VIVID Sydney at NAS

VIVID Sydney at NAS

Vivid Sydney is coming to the National Art School

Wednesday 1 – Saturday 18 June 2022
Cell Block Theatre

See the National Art School’s grand historic Cell Block Theatre transformed after dark, when Vivid Sydney alights on the Darlinghurst institution – for the first time ever.

Unfurling a brand new, eclectic music and arts program over the winter festival, revelers can indulge in a smorgasbord of mind-bending and atmospheric music performances ranging from space jazz excursions and impromptu beatmaking to ethereal dreamscapes and neoclassical experimentation.

Presented by Vivid Sydney in association with the National Art School with support from the City of Sydney.

   

GODTET:
Future.Ancient.Strings

Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 June

After making cosmic waves across the world, multi-instrumentalist Godriguez and his psychedelic jazz explorers return with two audio visual performance sets, alongside special collaborators. [Trance] Enter a state of profound abstraction absorption through Julian Bel Bachir’s Afro-Saharan trance, featuring Malian guitar maestro Moussa Diakite and a special international guest from Morocco. [Hypnosis] Conjure calm altered consciousness with the Ben Adler string quartet, arranged by Novak Manojlovic. Aural and Visual Immersion Live sound effects and mix production by Jack Prest, the co-producer and engineer for all of GODTET’s albums. World-building visuals by Swicked who also created the visuals for GODTET’s acclaimed Sydney Opera House performance.

Pluto Jonze:
Lightscape Piano Show

Friday 3 June

In this 360 degree, multi-sensory experience, alt-pop visionary Pluto Jonze reveals an epic dreamscape on the Lightscape Piano. Part-instrument, part light installation, his antique piano is deconstructed and retrofitted with responsive lights that illuminate the normally-hidden mechanics as the instrument is played. The sensitive lights allow Pluto to re-envision songs from his new album Awe, which “conjures a sense of endless possibility in a sprawling world” (NME) and was inspired by the contemporary visual artist James Turrell. As a composition, Awe is influenced as much by romantic composers Debussy, Erik Satie, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, as by indie-psych modern greats Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Beck, Tobias Jesso Jnr, Tame Impala and Todd Terje. His music has earned comparisons with Tame Impala, Crowded House and The Beatles, amongst many others. At Pluto’s hands, light, sound and virtuosity expose the wonder of a beautifully crafted instrument that is a work of art in its own right.

“The John Lennon comparisons will always follow Pluto Jonze around, and for good reason: his reverbed vocals and psychotropic tendencies recall the spectacled Beatle at his most serene.” – The Guardian (AUS) “Echoing the softer moments of Vampire Weekend’s recent material.” – NME (AUS)

“Reminiscent of Kevin Parker’s floating vocals and melancholy lyricism.” – Life Without Andy (AUS)

“Jonze’s voice scales dizzy heights with another deep cut soul inflection.” – Backseat Mafia (AUS)

Ninajirachi
presents Dark Crystal

Saturday 4 June

Enter a dream-state when Eora/Sydney-based electronic music artist Ninajirachi brings together a diverse and eclectic ensemble for this one-off, intimate live electronic music experience. Melding live vocals, electronic and DJ performances, this is where you’ll feel Australia’s most forward-thinking club, pop, electronic and dance music pulse through your soul. Fans of left-field, hyperpop and future-facing sonic excursions, lace up your treads. The historic National Art School Cell Block Theatre is your destination for an intimate party prioritising inclusivity, joy, and wonder. All bodies are welcome and outward self-expression is celebrated. Dreamcore draws inspiration from an aesthetic and internet-culture fixation with dreamlike, surreal, hyperreal, uncanny, and nostalgic imagery referencing archived internet history and early-internet era memories, media, and animation. Weird and beautiful, like the music. Dreamcore sees a plethora of such artists take to the physical stage, lit up by an array of lights and accompanied by a live VJ set.

“With a sound that embodies a rich, opulent atmosphere and a flawless touch in the studio, Ninajirachi is truly in her own lane. The Australian triple-threat producer, songwriter, and DJ has built a career that encompasses the spectrum of electronic music, garnering praise from critics and notable artists alike.” – triple j unearthed

Dreamcore unfolds on stolen land, and 10% of net profits will be donated to Aboriginal Legal Services NSW.

SOLD OUT

Annie Hamilton

Thursday 9 June

Musician, visual artist, and designer Annie Hamilton performs an intimate and immersive live show to launch her long-awaited debut album, The Future Is Here But It Feels Kinda Like The Past (out May 20) alongside a pop-up store showcasing the latest collection from her eponymous fashion label. Rejecting straightforward narrative structure in favour of pinning down hyper-specific yet universally empathetic moments, Annie’s new album is a stylised-yet-grainy collage of snapshots. Together, they span a mammoth range of emotion, sound and genre, yet are tied together as documentation of little human moments. Contradiction and duality, reality as metaphor and metaphor as reality, stumbling through life and trying to make some kind of beautiful, are all at the fleeting beating heart of it.

Handsome presents:
BLAME

Friday 10 June

Relish the freedom of gender fluidity and embrace the beauty in androgyny when multidisciplinary artist HANDSOME takes to the stage. Enter the world of Blame (also her second EP) where desert grit meets hyper real adventure. This is anthemic electronic pop that hits all the feels. This special live show is enhanced by the Blame video and visual experience alongside special guests and wild one-off performances. As much a movement as a moniker, HANDSOME crafts a mix of Tomboy pop and brooding electronica. Her bold and new sounds celebration self-expression and carefree creativity, accompanied by obsessive perfection.

3HARPS

Thursday 16 June

The coastlines of Sydney – deep blue waves, dappled sunlight and crisp sand – inspire this immersive, multi-sensory live music and video experience in which multi-instrumentalist, composer and performer Jake Meadows drives the majestic sounds of the harp with ethereal electronic music. Always an innovator, he plays live utilising Yamaha object-based audio technology and AI-powered music engine MEMU developed by the cross-disciplinary technology team at Uncanny Valley. Be mesmerised by a fusion of art and science, where music and technology become the language of expression.

“Jake Meadows is a force of nature, a light that brings shadows to the forefront… an artist and a visionary who blends normality into absurdity, a painter of sound.” – Daniel Johns

Birds of Tokyo’s Adam Spark presents:
Snow vs Mountain

Saturday 18 June

Composer Adam Spark, the driving force behind ARIA and APRA Award winning rock band Birds Of Tokyo, presents the World Premiere of his bittersweet neo-classical opus. Be lured into a visually stunning yet fragile world before levitating into the night sky in this meditation on survival. In contrast to the stadium-filling rock anthems for Birds Of Tokyo, Adam drives this epic composition with cinematic pianos, synthetic soundscapes and a chamber orchestra. Layer in collaborations with legendary British arranger Audrey Riley (Smashing Pumpkins, Muse, Coldplay, The Smiths), and post-rock prodigy Otto Wicks Green (sleepmakeswaves) and the mountainous world comes to life. In 2018, composer and producer Adam found himself at the very bottom of the well. “I had to write my way into living”, he explains. “This project is the result of those writings. It literally saved my life and is designed to share my eventual realisation that living, even through pain, is well worth it.” This is music of hope, born out of dark times. Expect a spellbinding masterpiece from one of Australia’s towering rock gods.

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Art Club is our high school student program for 15-17 year olds, designed to enhance and extend students’ technical, conceptual, and intellectual skills, through intensive practical study in the disciplines offered at NAS as well as engaging in an experience of our studios and campus, under the expert direction of experienced artists.

Set your child on a creative path with Art Club. 

Learn more at the link in bio.
Thank you to everyone who attended the opening night of the 24th Dobell Drawing Prize and congratulations again to the prize winner NAS alumna Rosemary Lee.

The 24th Dobell Drawing Prize is now open until Saturday 21 June 2025
11am – 5pm Monday to Saturday 
NAS Gallery 
Free admission, all welcome

Learn more about the exhibition at the link in bio.
We are delighted to announce NAS alumna Rosemary Lee as the winner of the 24th Dobell Drawing Prize, Australia’s leading prize for drawing, worth $30,000.

Selected from 56 nationwide finalists, and 965 entries, Rosemary’s work will become part of the National Art School’s significant collection, built over the past 120 years. Rosemary, in her winning work 24-1 (2024), observes tonal and compositional profundity in everyday life.

The judging panel comprising acclaimed First Nations artist Vernon Ah Kee, Paula Latos-Valier AM, Trustee and Art Director of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, and Dr Yolunda Hickman, Head of Postgraduate Studies, National Art School, commented of Rosemary’s work: “The decision to award the 24th Dobell Drawing Prize to Rosemary Lee for the work ‘24-1’ was unanimous. We were most impressed by the level of visual intensity the artist has achieved in this work both through its vibrant colour and in the extraordinary detail of the composition. The artwork’s exploration of the urban landscape and gentrification of the Sydney suburbs of Ashfield and Summer Hill, has produced an image capturing a broader sense of transience and the omnipresence of construction sites in our cities today. It questions the cultural and historical value of place, through the lens of the artist’s personal connection.” 

See Lee’s work alongside the work of the other finalists in the 24th Dobell Drawing Prize, 11 April – 21 June 2025, NAS Gallery
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Left to right: NAS Director and CEO, Dr Kristen Sharp with artist Rosemary Lee, featuring winning artwork 24–1, 2024, pencil on paper, image courtesy the artist and National Art School Gallery © the artist, photograph: Peter Morgan
Introducing the National Art School Short Courses Program from July–December 2025

Whether you’re a beginner, rediscovering a past passion, refining your skills, or considering our Fine Arts degree, the short courses offer a stimulating and rewarding experience for all levels.

Our 2025 program begins in July with Winter School, followed by Term Three, Spring Weekend Workshops in September, and Term Four in October.

Learn more and enrol at the link in bio.
Making Sound is a performance event featuring four artists who make devices that make sound, including Gary Warner, Pia van Gelder, Ben Denham and Sean O’Connell, presented following Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025, Saturday 12 April 5-6pm. 

Gary Warner creates an improvised soundfield with his ‘aleatoric ensemble’ autonomous sound machines, a collection of modified turntables that spin ad-hoc bric-a-brac assemblages.

Pia van Gelder (pictured) amplifies an electronic circuit as it is built in real-time. Under the moniker of “PvG sans PCB,” in these performances, van Gelder works on a breadboard with electronic components and additional found objects to demonstrate the electronic variabilities produced in the material world.

Ben Denham and Sean O’Connell perform together with handmade synthesizer systems that sense and sonify barometric pressure and the flow of electrons through matter.

Purchase your tickets to the symposium at the link in bio.
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Pia van Gelder, 'sans PCB', 2021, performance, Collings Creative, image courtesy and © the artist
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