Sydney, Australia, May 2023 – On an unprecedented scale at Vivid Sydney 2023, 26 May to 17 June, visitors will be able to discover a whole new way of experiencing immersive, super-sized light and animations with their own personalised cinematic quality audio.

The Cinewav innovation, means spectators can fully appreciate the aural design of Vivid Sydney artworks from anywhere: on the water, from across the harbour, from the top of a building and more.

Cinewav is a patented, world-first technology that allows users to listen to a clear, crisp soundtrack on their smartphone perfectly in-sync with a public show, just like Vivid Sydney’s “Written in the Stars “ nightly drone show or projections like the Sydney Opera House Lighting of the Sails: Life Enlivened 2023, Harbour Life on the HMAS Vampire, Inside Out at Customs House, Barerarerungar at Museum of Contemporary Art and Our Connected City.

For Lighting of the Sails: Life Enlivened 2023 by John Olsen and Curiious at Sydney Opera House, Fabio Nardo, creative director at creative technologist Curiious: Immersive Impact explores the imaginative potential of Cinewav: “Curiious are always exploring new trends in immersive communications. Large-scale animations tend to be purely visual. Cinewav gives us even greater creative freedom so that visitors can intimately experience the art in a sensitive and more immersive way.”

Cinewav has worked with local expert suppliers such as TDC – Technical Direction Company, The Electric Canvas and The P.A. People, to integrate its app into many spectacular light installations at Vivid Sydney 2023. All visitors must do is to download the Cinewav app to their smart phone from Apple, Google Play or Huawei AppGallery, get the audio ticket and press ‘Play’- and remember to bring earphones/headphones!

Vivid Sydney's Festival Director, Gill Minervini, said that Cinewav's technology would help bring the activations and installations to life along the 8.5km Light Walk.

“We’re excited to continue our successful relationship with Cinewav to inspire and delight festival-goers with cutting edge technology and creativity. Cinewav’s technology allows us to deliver audio that matches the quality and scale of the visuals of Vivid Sydney, offering an exciting and immersive experience,” Ms Minervini said.

Cinewav Founder, Jason Chan added: “Bringing high-fidelity sound that is incredibly scalable to each individual person is going to be a gamechanger for visitors at Vivid Sydney. We are already receiving record breaking downloads of the app this year. People around the harbour area including on cruise ships or in restaurants will be able to experience the astonishing visuals in perfect sync with the bespoke soundtrack.”

Cinewav is being used to narrate visuals across Vivid Sydney at the following sites: 

• The official opening ceremony ‘First Light’ at Campbells Cove which will be broadcast across the Light Walk on opening night. First Light is curated by Sydney’s First Nations Adviser Rhoda Roberts AO.
• Written in the Stars Vivid Sydney Drone Show (Drone Shows) with soundtrack by The Planets by English composer Gustav Holst, remixed by Peewee Ferris nightly at 9:10pm on May 28, 31, June 7, 11, 14 and 17.

• 8 individual sites each night of Vivid Sydney:
• Barerarerungar at Museum of Contemporary Art with Collaborator The Electric Canvas and artist and designer Maree Clarke.
• Between You and Me on Pylons of Harbour Bridge featuring art from Eggpicnic and music composed by Corey Hague and soundscape by Dr Ann Jones.
• Biotechture featuring art from Hotaru Visual Guerilla, Spain at ASN Clocktower
• Elemental by Oracle Liquid, featuring pyrotechnics from Foti International, directed by Gill Minervini, projection by Adam Farrow-Palmer and composed by Peewee Ferris at Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour.
• Harbour Life on the HMAS Vampire with Artists in Motion at Australian National Maritime Museum.
• Inside Out showing Spinifex Group’s animations of a collection of interior design from Australian Museum of Design’s collection at Customs House.
• Life Enlivened (2023) by John Olsen and Curiious at Sydney Opera House.
• Our Connected City by Mandylights and audio composition by Tim Commandeur at Sydney Harbour Bridge and CBD Buildings.

 
About Cinewav
Founded in 2018, Cinewav is dedicated to enriching the viewer experience by providing outstanding, cinematic quality audio. Leveraging smartphones to deliver synchronised audio allows intimate, personalised audio experiences at scale reaching up to hundreds and thousands at once. Research and development facilities are in Singapore.

Press Contact: Katinka Allender, Publicist, Email: katinka @ greatcentralian.com

About Vivid Sydney
Vivid Sydney is Australia’s largest festival celebrating creativity, innovation and technology, and transforms Sydney into a kaleidoscope of colour and events for 23 nights. Staged for its 13th year in 2023, Vivid Sydney will bring together mesmerising displays from the world’s brightest light artists, exhilarating live music performances, deep-dive discussions with thought leaders, and innovative experiences from food creatives. Vivid Sydney is owned, managed and produced by Destination NSW, the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency.