Vivid Sydney set to sparkle this long weekend

The annual festival of light, music and ideas is set to attract tens of thousands to the illuminated harbour foreshore of Circular Quay, Walsh Bay, Darling Harbour and North Sydney, and to music venues across The Rocks and the Inner West, for the final days of Vivid Sydney this long weekend.

Darling Harbour’s Vivid Aquatique show has already captivated over 110,000 people across the first week of Vivid Sydney, and due to its growing popularity has now been extended to include more lights, new full-colour lasers and three new water jets to delight crowds, doubling its size and filling Darling Harbour.

With shows on the hour ever hour from 6pm until midnight, audiences will also be treated to new additional dazzling fireworks at more shows over the long weekend including three shows on Saturday night (at 7pm, 8.30pm and 10pm) and two shows on Thursday, Friday and Sunday nights (at 7pm and 9pm). Full schedule below.

Aquatique Show International has developed and installed choreographed water and light shows for the public entertainment for more than 30 years, and has amazed audiences in over 52 countries. The four different shows playing on rotation at Darling Harbour were designed especially for the Sydney public.

Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge to be illuminated as part of major Vivid Sydney expansion and world-first

NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Stoner, has today announced that Sydney Harbour Bridge will be the centrepiece of a new interactive light installation for Vivid Sydney, extending the Vivid Light Walk across the harbour into the North Sydney precinct for the first time.

Vivid partner, Intel Australia, has teamed up with Sydney-based lightwork innovators 32 Hundred Lighting to create a world-first immersive projection onto the bridge’s western face which will be controlled by the public from an interactive touch screen located on the Luna Park boardwalk.

From 6.00pm to midnight every night, between 24 May and 10 June, spectators will be able to choose the scene and colour of the projection beamed along the upper and lower arches and the road deck of the western face of Sydney Harbour Bridge.

32 Hundred Lighting will design the installation including 100,800 individual programmable LEDs and a state-of-the-art custom-designed software program with an interactive touch screen interface.

Mr Stoner said the extension of Vivid Light to a Sydney icon in collaboration with Intel is an exciting and ambitious expansion of Vivid Sydney in 2013.

“This year Sydney’s famous Harbour Bridge will come alive during Vivid with a spectacular display of light,” Mr Stoner said.

“In a world-first, the Harbour Bridge will become the centrepiece of an interactive light projection, allowing the public to play and interact with the bridge for the first time in its history.

“Last year Vivid attracted record crowds of more than 500,000 people. With the Sydney Harbour Bridge installation set to be visible from Balmain, North Sydney and a multitude of Harbourside vantage points on the Western side of the bridge, the event is now accessible to more people than ever before.

“In only few short years Vivid Sydney, which is owned and managed by Destination NSW, the State’s major events and tourism agency, has grown to be the largest festival of light, music and ideas in the Southern Hemisphere, and in 2013 we will raise the bar once again to showcase Sydney in its best light to attract more visitors from overseas and interstate, and promote Sydney’s world-class creative industries.”

The full Vivid Sydney 2013 program is available at http://vividsydney.com