by FilmInk Staff
Reimagined and rebranded this year, Vivid Minds builds on the legacy of the Vivid Ideas pillar by further innovating news ways to experience and engage with contemporary culture.
This year’s Vivid Minds program is underpinned by thought-provoking keynote talks and conversations, while building on it with elements of art and performance that pique the attention of curious minds.
VIVID MINDS
CREATIVE TRAILBLAZERS
Zane Lowe: In Conversation
Location: City Recital Hall
Date: Sunday 24 May
Cost: $39-$49
Influential music industry tastemaker and broadcaster Zane Lowe dives deep into the sound of now, in a Vivid Sydney exclusive conversation with broadcaster Lucy Smith. At City Recital Hall, they’ll dissect music’s most pressing issues, plus break down Lowe’s own process as an interviewer and Apple Music’s creative director, and how he builds trust with artists to tell their stories.
Chloé Zhao: In Conversation
Location: State Theatre
Date: Thursday 28 May
Cost: $49-$79
Join Chloé Zhao, the multi-Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind Nomadland and Hamnet, for her first appearance in Australia, exclusive to Vivid Sydney. Discussing her remarkable career and creative practice with journalist and Insight host Kumi Taguchi, this is a rare chance to go behind the camera with one of cinema’s most acclaimed auteurs.
Sean Baker: In Conversation
Location: Sydney Town Hall
Date: Sunday 7 June
Cost: $35-$49
Join Sean Baker, the multi-Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind Anora and The Florida Project, talking with film critic Alexei Toliopoulos. He reflects on maintaining an independent spirit after mainstream success, and telling bold, authentic stories about sex workers and other misrepresented communities.
Jerry Saltz: In Conversation
Location: Sydney Town Hall
Date: Thursday 4 June
Cost: $35-$49
Insightful, outspoken and refreshingly unpretentious art critic Jerry Saltz brings his razor-sharp wit in his first Australian appearance. Exclusive to Vivid Sydney, the Pulitzer Prize-winner will cut through the rapidly shifting art world’s pressures, contradictions and possibilities with a keynote address, followed by a conversation with art historian Mary McGillivray.
Roxane Gay: In Conversation
Location: City Recital Hall
Date: Friday 12 June
Cost: $39-$49
Join prolific American author and cultural critic Roxane Gay at City Recital Hall for an exclusive conversation with Whadjuk Noongar journalist Narelda Jacobs OAM. A guiding voice of reason, clarity and empathy, Gay will dissect our current era of conflict and a dissolving centre, in a timely, expansive conversation that builds upon her body of work.
MIDWEEK MINDS
A New Cultural Paradigm
Location: Auditorium, State Library of New South Wales
Date: Wednesday 27 May
Cost: $25
How can our creative industries find more equitable, ethical ways of working? Hear rapid-fire keynotes from New York architect Dong-Ping Wong, Walkley Award-winning photojournalist Mridula Amind and Lesbian Space Princess filmmakers Leela Verghese and Emma Hough Hobbs.
The Engagement Generation
Location: Auditorium, State Library of New South Wales
Date: Wednesday 3 June
Cost: $25
The New Yorker creative director Nicholas Blechman discusses how the century-old magazine stays vital and viral, alongside a series of rapid-fire keynotes on how publishers and artists can sustain an audience in 2026. He’s joined by Sydney Instagram-famous graphic designer Elliot Ulm and animator and visual artist Steffie Yee, each with their own takes on the attention economy.
Legally Bonded
Location: Auditorium, State Library of New South Wales
Date: Wednesday 10 June
Cost: $25
How do artists own their own work and voice, under the forces of algorithmic recommendations, AI-generated content and the shifting terms of fair use? Or are we overlooking the liberation of an all-in creative commons? Hear rapid-fire keynotes from US artist and technologist Mindy Seu, Bundjalung painter Shaun Daniel Allen and Australian multi-media artist Jason Phu.
FAMILY PROGRAMMING
Wonderverse
Location: Australian National Maritime Museum
Date: Wednesday-Sunday through festival
Cost: $25
Explore a universe of light in this immersive and interactive adventure for young children and their families across worlds of colour, imagination and light. Created by acclaimed Australian children’s theatre company Patch Theatre, Wonderverse blends theatre, spectacle and play to create an awe-inspiring experience with engaging guides, interactive light design and an epic soundtrack.
EVENTS
A Sexual History of the Internet
Location: Sydney Town Hall
Date: Sunday 7 June
Cost: $20
Deemed “the internet’s sexual historian” by the LA Times, US artist and technologist Mindy Seu brings her acclaimed participatory lecture-performance to Australia in a Vivid Sydney exclusive. Revealing the pervasive and perverted origins of our digital tools, A Sexual History of the Internet draws upon the audience to read lecture citations aloud throughout.
Food Mahjong Club
Location: Mary’s Underground
Date: Tuesday 26 May
Cost: $30
Fierce competition, lychee martinis and classic Chinese-inspired snacks meet at Food Mahjong Club, a popular Manhattan tournament run by Food architect founder and community builder Dong-Ping Wong. In its first iteration outside of the US, Food Mahjong Club takes over Mary’s Underground with a tournament of the four-player, tile-based game. May the best player win.
State Library Unplugged
Location: State Library of New South Wales
Date: Friday 29 May
Cost: Free
Tune out of the noise and recharge with State Library Unplugged, a restoring night of acoustic music, vinyl DJs, soundscapes, talks, games and crafts across the historic institution. Celebrating libraries as a hub of discovery, creativity and community, this free Friday night is a chance to create, read, write, engage, think, play and relax.
Dungeons & Damper
Location: UTS Data Arena
Date: Friday 29 May – Sunday 31 May
Cost: Free
Tabletop roleplaying games and First Nations lore and cultural ideology meet in an immersive, free adventure. Utilising 360 visuals and 3D sound at UTS Data Centre, you’re dropped in the middle of a fascinating fantasy world – and face up against the throes of the Creation Spirits’s wrath.
Creative Machines: Rethinking Design in the Age of AI
Location: State Library Auditorium
Date: Saturday 30 May
Cost: $35
Cut through the noise surrounding AI’s impact on creativity with Professor Joshua Vermillion, in a provocative keynote presentation at the State Library of NSW that’s essential for all forward-thinkers.
Exclusive to Vivid Sydney, the American architect, designer and researcher outlines a future where machines aren’t tools but true creative partners.
Sea Gathering: Myth & Modernity
Location: Australian National Maritime Museum
Date: Tuesday 2 June
Cost: Free
Join the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) for a lively Sea Gathering – a night of hands-on workshops, performances, talks and art, inspired by the work of Torres Strait artist Brian Robinson.
Beyond the Bleach
Location: Australian National Maritime Museum
Date: Wednesday 10 June
Cost: $30
The Great Barrier Reef’s demise is widely seen as a foregone conclusion – but is that framing limiting our imagination of what comes next? Explore beyond the bleach at the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM), in an invigorating panel and mixer with marine biologist Emma Camp, Torres Strait artist Brian Robinson and moderator Emily Jateff.
Designing What Matters: How Creativity Shapes a Life
Location: State Library Auditorium
Date: Thursday 11 June
Cost: $35
Exclusive to Vivid Sydney, American designer, author and “one of the most creative people in business” (Fast Company) Debbie Millman unpacks the insights into creativity, success and connection she’s unearthed across her career and with Design Matters – one of the most acclaimed, longest-running podcasts in the world.
Tickets will go on sale and the program will go live at vividsydney.com at 9:00am on Wednesday, 11 March.
