Regional TAFE NSW students have not only hit the big city for this year’s Vivid Sydney but they’ve brought the bright lights with them.
Students have created a dazzling display of light installations in the Royal Botanic Gardens, an inspiring projection onto Government House and an augmented reality experience in Kings Cross for the three-week festival, which continues until Saturday, 16 June.
This is the first time regional TAFE NSW students have been involved in Vivid Sydney, which has grown over 10 years.
For the second year, TAFE students’ work is illuminating the Royal Botanic Gardens, with the Light Houses installation produced by more than 100 students from the Enmore, Eora, Nepean, Murwillumbah, Kingscliff, Port Macquarie and Wauchope campuses.
The lighthouses, which incorporate Aboriginal perspectives, illuminate a pathway through the gardens inspired by the role the lighthouse played in Australia’s history in welcoming successive waves of immigrants to our shores.
The façade of Government House is being used as the canvas for the projection Photonic State, by students studying 3D art and animation, music industry and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultural arts at TAFE NSW Design Centre Enmore and Eora.
The collaboration draws inspiration from contemporary and former Australian artists using sound, art, light and animation to create a large-scale projection.
Second- and third-year students from the Bachelor of 3D Art and Animation course at the TAFE NSW Design Centre, Enmore, have created vibrant augmented reality (AR) images of sculpture for an installation in Fitzroy Gardens at Kings Cross.
Visitors use the official Vivid Sydney app to view Hidden ARt, an Augmented Garden. The computer-generated sculptures include dancers and native animals.
Assistant Minister for Skills Adam Marshall said involvement in the event provided a valuable practical learning opportunity, demonstrated by the “cutting-edge developments in projection, lighting and sound TAFE NSW students have created”.
“More than 100 TAFE NSW students from arts, design, music, digital and live production disciplines have been working together on this real-world project with art and technology coming together,” Mr Marshall said.
“As students embark on their post-TAFE NSW life, they will be job ready with real practical skills and experience ready to start a career in the industry.”