Vivid Sydney 2019: Darling Harbour preview
An interactive playground of lights, sounds and images.
The Vivid Sydney lights officially switch on at 6pm on 24 May 2019 and one of the most accessible (in more ways than one) is Darling Harbour.
Located in the heart of the city, it spans from Tumbalong Park outside the ICC Sydney and Darling Harbour to Barangaroo and is completely inclusive. All displays are constructed on flat ground with wide open pathways and low interactive points.
While there are many ways to enter this playground, the most magical is via the Under the Milky Way display on the Darling Quarter side of the park. It's a tunnel of fairy lights, where glowing clouds drift overhead and is destined to be a hit on social media.
The Tumablong Park space is themed around space in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. It features mammoth space race To the Moon and Back, where participants can hop into wheelchairs to race for glory, an enigmatic Alien Visitor display where pedals are pressed to create unique music tunes, and SpaceBalls, a take on the ol' marble run with cranks and gears that send balls through a tube maze.
This year, the precinct incorporates the newly renovated ICC Sydney, utilising its facade to project a delicious film, Dream States. It follows the adventures of Betty Burger, Specimen 44, Gadgetron, Lucky and Disco Sensation, five characters drawn from the imaginations of five artists with disability.
Further into Darling Harbour is where the larger-than-life animated creatures live. At the harbour you'll enter Robot SPACELand and meet its 16 metre tall ecobot. Made of recycled vehicles, its purpose is to source and process more to build a new sustainable world. Shows run at 7.40pm every night of Vivid, though if you drop by on Friday, Saturday and long-weekend nights you can also catch the harbour fireworks at 9pm.
Continue onto Barangaroo and you'll meet Marri Dyin (Great Woman). She made her debut last Vivid but is returning to capture the imagination of 2019's audience. This six-metre tall puppet wanders the Wulugul Walk waterfront, interacting with visitors on Thursday-Sunday evenings alongside a school of puppet fish.
Vivid 2019 lights up from 6pm on 24 May 2019. For more information see our Vivid Sydney guide.
