With striking, fantastical imagery, Australian artist and Archibald Prize winner Julia Gutman teams up with animation technologists Pleasant Company to conjure an animated journey of self-discovery and wonder.
Lighting of the Sails: Echo digitises centuries-old fabric-making techniques, transforming humble textiles that have been donated to the artist from her community into an animated epic projected daily on the Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid LIVE 2024 (May 24 to June 15).
Gutman reaches deep into literature and art history, remaking Ovid’s myth of Echo and Narcissus for our contemporary age. After being spurned and rejected by Narcissus, our protagonist appears in a frayed forest of fabrics. In a striped T-shirt, with hair made from her mother’s scarf and a face sewn from an old hessian sack, Echo is lured by her reflection, finding herself transported into unfamiliar terrain, navigating rocky subsoils of satin and dangerous rivers of denim.
With dance, music and puppetry, Echo tells a story of vulnerability and strength. It is generous and generative, entangling the imagined and the real, the public and the private, the dark and the light – all while imploring self-awareness and self-belief in overcoming the challenges around us. Echo crackles with possibility into a fantasia of fabric on a grand scale.
Vivid Sydney is an annual celebration of creativity, innovation and technology, which transforms Sydney for 23 days and nights. In 2024, for its 14th year, Vivid Sydney will fuse art, innovation and technology in collaboration with some of the most boundary-pushing artists, musicians, thinkers and culinary experts of our time.
Explore the program of Light, Music, Ideas and Food, united by this year’s artistic direction, “Vivid Sydney, Humanity”.
Brace yourself for a city illuminated with awe-inspiring art installations and 3D light projections, casting a magical glow upon Sydney’s iconic buildings and urban spaces. Expect live music and performances that transcend boundaries, with both emerging and established artists sharing their stories through dance and song.
Immerse yourself in thought-provoking experiences and heartfelt discussions led by inspiring minds and free thinkers addressing the big questions.
Don’t miss: No Fixed Address, June 12.
Vivid Sydney is owned, managed and produced by Destination NSW, the NSW government’s tourism and major events agency.
