Sydney has gone two long years without the city’s festival of light, but this year Vivid Sydney is back in all its splendour. And number one on our long list of artworks to see is SubAqua – Ancient Worlds, an impressive work by students from the UTS Animal Logic Academy.
About SubAqua – Ancient Worlds
This visually stunning student project will feature as part of Vivid House. Described as “an ever-changing sonic painting”, the work is an immersive journey through an ancient underwater world, featuring an astonishing visual environment created by the Master of Animation and Visualisation students. The work is a testament to the large-scale collaborative project-based learning students experience at the Academy, specifically as part of the emerging visualisation technologies studies.
The digital artwork is scored with music from the influential Australian DJ and producer Peewee Ferris.
Ania Gareeva, one of the lead student creatives on the project, explains:
“The aesthetic and conceptual world of SubAqua was inspired by many elements that hold a specific interest in my creative mind. The overall visual vocabulary pays homage to the sci-fi illustrations of the great Moebius, Jean Giraud as well as Art Nouveau. The architecture of SubAqua references traditional Slavic designs and intricacies. The massive ecosystem of flora was developed from my personal fascination and study of numerous existing plants, both terrestrial and aquatic.
“As for all the inhabitants of the celestial underwater scape, they too were born from real world influences. These plants and creatures were designed with my original style in mind, with particular emphasis on flowing, organic lines and marvellous, vivid colours. SubAqua is an alien world, full of ancient secrets and fantastical panoramas.”
SubAqua – Ancient Worlds will be screened in accompaniment with two other projects to make up the Floating World environment:
- Soup – featuring video artist Carla Zimbler and multidisciplinary musician and artist Rainbow Chan
- Agora – by musicians Jonti and Jono Ma (aka Jagwa Ma) in collaboration with design-driven creative studio BABEKÜHL.
The event promises to be an immersive visual and audio feast, so make sure to head over to Tumbalong Park to see and hear it for yourself.
Where to find Floating World
It’s lights on for Vivid from Friday 27 May until Saturday 18 June, 6pm-11pm each night. During the festival, you can visit Vivid House at 1-25 Harbour St in Darling Quarter, in the Tumbalong Park area. Floating World is a free event, so there’s no need to book tickets – just visit the venue during Vivid. Head over to the official event page on the Vivid website to learn more.
More UTS staff and student works at Vivid
There is so much to see at Vivid this year, with a packed and diverse program. UTS will be celebrating our partnership with Vivid, bringing together light displays on campus, thought provoking talks, including the launch of the UTS Visualisation Institute and more. For events involving the UTS community, take a look at the UTS website for Vivid Sydney 2022. And for the full program, check out the official Vivid Sydney website.