Just In: The 2026 Vivid Line-Up Has Been Announced

You know the year is well and truly underway when the Vivid program drops. The citywide winter celebration is back for 23 nights of light, music, food and talks between Friday May 22 and Saturday 13 June. 

In a festival first, this year’s program includes plenty of daytime events. As ever, more than 80 per cent of the program is totally free. So is the complete Vivid Light Walk, which spans 6.5 kilometres of unbroken route and features more than 43 works by local and international artists. 

The four festival pillars of Light, Music, Food and Minds are stacked. Here are some of the highlights at each. 

Vivid Light

British artist Chris Levine leads the program with his internationally acclaimed work Molecule of Light at Barangaroo Reserve. It’s the festival’s tallest installation at 23 metres and uses lasers, geometric light patterns and soundscapes to create the ultimate harbourside meditation session.

Meanwhile, Obstacle, by Melbourne collective Reelize, is the festival’s longest installation, spanning 45 metres of LED installations along Wulgul Walk. 

The Museum of Contemporary Art will become a canvas for Samoan Australian artist Angela Tiatia, whose projection-mapped work Vaiola celebrates the “life-giving and healing force of water” and her ancestral home. 

French artist Yann Nguema will light up the Opera House sails with Opera Mundi, a nod to the iconic building’s architect Jorn Utzon and the “elemental forces” that inspired him. 

And finally, Cockle Bay Wharf will host the most ambitious free laser show ever staged in Australia, with four shows every hour sending beams and music across the city skyline. 

Vivid Minds

Academy-award winning filmmakers Sean Baker (Anora, The Florida Project) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, Hamnet) lead the program. Also on deck are Apple music presenter Zane Lowe, Pulitzer-winning art critic Jerry Saltz and acclaimed author Roxane Gay. 

Midweek Minds is a series of keynote talks featuring architect Dong-Ping Wong, designer Mindy Seu, and the New Yorker’s creative director Nicholas Blechman, alongside filmmakers Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs.

For the kids, Patch Theatre will install Wonderverse, an immersive light and sound environment operating daily sessions for the duration of the festival.

Vivid Food

He’s just been here, but Yotam Ottolenghi is running it back for Vivid’s new regional dinner series, A Shared Table. As well as his own headline event showcasing the best of the state’s produce, expect chef collabs between Mindy Woods and Danielle Alvarez at Sydney Opera House; Ben Devlin and Lennox Hastie at Firedoor; and Christine Manfield and Sander Nooij at Yellow.

Vivid Fire Kitchen will once again take over Barangaroo Reserve for a nightly masterclass in open-flame cooking. This year’s line-up includes Mark Best, Luke Mangan, Sharon Salloum and Annita Potter, along with Masterchef favourites Julia Goodwin, Adriano Zumbo, Declan Cleary and Karima Hazim, with more to be announced.

Vivid Music

The music pillar will feature more than 50 events across the city and 23 nights of free programming at Tumbalong Park. The centrepiece, Vivid Live at the Sydney Opera House, will host over 50 international and Australian artists, headlined by a four-night sold-out residency from indie icon Mitski. 

The Opera House line-up is stacked with performances from Scottish post-rockers Mogwai and techno pioneer Jeff Mills, plus sets from the National’s Matt Berninger, Sparks, Erika de Casier, and a world-premiere Gil Scott-Heron tribute featuring Yasiin Bey and Brian Jackson. Cate Le Bon will perform with American singer-songwriter Cass McCombs. Homegrown acts including King Stingray, Jem Cassar-Daley, Party Dozen, plus local collectives Astral People and Mad Racket taking over the harbour-side foyers.

At Carriageworks, Lil’ Kim will deliver one of the biggest performances of the festival, celebrating her albums The Notorious K.I.M. and Hard Core. Grammy-winner Ella Mai will also return. Electronic acts dominate the rest of the line-up, with Skin on Skin, Alison Wonderland, and Porter Robinson. Meanwhile the Awesome Black Block Party provides a dedicated all-ages space for First Nations music. 

Beyond these hubs, the city's club circuit will see Kae Tempest and Saint Levant perform intimate shows at City Recital Hall, while Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 and Billionhappy anchor an international roster that spans the Metro Theatre and Oxford Art Factory.

Vivid Sydney runs from May 22 to June 13.