From a sandy beach being installed in Sydney Town Hall to an immersive look at Frida Kahlo's work, Sydney Festival's program has us wishing it was summer already.
Sydney Festival, summer’s hottest event, is back for 2023. The vibrant program is made up of more than 100 events that will take place over five days from January 5-29. You can make it your life’s mission to attend them all, but for those short on time, we’ve picked out the three standouts that will be the talk of the town.
Frida Kahlo: The Life of an Icon
After the stunning success of Van Gogh Alive, Sydneysiders will be treated to another multi-sensory experience inspired by the work of one of the world’s most recognisable artists. With the use of captivating holography, 360-degree projections and virtual reality systems, Frida Kahlo: The Life of an Icon will transform the expansive, concrete space at the Cutaway in Barangaroo. You’ll become fully immersed in Kahlo’s most famous works and even try your hand at making a flower crown, if you fancy.
Sun & Sea
In one of the most exciting installations to hit our shores, Sydney Town Hall will be filled with 26 tonnes of sand to create an indoor beach, sans the water. Sun & Sea is a contemporary English-language opera-performance that confronts themes around climate change. You’ll view the stage – a sandy beach – from above and watch as performative holidaymakers spend a long, lazy afternoon sunbathing and chit-chatting.
Cupid’s Koi Garden
This is one for the bambinos and young at heart. Cupid’s Koi Garden is a six-metre-tall immersive water-play installation that will be the perfect way to cool off and have some family fun on a sizzling summer’s day. Come nightfall the public artwork will become aglow in a kaleidoscope of colour, lighting up Tumbalong Park.
Paul Yore: Word Made Flesh
A major immersive installation by one of Australia’s leading multidisciplinary artists, World Made Flesh provides the audience with a queer alternative reality that has been constructed from found objects, collage and assemblage, painting, video, sound and light. This free event is held at Carriageworks at Eveleigh.
Sydney Symphony Under the Stars
On January 21, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will take to the stage at The Crescent in Parramatta Park for a one-night-only, free and unticketed event. Orchestral classics will be performed as well as concerto from Tan Dun, Chinese and Vietnamese folk favourites in celebration of Lunar New Year. The fina will feature a stunning display of fireworks.
Jenny Kee AO in Conversation
In celebration of the epic outdoor installation Jenny Kee: The Aunties – which will be sprouting up in Innovation Plaza at South Eveleigh – comes a compelling conversation with the work’s inspiration, Australian fashion icon Jenny Kee AO. Hosted by Festival Director Olivia Ansell, in South Eveleigh’s historic Locomotive Workshop Kee will discuss her life and work.
Brett Whiteley: Eternity is Now
The Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills will put on a specially curated exhibition for the Sydney Festival. Works on display will include self-portraits, such as Alchemy 1972–73 and Self-potrait in the studio 1976, as well as paintings and drawings from the Bathroom series of 1963–64. On the Studio’s upper level, Whiteley’s sketches and paintings from when he lived in New York City will be on show.
Not all Sydney Festival events are free. Head to the website for details and prices.
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