Transforming Sydney for 23 days and nights from Friday 23 May 2025, Vivid Sydney will fuse art, innovation and technology in collaboration with some of the most boundary-pushing artists, musicians, thinkers and culinary experts of our time. Australian Arts Review takes a look at a selection of events worth checking out:
Art After Hours: Dreams
Art Gallery of New South Wales: 28 May, 4 & 11 June
What do you dream about? In this special Art After Hours series for Vivid Sydney, AGNSW will explore how to access the subconscious, look at how the seeds of dreams are planted and play with the blurry line between dreams and reality. Inspired by socially engaged practice across food, ideas and music, the series will feature leading chefs, art-making workshops and performances.
Cygnus
Nawi Cove, Barangaroo: 23 May – 14 June
12 life-like animatronic swans glide across the mirrored water of Nawi Cove. They weave in geometric patterns and pirouette gracefully in a hypnotic, dreamlike display. Drifting across the water, the birds pulse with light, their colours shifting in rhythm to the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack composed by Anil Sebastian. For a moment the Cove becomes an uncanny valley, where artificial and organic become indistinguishable. Cygnus is both an homage to ancient storytelling and a testament to technological artistry. Having enchanted audiences in Berlin, London, Paris, and beyond, it takes on special resonance in Australia, home to the world’s only black swans.
First Nations
From the First Light ceremony to stunning light installations that transform Sydney’s landmarks with First Nations storytelling, and across the city, stages come alive with the sounds of First Nations musicians, while dining experiences showcase Native ingredients crafted by renowned First Nations chefs, Vivid Sydney 2025 celebrates the world’s oldest living culture to foster lasting connections to Country.
House of Romance: Dreams Collide
Customs House – Circular Quay: 23 May – 14 June
Iced Vovo inspired frocks, a multi-coloured crochet collage reminiscent of your nan and a neon-underwater reef burst to life across the façade of Customs House. Enter this kaleidoscope of colour, couture and pure fantasy as iconic Australian fashion duo Romance Was Born makes its Vivid Sydney debut with House of Romance: Dreams Collide – a vibrant celebration of their 20th anniversary. Animated by Australia’s newest immersive studio, Supergiant, the projection invites you to journey through a fabulous tribute to the duo’s creative output.
Inside the Dream Factory
Sydney Theatre Company: 29 May – 12 June
Step beyond the fourth wall in this Vivid Sydney exclusive hands-on workshop and backstage tour at Sydney Theatre Company. Guided by a ‘dream leader’ – explore the secrets of stagecraft, with immersive activities led by a cast of STC’s backstage experts. Learn how prop artists create theatrical illusions, using flash paper and hidden magnets to levitate objects. Discover how scenic artists transform plywood and paint into optical illusions, shifting perspective and perception before your eyes. Along the way, uncover untold stories from STC’s archives, explore hidden corners of the theatre and experience the behind-the-scenes artistry that brings stories to life on stage.
King Dingo
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia: 23 May – 14 June
A dingo stands tall, crowned in royal regalia, eyes alive with defiance. Landscapes flicker – empire dissolves into Country – as we are led through Australia’s colonial history through the eyes of the dingo, a First Nations everyman. This bold and irreverent projection by acclaimed First Nations artist Vincent Namatjira, will premiere on the façade of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia as part of Vivid Sydney 2025. Accompanied by an original score by Jeremy Whiskey, the work fuses humour, striking imagery and music to create a powerful assertion of First Nations strength, unity and cultural reclamation.
Lighting of the Sails: Kiss of Light by David McDiarmid
Sydney Opera House: 23 May – 14 June
A defining voice of late 20th century radical counterculture, David McDiarmid fused art, fashion, nightlife with bold activism and unapologetic self-expression. On the 30th anniversary of the artist’s death, Lighting of the Sails: Kiss of Light transforms his life’s work, rooted in activism and provocation, into a new animation projected onto the Sydney Opera House featuring four key bodies of work – the Bedsheet Paintings, Disco Kwilts, and the Kiss of Light and Rainbow Aphorisms.
Our Connected City
Circular Quay and The Rocks: 23 May – 14 June
Our City Connected transforms Sydney Harbour and CBD into a breathtaking canvas of light, uniting the city’s iconic landmarks in a synchronised display each night of Vivid Sydney. From Luna Park to the AMP Tower, Barangaroo Towers, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and many more landmarks, the entire foreshore becomes a full panorama of light. Watch as the Harbour Bridge, comes alive with colourful illuminations and moving light. 150 searchlights slice across the skyline, tracing dynamic patterns, while the mirror-like waters of Circular Quay reflect thousands of glittering lights.
Sound Walk
Angel Place, Sydney: Saturday 7 June
One night. One laneway, transformed. A free light and sound experience for all. Designed by Australian illumination specialists Mandylights, Sound Walk will see the Pitt Street end of the iconic city laneway Angel Place awash with light, sound and roving entertainment for one night only, free for all ages to enjoy. Start your night with a bite at one of the Angel and Ash Place district bars and eateries, absorb the Sound Walk atmosphere and then continue your Light Walk to the Martin Place precinct which is only moments away.
SomniUs
Stargazer Lawn, Barangaroo: 23 May – 14 June
Gaze up at a sea of a thousand rods, suspended above you, rippling with waves of light and sound as you move beneath its surface. SomniUs is your invitation to be part of the artwork you’re staring up at. This fluid, interactive installation responds to every gesture and step you make, creating undulations that transform the canopy above into a living, breathing work of art. Composed of over 6 kilometres of LED housed in nearly a thousand handmade light bars, SomniUs is a giant feedback loop. Watch as patterns of light and sound constantly shift and evolve in response to your movement below.
Sweet Dreams
Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylons: 23 May – 14 June
Shiny gumballs, pastel macarons, freshly made pop-corn – this confection of colour, light and nostalgia transforms the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylons into a childhood dream come true. A journey into a world made entirely out of treats, Sweet Dreams is a sugar-rush of delight and imagination. Watch as a Rube Goldberg style machine comes to life as a kaleidoscope of lollies morphs and transforms before your eyes, with stacks of biscuits, rolling sweets and a cascade of cupcakes tumbling together.
The Cloud Swing
Darling Quarter Village Green: 23 May – 14 June
A cluster of glowing, cloud-like structures appear as if floating. First exhibited at Burning Man in 2019, this is a magical mirage lifted straight from the Nevada desert. Drift over to The Cloud Swing and experience a moment of escapism and delight as you take a seat on a swing below a large, fantastical and illuminated puff of white. When still, the clouds remain a soft, glowing white, but as the swings move, they burst into colour, responding to the movement below with dynamic light patterns. The Cloud Swing has enchanted audiences at light festivals across the world, offering a simple yet magical invitation to pause, play and lose your head in the clouds for a moment.
Starscape Tunnel
Hay Street near The Goods Line: 23 May – 14 June
Step into a 40-metre tunnel illuminated by a galaxy of glowing stars. A stunning homage to both the night sky and the glow-in-the-dark decorations that sparked so many childhood dreams. This immersive installation invites you to relive the awe of gazing upward, lost in the space between wakefulness and a galaxy of dreams. Featuring over 700 stars, Starscape is a dazzling constellation. Brilliant flashes of colour dance along the length of the tunnel, creating a vibrant display that’s captivating from both inside and out.
Trispheric Garden
Sea Wall Lawn, Barangaroo: 23 May – 14 June
Step into a surreal garden of light, shape and sound and find yourself within a circle of six towering geometric obelisks. This audio-visual playground invites you to wander through shifting forms and light patterns, distorting perception at every turn. As you navigate around these otherworldly pillars, reflective and refractive surfaces bend and reshape light while dynamic sound and visual sequences shift, mirroring the fluid and fleeting nature of dreams. Trispheric Garden is a meditation on transformation and impermanence, a place where reality blurs and your perspective is always in flux.
Tumbalong Nights – NextGen: V-pop
Tumbalong Park: Friday 30 May
Vivid Sydney showcases the rising stars of Vietnamese pop in this exclusive Australian performance. Mỹ Anh, hailed as one of Vietnam’s most exciting new voices, blends alternative R&B and soul with her signature style, breathing fresh energy into the V-pop scene. Chi Xê, TikTok sensation turned breakout artist, brings her charismatic stage presence and genre-hopping sound to Sydney for the very first time on the Tumbalong stage.
Vivid Fire Kitchen
The Goods Line, Ultimo: 23 may – 14 June
Vivid Fire Kitchen reignites at The Goods Line, delivering a sensory feast of fire and flavour. This year, Vivid is turning up the heat with Fire & Spice – a bold new twist that celebrates the world’s most vibrant, spice-driven cuisines alongside flame-seared favourites. Enjoy live demonstrations and an array of fire-cooked cuisine from the world’s best pitmasters, chefs and barbecue legends. Plus, enjoy the live, rollicking sounds of Lolo Lovina and friends at her Gypsy Caravan Stage all festival long.
Vivid Sydney runs Friday 23 May to Saturday 14 June 2025. For more information and full program, visit: www.vividsydney.com for details.
Images: Our Connected City – photo courtesy of Destination NSW | House of Romance: Dreams Collide (supplied) | Lighting of the Sails: Kiss of Light (supplied) | SomniUs (supplied) | Starscape Tunnel (supplied)