Opera House projections vs $128 harbourside walks: Reviewing Vivid’s light shows

From its humble beginnings in 2009 as an event championing so-called “smart lights”, Vivid Sydney has grown into a 23-day, multi-headed behemoth that now includes music, ideas and food programs.

The heart of the festival remains the famous light shows – over 30 this year – which have morphed from focusing entirely on work by individual artists to a range of shows on a grander scale, often in partnership with private sponsors.

Lightscape at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.Credit: James Brickwood

Last year ticket booths went up at the entrance to the Royal Botanic Garden and visitors were charged to see one of the event’s most expansive works, Lightscape. The decision was criticised by some politicians.

A second paid light show, Dark Spectrum, a 900-metre walk starting below Wynyard was also introduced. This year another paid light event (although organisers say it is technically part of the music program) has been added. The Tekno Train is a “pulsing techno thrill ride” around the city’s rail network, costing up to $26 per ticket.

The regular, and highly popular, light walk between the Opera House and Ultimo remains - which raises the question: is it worth shelling out for the paid events, or are you better off sticking with the free experience?

Vivid’s paid light shows

Dark Spectrum tickets will set you back between $35 and $46 dollars depending on the time of day you go, but can cost up to $154 for a family of four. The near kilometre long walk is billed as “a secret spectrum of touchable colour, kaleidoscopic lasers in an underworld of intensity and power”.

Dark Spectrum - the old train and tram tunnels beneath Wynyard.Credit: James Brickwood

Once you descend into the abandoned tunnels below Wynyard, you’re left to wander along through each section at your own pace. Organisers suggest allowing an hour to take in the show, but at off-peak times when the space is quieter you can complete the walk in about 30 minutes.

There are eight separate spaces to explore, each featuring radically different light shows accompanied by “club hits from the past 30 years.” The names given each room, including Search, Radiate, and Throwback are too vague to really have a real meaning, diminishing any kind of artistic merit the show attempts to offer.

Vivid’s Dark Spectrum.Credit: James Brickwood

By the end it feels as if organisers have emptied the techno toy box to create some cool effects and then grafted on an artistic statement as an afterthought. The overall effect is pleasant enough with sufficient shiny baubles to sustain the walk. If that’s enough for you then the ticket price is probably worth it, however don’t go looking for any more profound meaning.

Over at the Botanic Gardens a family ticket for Lightscape costs $128. Individual adult and child ticket are $38 and $28 respectively. This one is billed as “an immersive experience” through a 1.8 km trail alongside Sydney Harbour.

The familiar arches of Winter Cathedral, a part of the walk, have quickly become a favourite. They are fabulous for selfies, but you also get the feeling anyone could duck to Bunnings for some fairy lights to create the same effect at home.

Lightscape, the paid light show in the Botanical Garden.Credit: James Brickwood

In terms of the actual artworks created with lights, Giant Bunch of Tulips and the gravity-defying dandelions in Light a Wish are arresting. The Pixar-like animated jungle walk is also breathtaking. But the real stars are the trees and existing plant life in the gardens, especially when lit up like creatures from Alice in Wonderland.

There are some less fascinating works, however, with lighting at some points feeling more like a cheap horror film. Some of the children going through the walk seemed more interested in patting the bums of the naked statues in the Botanical Gardens, than engaging with the lights.

Which raised an interesting question: why wasn’t more of the existing art in the Botanical Gardens like the Lysicrates Monument lit? It felt like a missed opportunity.

Lightscape’s Winter Cathedral, one of the paid events at this year’s Vivid.Credit: James Brickwood

If you’ve got the money, the Lightscape has enough to hold your attention. But for a family, once you factor in transport, parking and food ($22 for a gozleme) it feels a bit rich. Sure the eastern view of the lit Opera House is nice but since when have we had to pay for that?

Vivid’s free light shows

From the Global Rainbow beaming the colours of the rainbow from Sydney Tower up to 40 kilometres away, to climate change warriors from the Torres Strait Island whose faces will light the Harbour Bridge pylons, the free events at Circular Quay remain a key part of Vivid.

Gumscape with road and creatures by Reg Mombassa at Customs House is bound to be a crowd pleaser. A corrugated-roofed, brick veneered-based Opera House, blow-fly engines, one eyed-koalas, surfing Holdens and Frankenstein’s kangaroos are just some of the Australian icons to appear in this Mad Max-style vision of the Aussie road trip. Using Mombassa’s 3000-strong catalogue the Spinifex Group have turned the work of the former Mambo artist into a six-minute animation.

A perennial favourite are the Opera House lights, which this year is Echo by current Archibald winner Julia Gutman. Just as she did for last year’s winning Archibald entry of singer Montaigne, Gutman has used fabric donated by her local community, to create an animated patchwork to cover the city’s calling card.

Chinese-born, Parramatta-based artist Guan Wei, combines Australian and Chinese imagery in Sea, Sand and Stars at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It journeys from astronauts in deep space to the deep sea and Bondi Beach.

Barangaroo is home this year to some of the most jaw-dropping illuminations including Nest by Leila Jeffreys and Melvin J. Montalban. For their fourth collaboration, the pair have created a circular structure on Stargazer Lawn where, the ritualistic graceful mating dance of the brolga plays out.

Artist Sinclair Parks’s work Stateless at Barangaroo’s Nawi Cove, is simple and silent, but probably the most powerful of all the Vivid installations. Over 4000 solar-powered LED candles represent the increasing number of stateless people around the world.

Stateless, by Sinclar Park at Barangaroo.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Cockle Bay’s highlight is Hika Rakuyo, the Japanese concept using flowers and falling leaves as a metaphor for the transient beauty of life. It uses Australian native flowers in an eight-minute holographic light and laser show which is on repeat from 6pm to 10.45 pm daily. Circular Quay’s 700-strong drone show, Love is in the air will only take place on June 8, 9 and 15.

The adept curation, the calibre of the artists involved and the sheer scale of the lights set alongside one of the world’s greatest harbours means that even if you eschew the paid, structured components of Vivid’s program, you will still experience one of the best, night-focused events the city has to offer.

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