Public art is very rarely good. Filtering down through layer upon layer of bureaucracy works will often end up far away from the artist's original vision—or as VIVID's creative director Ignatius Jones puts it, "art by committee." This is one of the biggest strengths of VIVID. The ephemeral nature of the festival's iconic light installations means Jones and his team have the freedom to push the bounds of public art. They don't need to get the okay for a sculpture that will sit on the side of a highway for 20 years. Instead, between 26 May and 17 June, the festival will bring public art to Sydney and surrounds, largely projected on the city's most iconic structures.The Sydney Opera House will be the canvas for Audio Creatures, a work by cinematographer Ash Bolland, which is produced in collaboration with veteran Brazilian electronic composer Amon Tobin. On the sails of the House, imaginary creatures designed by Bolland will interact Tobin's soundtrack: emerging, dancing, and ultimately dying—only to morph into something new. Bolland says the creative process behind the work has been very much a back and forth between him and Tobin—with the soundtrack acting as a jumping off point for his creatures' design, and the early renderings an inspiration for the music.Nearby in the Sydney Botanical Gardens, Tropism Art & Science Collective's installation You Looking at Me? may prove the be the highlight of the always popular Light Walk. The work, which has already drawn crowds for showings in Singapore and Amsterdam, features five creepy eyeballs that follow you with their gaze as you pass by. All up, the Light Walk will this year include more than 60 pieces—stretching all the way through the Gardens to the Rocks. Also in the Rocks, Melbourne-based artist Julia Gorman's bright designs will light up the facade of the Museum of Contemporary Art in a work called Organic Vibrations. Created in collaboration with Parisian art collective Danny Rose, the piece will use projection mapping technology to illuminate the gallery with flowing colours and shapes.Perhaps the biggest addition to this year's VIVID is the festival's push into the redeveloped Barangaroo precinct. Scores of installations will be placed throughout the area in an attempt to draw visitors away from the CBD. Creative studio Spinifex Group's Trapdoor will be worth a visit—the installation features hyper-real murals projected onto the ground, which will give viewers the sensation that the ground is opening up beneath them.VIVID Sydney will run between 26 May and 17 June, 2017. Find out more here .Related:_[Your Favourite VIVID Sydney Light Show Just Became Permanent
](https://creators.vice.com/enau/article/your-favourite-vivid-sydney-light-show-just-became-permanent)_[This 3D-Printed VIVID Installation Brings Music from Inside the Sydney Opera House to the Masses
](https://creators.vice.com/enau/article/sound-cells-ta-ku-vivid-live-2016-sydney-opera-house-intel)Inside The Light Installations Illuminating Sydney for VIVID 2016
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