The Vivid Sydney Festival is an event which aims to bring light, colour and music to Sydney during the winter months. The Smart Light event is one of the cornerstones of the festival. The idea was conceived by Mary-Anne Kyriakou, a lighting designer and composer, in conjunction with Barry Webb and Davina Jackson. The event is designed with energy conservation very much in mind, and organizers asked residents of Sydney to commit to turning off office and domestic lights after 7pm throughout the festival period. The result has been an overall reduction of power consumption.

The Festival transformed the area from the Sydney Observatory and the Rocks to the Opera House, via the Circular Quay, into a Light Walk comprising countless low-energy light art installations and sculptures. Numerous musical events also took place at the Opera House and other venues, including an orchestral and light art interpretation of Stockhausen's work, and three evenings of food and flame.

The Vivid Sydney event is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, and offers something for everyone. It is a family-friendly event but also includes contemporary music, multimedia events, and creative industry-related debates. (Photograph copyright Barbara Bryan - More images by the same photographer can be seen here.)