Iconic Canvases

Sydney is a vivid city anyway. But when it is winter in Australia and it gets dark early at night, the city takes on a whole new countenance and awakens anew. The iconic architecture is immersed into light - colorful and intense, shifting, changing shapes every second, vibrant, pulsating to the bass of the music which accompanies the visual effects. Telling hidden stories which every viewer decodes in his or her very own way. Sydney's landmarks transform into spectacular canvases. The Opera House, one of the most photographed buildings of the world, turns into a tableau. The famous sails change their appearance every second:  I took hundreds of different pictures in only a couple of minutes.

Different artists get the opportunity to virtually paint their very own pictures on this special canvas during the Vivid Sydney Festival. This annual outdoor cultural event features artists from all over the world. Not only the Opera House is used as an artistic playground, amongs the other venues are, for example, the Harbour Bridge and Sydney's Customs House. Light installations, projections and performances are everywhere.  For three weeks - between May and June -,  the metropolis is tinted in magical colors.

 

French artist Danny Rose, created an interative installation called "Move Your Building". The Customs House started to actually dance: People just had to choose a song from a playlist, decide which graphic theme they preferred, and then had to start dancing as wildly and extravagant as possible - the more they moved, the more the building's 3D mapped projections changed rhythmically.

Last year, when I didn't even know yet that I would get the opportunity to visit Australia so soon, I watched an arts program on TV which included a contribution about some German visual artists who made Sydney Opera House fall into pieces. I was so intrigued by the view of those crumbling sails that I did never forget those pictures. I did my bit that Sydney's Opera House ranks amongs the most photographed buildings in the world, but I am glad that I could get so many different impressions from this famous facade.