Ten years ago, heading into Sydney's central business district on a cold winter night was almost unheard of.
Sydneysiders, you see, love their cozy little nests, and a dip in the temperature is all the excuse they need to stay home and hibernate.
That, combined with the drop in tourist numbers during the colder months, left the city feeling like a ghost town after dark. Something had to be done to breathe life back into the streets and the winter economy.
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In 2009, Destination NSW launched an event that was essentially four festivals rolled into one. But there was little obvious synergy between the different components, and to would-be visitors it all felt scattered.
"Back then it was trying to be too many things to too many people," says Ignatius Jones, who served as Vivid's creative director for eight years. "It confused people. My job was to give Vivid a purpose and an identity, and that happened remarkably fast."
Since taking creative control, Jones has helped turn Vivid into the country's coolest winter festival and the largest event of its kind in the world.
"Far more than just art"
Running across 23 nights (from May 25 to June 16), it now has three distinct strands: LIGHT (exhibitions and installations), LIVE (music and performances) and IDEAS (talks and discussions).
"It's about far more than just art," says Jones. "It's where art meets technology and changes the way we live... It's genuinely progressive, this is what arts festivals of the future will look like."
Last year, more than 2.33 million people descended on Sydney to see it lit up, pouring around 143 million Australian dollars (108 million US dollars) into the economy.
"One gelato shop told us they sold more gelato during the 23 days of Vivid than in all three months of summer!" says Jones, adding that other retailers claim to have earned an entire year's rent over the festival period.
"So many people show up... last year the police came to us and joked, 'Next time can you make it a bit less wonderful!'"
Not a chance. In 2018, the organizers expanded Vivid's program of events (and its scale) to include more than 90 light installations created by 100 artists, 120 musical performances and 260 speakers.
Bathing in "Metamathemagical" Light
As in previous years, the heart of the 2018 festival will be Circular Quay.
This is where you can admire the Customs House, its stone facade lit up with images of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, two beloved gumnut characters created a century ago by Australian author May Gibbs. (If you were born in Australia, you grew up on Gibbs's books.)
Local actress Noni Hazlehurst will narrate their adventure through the Australian bush.
Nearby, the Museum of Contemporary Art will be transformed by Johnny Niesche, whose creation Virtual Vibration "blends the joyful dissonance of psychedelia with the formal concepts of high modernism."
That translates into a mesmerizing show of color and shifting sensory impressions, with a soundtrack provided by musician Mark Pritchard. (Throughout Vivid, the MCA will extend its opening hours to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, making it a great vantage point for taking in the rest of the city.)
Among the most anticipated moments is the lighting of the sails, when the soaring white peaks of the Opera House are drenched in color. This year the creative baton has passed to award-winning Australian artist Jonathan Zawada, who has revealed that his concept, titled Metamathemagical, will transform kinetic digital sculptures with metaphysical themes and distinctly Australian motifs.
Nighttime Climbs on the Harbour Bridge
Unlike most festivals, at Vivid you're not just a spectator, you're also a participant. Many of the light installations are interactive, inviting visitors to touch, move and make noise.
Take Skylark by artist Ian Reid, for example, where you can help choreograph a laser and light show across the sky, controlled through 40 poles stretching from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay out to the outer reaches of Sydney Harbour.
Other ways to get involved include hopping on a ferry at Circular Quay, where boats draped in LED lights become part of a coordinated display that moves across the color spectrum as the vessels glide around the harbor.
Or you can climb the Harbour Bridge, throughout Vivid, nighttime climbs culminate at the summit with dancing on an LED floor that changes hue as you move.
Jones says the Light Walk will once again put the focus on participation.
"With the Light Walk, which makes up almost four kilometers of installations, we've created the largest open-air exhibition anywhere. We're taking art off the walls and out onto the streets, where people can touch it, feel it and interact with it."
Districts of Light
The light installations aren't confined to Circular Quay alone.
For the first time, the city's Luna Park amusement park will be turned into a Vivid precinct. On the north shore of the harbor at the foot of the Harbour Bridge, images will be projected onto the facade of the famous Coney Island, and thousands of LED lights will adorn the Ferris wheel to give it a dizzying shimmer as it spins.
Also on the North Shore, the grassy grounds of Taronga Zoo will once again become home to fantastical, oversized animal sculptures that this year will spotlight conservation issues and the wonders of wildlife through themes including Sydney's vanishing aquatic life and the Sumatran jungle, book ahead for spots on the Sky Safari cable car, which offers dazzling views of the zoo and the entire city.
Nearby, in the northern suburb of Chatswood, a pop-up Light Market will pair food stalls with a lit installation by Sydney scaffolding-sculpture artist Alejandro Rolandi.
The sails of the district's performing arts center will also become a canvas for large-scale projections of NASA imagery, while daily shows will showcase the extraordinary creations exported from New Zealand's World of WearableArt design competition.
Closer to the central business district, the new western harbor precinct of Barangaroo will see its waterfront transformed into an illuminated promenade inspired by water, land and fire, with a giant glowing creature (operated by a team of performers) at the center of a theatrical sound and light spectacle.
In neighboring Darling Harbour, a light and laser show called Fantastical Oceans will bring the surface of the water to life, mimicking jellyfish, ocean waves and coral, while the roof of the Australian National Maritime Museum will feature a projection of BBC Earth and David Attenborough's "Blue Planet II" (check out the free viewing spot at Action Stations Lookout on Friday and Saturday evenings).
The city's Botanic Garden, which surrounds the Opera House, will showcase a series of flower-themed installations, from Rejuvenate (a "tree" that sheds its bark to reveal a rainbow of colors) and Parrot Party (a flock of brightly colored birds that chatter, chirp and sing) to a light trail that changes color as you walk along it, and Bloom, a giant electric flower with mirrored spirals that refract the light, there's an opening in the middle, so you can become part of the display.
Vivid LIVE
In the inner-western suburb of Eveleigh, the contemporary arts hub Carriageworks will be devoted to live music. Goldfrapp and Bjork have performed here at Vivid LIVE in previous years, and in 2018 the headliner is Grammy winner St. Vincent (also known as Annie Clark), performing highlights from her 2017 album "Masseduction."
The same space hosts Curve Ball, an immersive music and visual experience featuring artists such as Alison Wonderland, Vera Blue, Poloshirt, Crooked Colours and Haiku Hands.
Another Grammy winner, Solange, will play four shows at the Opera House, alongside American dream-pop band Mazzy Star, West Coast rap icon Ice Cube, singer-songwriter Cat Power and local band Dreams, a joint project between former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns and Luke Steele.
Sydney Town Hall will be transformed for the inaugural Heaps Gay Qween's Ball, a massive party with masquerade costumes, DJs and drag queens, while "Orange Is the New Black" star Lea DeLaria (also known as Big Boo) will perform her musical comedy and jazz interpretation show at City Recital Hall.
This year there's also Vivid X Celerate, a program to promote fresh talent and up-and-coming bands.
Vivid IDEAS
The third and final part of the festival, Vivid Ideas, brings together the world's greatest minds, innovators and creatives for a program of public talks, workshops and debates.
Dozens of discussions lie ahead, including a conversation with director James Cameron on how his passions have shaped his films, among them "Titanic" and "Avatar."
Australian founder of Mambo clothing, Phantom records and Deus Ex Machina, Dare Jennings will talk about building leading businesses, all without any formal business education.
And American game designer Jane McGonigal will discuss using mobile and digital technology to channel positive attitudes and collaboration into real-world contexts.
