydney's iconic Customs House. Another one to see purely because of the way it modernises such an historic Sydney building, in past years Customs House has pulsated its way through a melting pot of colours and Salvador Dali-esque visuals. This year's Enchanted will create a continually blossoming world, the lighting artwork combining aspects of the familiar and unfamiliar. The graphics will be reflective of the city in all its moods and textures. 

Vivid Laser-Fountain Water Theatre

Sydney's version of the Fountains Of Bellagio, the Vivid Laser-Fountain Water Theatre is a liquid light show featuring erratic jets and spirals of water, incorporating full-colour lighting, rainbow lasers and dancing flames within the water at Darling Harbour. The display is a result of years of research and development, as well as engineering by Glenn Turner, the Oracle-Liquid director. This year's display will launch over 30,000 litres of recycled water per minute, shooting jets of water 100m across the harbour and 30m into the night sky. Choreographed to songs by The Presets, this one will be a great one to catch while having dinner in the harbour.