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.
Artist Line-Up
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.
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.
Doors 7.30pm
Tamara & the Dreams 7.45 – 8.15pm
Edith 8.30 – 9pm
Annie Hamilton 9.30 – 10.30pm
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.
7pm – Doors
7-8.50pm – DJ ZOTDOTCOM
8.50-9pm – Tamara Natt Performance (Poet)
9-9.15pm – Blame + Royally (film + HANDSOME performs)
9.15-9.20pm – Rope / Dance Performance (Audley + Cass)
9.20-9.25pm – Back To My Vice (film + HANDSOME performs)
9.25-10pm – HANDSOME + Boogie Witch Performance
10-10.30pm – DJ Carolina Gasolina
10.30-10.35pm – Dance Performance (Fetu)
10.35-11pm – DJ Carolina Gasolina
11pm – FINISH
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
7pm – doors open, bar and pizza available
7:45pm – 3Harps begins
8:30pm – doors close
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.
In June, we celebrate World Pride Month. Like many other culturally significant times, it’s a month that’s meaningful to our community and the Oxford precinct we are part of.
In 2015, NAS alum Todd Fuller (@fuller_todd) sent members of the public black and white drawings depicting two men engaged in a passionate kiss. The participants were encouraged to respond to the image by colouring in the figures, with the resulting images compiled by Fuller into a mixed media video animation.
Fuller gifted this work to the National Art School Collection, a collection that performs a major role within the National Art School as both a teaching resource and a historical record. Visit our website to find out more about the works in our collection.
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Todd Fuller, ‘The Unite Project - 3rd generation ‘, 2015, mixed media animation, colour and sound, 13.35 mins loop; image courtesy the artist and National Art School © Todd Fuller. From the National Art School Collection - Gift of Todd Fuller.
Jun 1
Last Thursday, we celebrated Maryanne Coutts, Lynda Draper and Amanda Woollard (in absentia) as this year`s recipients of the Award for Distinguished Service.
We share a heartfelt thank you to Maryanne, Lynda, and Amanda for their contribution to our School and students.
May 30
We`re excited to share that NAS Photomedia sessional Dr Jack Ball (@jack__ball_) is the winner of the $100,000 Ramsay Art Prize 2025, the nation’s most generous prize for Australian artists under forty.
Jack`s award winning work `Heavy Grit` is on display in the Ramsay Art Prize 2025 exhibition which opens tomorrow, Saturday 31 May
Jack Ball with `Heavy Grit` in Ramsay Art Prize 2025, Art Gallery of South Australia, (@agsa.adelaide) Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed
May 30
Thank you to outgoing Chair Susan Rothwell AM & welcome to incoming Chair Jeff Weeden. The National Art School would like to express its deepest gratitude to Susan Rothwell AM, whose term as Chair of the NAS Board concludes on 31 May 2025.
At the same time, we are pleased to announce and warmly welcome Jeff Weeden as the incoming Chair of the NAS Board, effective 1 June 2025.
Jeff has served as a Director on the NAS Board since 2019 and currently chairs the Finance and Audit Committee, a position he has held since 2023. For the full announcement, click the link in the bio.
May 29
National Reconciliation Week (NRW) starts today! As part of our NAS NRW program, we invite you to a special screening of the documentary `Kindred` (2023) in our Cell Block Theatre. The directors Gillian Moody and Adrian Russell Wills will be joining us for the screening.
`There`s the black world, and then there`s the white world. I felt walking in each of them was complicated enough. To bring those together would just make it even harder.` (Kindred: Trailer)
`Kindred` is a deeply personal feature-length documentary that delves into the emotional landscape of family, love, and loss through the eyes of two close friends.`
Limited capacity - click the link in bio to reserve your seats.
May 27
Congratulations to NAS alumni/staff Daniel McClellan, Jasmine Mowbray, Erin Murphy, Gemma Smith, Nicola Smith and Michael Snape, finalists of the Sulman Prize 2025.
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Daniel McClellan, ‘Jupiter’, 2025, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 169.9 x 110.4 cm; Jasmine Mowbray, ‘Under an ancient tortoiseshell sky’, 2025, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 150.2 x 120 cm; Gemma Smith, ‘Windward’, 2025, synthetic polymer paint, linen and canvas on linen, 230.2 x 199.5 cm; Nicola Smith, ‘The beginning of spring’, 2025, oil on linen, 85.4 x 80.2 cm; Michael Snape, ‘Painting with fluid subject’, 2025, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 91.7 x 92 cm; Image courtesy the artists and Art Gallery NSW (@artgalleryofnsw) and © the artists
May 26
