Image Credit : Keith McInnes
Destination NSW
Project Overview
For Vivid Sydney 2025, the sails of the Sydney Opera House became one of the world’s most visible canvases for unapologetically queer activist art. This luminous tribute to Australian artist and activist David McDiarmid brought his defiant, political and uncompromising voice into public view at an unprecedented scale.
Drawing on key works spanning his career including the Rainbow Aphorisms, Disco Kwilts, Bedsheet Paintings and Kiss of Light series, the projection celebrated McDiarmid’s fearless embrace of identity, protest and self-expression. It also honoured his role as a leading voice during the AIDS crisis, amplifying his message of resilience and remembrance for a new generation.
The animation unfolded as a journey through light and shadow. Beginning with his iconic text works, it expanded into swirling disco patterns, hand-painted textures and iridescent holographic forms. At its core was a deeply personal meditation on mortality, culminating in a cascade of mylar shards and a vortex of eyes. This moment symbolised both McDiarmid’s gaze toward his own death from AIDS and the collective memory of a community left behind.
The creative team worked closely with McDiarmid’s estate, curators and Vivid Sydney to remain true to his legacy while engaging a broad contemporary audience. The result was a bold, emotionally charged public artwork that invited viewers to celebrate life, confront loss and reflect on the enduring relevance of McDiarmid’s message.
Ending on the words “Don’t forget to remember,” the piece stood as a tribute and a call to carry his vision forward.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Artist: David McDiarmid with estate executor, Sally Gray
Co-Curators: Micheal Do and Gill Minervini
VANDAL
Creative Director: Chris Scott
Creative: Phillip Muzzall
Executive Producer: Melody Ha
Producer: Alice Robinson
Lead Artist: Anna Fraser
3D Artist: Tim Clapham
3D Artist: Sam Price
Junior 3D Artist: Will McNamara
Realtime Artist: Paris Wilson
2D Artist: Jeremy Mansford
2D Artist: Kieryn Hyde
Composer: Stereogamous
Project Brief
How do you translate the bold, defiant, and deeply personal work of one of Australia’s most important queer artists onto one of the world’s most iconic buildings? That was the challenge at the heart of this project.
For Vivid Sydney 2025, the Sydney Opera House sails became a giant, luminous canvas for the radical vision of David McDiarmid. The brief was both simple and complex: celebrate McDiarmid’s unapologetic voice while creating an experience that would resonate with hundreds of thousands of viewers, many of whom might be encountering his work for the first time.
We were tasked with weaving together multiple bodies of work—from text-based aphorisms to shimmering disco mosaics, raw bedsheet paintings, and his emotionally charged Kiss of Light series—into a single cohesive visual journey. It needed to feel true to McDiarmid’s politics, humour, and humanity, while delivering the spectacle and emotional connection expected of a Vivid Sydney centrepiece.
Working closely with McDiarmid’s estate, curators, and the Vivid Sydney team, we approached the project as both a tribute and an act of contemporary storytelling. The final result is not just an artwork on a building, but an immersive, emotionally charged experience. A moment where remembrance and protest meet colour and light. A space for both quiet reflection and unapologetic celebration.
Project Innovation/Need
This project pushed both creative and technical boundaries to bring a deeply personal and politically charged body of work to one of the world’s most public and iconic stages.
Artistically, it was a rare moment where unapologetically queer, activist-driven visual language took over the Sydney Opera House sails without compromise. The work wasn’t softened or edited for mass appeal. Instead, we trusted that David McDiarmid’s voice, equal parts funny, fierce and deeply human, would resonate with audiences through its honesty and emotional weight. That level of cultural specificity at this scale is still uncommon in large public art events.
Technically, we developed new animation workflows to translate hand-painted textures, graffiti-style linework and holographic surfaces into large-scale projection mapping. Simulating the shifting iridescence of mylar across curved, multi-angled sails required a combination of custom shaders, layered texture mapping and physical light testing.
Beyond technique, the biggest innovation was how we told this story. The work moved fluidly between personal and political, abstract and literal, past and present. We created a visual language that could hold grief, celebration, protest and pride all within one continuous experience.
The result was a projection that didn’t just deliver spectacle. It connected deeply with audiences as both an artwork and a necessary cultural statement.
Design Challenge
The biggest challenge was translating David McDiarmid’s intricate, hand-crafted and deeply personal artworks into a cohesive, large-scale projection that could work across the unique architecture of the Sydney Opera House. His work wasn’t designed with curved, tiled sails in mind. It was full of texture, nuance and emotional charge. Capturing that without losing its heart was a constant balancing act.
From a technical perspective, replicating the shifting iridescence of holographic mylar and the layered brushwork of his bedsheet paintings pushed our animation pipeline into new territory. We developed custom workflows to simulate these qualities without letting them become overly digital or polished. The work had to feel raw, human and immediate.
The other major challenge was time. Vivid Sydney’s production schedules are fast and unforgiving. This meant designing, animating and delivering the entire sequence while maintaining an ongoing dialogue with McDiarmid’s estate and curators. Context mattered at every step, and every decision carried weight.
Finally, there was the challenge of audience. We needed to make sure the work connected with McDiarmid’s community, while still being accessible to the thousands of people watching from the forecourt and around the harbour. Striking that balance between emotional truth and large-scale visual storytelling was complex, but also what made the project so rewarding.
Effectiveness
As a large-scale digital projection, this project inherently avoided many of the material and waste impacts associated with traditional physical installations. There was no set construction, no single-use materials, and no physical freight involved in bringing the visual experience to life. The Opera House itself became both the canvas and the delivery mechanism, minimising the need for additional infrastructure.
We also worked entirely with local creative teams, designers, and animators, supporting the local creative economy and reducing the carbon footprint associated with international travel and freighted equipment.
On the production side, we implemented a largely remote workflow, allowing our creative and technical teams to collaborate across Sydney without the need for continuous on-site meetings or interstate travel.
From a technology standpoint, the projection hardware was provided by Vivid Sydney’s existing supplier network, making use of infrastructure already in place for the festival, rather than requiring additional equipment or power sources.
Economically, the project’s investment flowed back into local creative talent, studio partners, and cultural consultants, helping sustain the broader arts ecosystem in Sydney.
While digital work still carries an energy footprint, we consciously limited render times and file sizes where possible, without compromising quality. Overall, the project demonstrates how large-scale public art can create impact without significant material waste.
Graphic Design - Motion Graphics
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in motion graphics. Consideration given to concept & storytelling, visual appeal, technical execution, sound design, and audience & brand cohesiveness.
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