Sydney lights up for Vivid 2019

9–31 May and 18–21 June, 11am–5pm
Tin Sheds Gallery, The University of Sydney
Event details

Pre-Vivid Exhibition: 
They love art, they love technology. The Tinsheds Gallery will be transformed into a construction site. Come watch ARTYTechs bring their creations to life ahead of their Vivid debut. Find out who these people are and see their project journeys.

Post-Vivid Exhibition:
After showcasing their works at Vivid, the resident ARTYTechs are back for a week-long exhibition.

Closing event: 20 June, 6–8pm

Free event

24 May–15 June, 6pm–11pm
The Rocks, Sydney
Event details

Timber Aurora is a nine metre long sculptural bench seat. This urban design prototype expresses a technological and functional aesthetic, encouraging audience engagement. The installation redefines the urban furniture found at the edges of the architectural landscape into a form of public space activation.

Artists:
Danna Priyatna (Indonesia) / Cloris Wang (China) / James Wang (China) / Timothy Li (New Zealand) / Delvin Saputra (Indonesia)

Free event

24 May–15 June, 6pm–11pm
The Rocks, Sydney
Event details

Rayuela is a fun, interactive and educational game where you discover hidden worlds to learn about the importance of recycling. This is a place that sparks the imagination as visitors follow the journey of a plastic bottle, tracking it from the supermarket shelf to being discarded and through the waste cycle to an almost inevitable end in the ocean. 

Artists: 
Troje: Ana Florencia Diniello (Argentina) / Abhiruchi Chhikara (Australia) / Iskra Uscumlic (Croatia)

Free event

24 May–15 June, 5.30–10.30pm
Chatswood
Event details

This colourful artwork by culturally diverse designers and artists presents large animated LED icons in neon light that represent peace, love and music. Each features an ever-present ‘eye’, inviting you to muse on these values from the past to the present and into the future.

Artists: 
Yuxin Huang (China) / DeVanté RaChaun Carpenter (United States) / Luke Hespanhol (Brazil) / Wentieng Xie (China) / Design Lab, the University of Sydney (Australia)

Collaborators: 
Design Lab, the University of Sydney (Australia) / Partridge (Australia)

Free event

24 May–15 June, 5.30–10.30pm
Chatswood
Event details

A seemingly mundane mirror in the daytime, Sounds of Infinity transforms at night into a repurposed retro-futuristic portal to other worlds. Inspired by Stephen Hawking’s work on black holes, Sounds of Infinity reimagines black holes as visual portals to new worlds of altered light.

Artists: 
Louis Chew (Singapore) / Luke Hespanhol (Brazil) / Karen Cochrane (Canada)

Collaborators: 
Design Lab, the University of Sydney (Australia) / Partridge (Australia)

Free event

24 May–15 June, 5.30–10.30pm
Chatswood
Event details

Robots are leaving factories heading to our homes to clean the floor, help around the house and drive our cars for us. Soon they’ll be a ubiquitous presence in our cities. The installation Woodie questions how urban robots can be designed for peaceful cohabitation between humans and machines, one that brings joy and happiness.

Artists: 
Marius Hoggenmueller (Germany) / Luke Hespanhol (Brazil) / Martin Tomitsch (Austria)

Collaborator: 
Design Lab, The University of Sydney (Australia)

Free event

24 May–16 June, 5.30–10.30pm
Chatswood
Event details

You can simply view the installations at Vivid Sydney at Chatswood, or you can become part of one with Light Hearted located at The Concourse.

Underpinned by childhood memories and themes of peace and love, an infrared camera captures your movements as the underlying LED technology projects dynamic colours in this infinitely changing and vibrant installation.

Artists: 
Kathryn Bevz (Australia) / Martin Bevz (Australia)

Collaborator: 
Design Lab, The University of Sydney (Australia)

Free event

24 May–16 June, 5.30–10.30pm
Chatswood
Event details

Lerner and Loewe’s classic lyric I Talk to the trees… But they don’t listen to me… gets a 2019 reprise when nature and technology become one at Vivid Sydney in Chatswood. Bond with the environment by talking to one of Chatswood’s majestic elm trees. This time, the tree does listen to you, and responds. Use your voice to control strobes of light illuminating its mighty branches.

Artists: 
Josh Greenhalgh (Australia) / Caleb Charles (Australia) / Albert Ma (Australia) / Luke Hespanhol (Brazil)/ Staczek Pryba (South Africa) / Anz Elizabeth Easaw (India)

Collaborators: 
Design Lab, the University of Sydney (Australia) / Partridge (Australia)

Free event

29 May, 6pm–7pm
Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney
Event details

Did you know that the human eye can only see less than one ten-billionth of the electromagnetic spectrum? Have you ever wondered about animals that glow in the dark? How can researchers see cells inside the darkness of our bodies?

Created to complement this year’s Vivid Lights program, join us for a special edition of the Sydney Science Forum with Dr Alice Motion and Associate Professor Liz New from the School of Chemistry, as they light up your life.

Free event

25 May, 11.30am–12.30pm
Museum of Contemporary Art
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Ever wondered why you remember some things, but forget others? Join us as we explore how Instagram, Facebook and other media affect your real-life memories, and the ones you choose to share online. We’ll delve into how memories are formed and stored in our brains, how they help to create our sense of self and the impact they have on relationships. We’ll also look at why we begin to forget and how materialising our memories in physical objects can create meaningful remembering.

Presented by: Professor Elise van den Hoven (UTS), Dr Laurie Miller (the University of Sydney) and Daniel Orth (UTS)

Paid event

27 May, 3–5pm
Museum of Contemporary Art
Event details

You’re born. And you die. Is it that simple and absolute in the digital age?

Is it possible to have an artificial consciousness? Can we engineer humanity? After death, should your digital identity continue to exist? What about your data and privacy? What does all of this mean for you? 

Join us as we hear from academic luminaries and industry experts who will give us a brilliant glimpse of how technology is changing the face of humanity and its evolution. 

Presented by:

Kara Hinesley - Head of Public Policy, Government, and Philanthropy for Twitter Australia and New Zealand 

• David Kinley - Professor and Chair of Human Rights Law, the University of Sydney
• Ashley Brinson - Executive Director of the Warren Centre for Engineering, the University of Sydney
• Peter Xing - Futurist, Co-Founder of Transhumanism Australia, Technology & Innovation Manager at KPMG
• Erika Ly - President, The Legal Forecast 
• Peter Chen - Senior Lecturer, Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney
• Rameen Hayat - Writer, spoken word poet, and student

Paid event

29 May, 5.15pm
Event details

Explore the possibility of design to affect change.

Artists/Speakers:

Dr Luke Hespanhol, Yuxin Huang, Wenting Xie and Marius Hoggenmüller

Free event

31 May, 11am
Chatswood Chase
Event details

Marius Hoggenmueller, creative coder, interaction designer and researcher, reveals the secrets of designing the installation 'Woodie', a free-moving robot that draws with chalk on the ground, part of this year’s Vivid Sydney in Chatswood. Making a link to urban prototyping initiatives, the talk will discuss how urban robots can contribute to new forms of media, architectural interventions and digital placemaking. 

Presented by: Marius Hoggenmueller, PhD candidate at the Design Lab, the University of Sydney

Free event

5 June, 11am
Chatswood Chase
Event details

Urban media art is emerging as an innovative strategy for collaborative city making in the 21^st century. From the use of traditional screens and projections, to the creative extension of ordinary public infrastructure such as walls, benches, trees or light poles, they can create unexpected encounters and engage communities in creative storytelling. As a result, they can redefine, revitalise and encourage the nurture of thriving public spaces shared by all – a global movement referred to as ‘digital placemaking’. 

Presented by: Dr Luke Hespanhol, Lecturer in the Design Lab, Curator of the Footbridge Gallery, the University of Sydney

Free event

6 June, 11am
Chatswood Chase
Event details

Creativity is increasingly fundamental to the knowledge economy, both globally and in Australia. As more routine white-collar work becomes automatable, creative work – the production of artefacts both valuable and novel – occupies an increasing share of the tasks that remain. But what will creativity look like when working alongside intelligent machines is the norm, rather than the exception? Is human–machine creative collaboration possible? And how do we get there from our current world of ethically-dubious 'deep fakes' and endearing-yet-shallow generated content? Dr Kazjon Grace, researcher in AI gives us a glimpse into the future and reveals what our relationship with our AI colleagues could be.

Presented by: Dr Kazjon Grace, researcher in AI and creativity at the Design Lab, the University of Sydney

Free event

7 June
5.30–7pm
Museum of Contemporary Art
Event details

In our love for machines, we build machines in our image, now they are building images of us. 

Today, in labs around the world, Artificial Intelligence is creating ‘picture perfect’ digital humans, visually indistinguishable from real people. These digital humans look like us, talk like us and, increasingly, interact with us. But will they like us?

In an Australian first, Hao Li (Pinscreen and the University of Southern California) and Mike Seymour (Motus Lab) will demonstrate state-of-the-art in the next generation of digital humans. Michela Ledwidge (Mod Studio) will explore real-world applications. 

Sandra Peter (Sydney Business Insights, the University of Sydney) and Kai Riemer (the University of Sydney) will lead a conversation on the threats and opportunities of this technological breakthrough. What sort of life will AI humans have – and how will living everyday with AI humans change us?

Paid event

11 June, 11am
Chatswood Chase
Event details

Technology is changing our lives faster than any time in history, and at an ever-increasing rate. It is now the century of biology, where mankind is asserting control over life itself. This brings challenges and opportunities for fields as diverse as manufacturing, health and medicine, textiles, energy, food and architecture. Discover how solutions for medical problems are being reimagined using a combination of approaches. Explore future technology where living organisms work as partners to solve difficult, human-centred problems and improve human and planetary health.

Presented by: Phillip Gough, Lecturer in Biological Design, the University of Sydney

Free event

15 June, 11am–12pm
Chatswood
Event details

Australian Chinese artists Tianli Zu (Univesity of Sydney alumna) and Simone Chua are spanning the continents. Living and working in Australia they are influenced by their multicultural heritage and their work is truly international. 

In this engaging conversation they will reveal how their heritage influences their work, including their Vivid Sydney in Chatswood interactive installations I Dance with You and Trumpet Flowers. They’ll also be joined by curators Drue Chiam and Karen Chan to lift the lid on working internationally in particular their experiences working with Chinese manufacturers, light festivals and museums. 

Paid event

25 May, 8–11.30pm
Surry Hills
Event details

Funk Da Bass is a night of fusion, funk and soul showcasing local bands in curated line ups exploring the sounds of Sydney.

Featuring University of Sydney students:

BELLA FIORENTINO LIVE supported by Billsbry & DJ Juzzlikedat

Paid event