Sydney Opera House during Vivid Sydney. Image: Vivid Sydney - Opera House sails (9002301813).jpg by Robyn Jay from Sydney, Australia, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Vivid Sydney 2027
Destination NSW's festival of light, music, ideas and food returns to Sydney's harbour foreshore and city precincts for 23 nights of installations, projections and talks
Location: Sydney Harbour foreshore and precincts across Sydney
Date: 28 May 2027 to 19 June 2027
Vivid Sydney returns from 28 May to 19 June 2027, with light installations, projections, talks, music and food programmed across the harbour foreshore and city precincts. The festival is owned, managed and produced by the NSW Government through Destination NSW, and describes itself as the world’s largest festival of light, music, minds and food. The 2027 programme is yet to be announced.
The Light programme is the part most relevant to architects and lighting designers, with building projections and large-scale installations on and around the city’s landmark buildings. The 2026 edition included Lighting of the Sails on the Opera House with Opera Mundi, Molecule of Light, Laser Lightfall and the Vivid Fire Kitchen. The Ideas strand runs talks and in-conversation events, including Chloé Zhao in conversation in 2026.
For Sydney architects and lighting designers the festival is three weeks when the public looks closely at the city’s buildings after dark. It is also one of the few programmes where lighting designers, projection artists and architects work together on temporary pieces at harbour scale.
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