Immersive Experiences & Exhibits in Sydney

There's always something happening, from live music to street performers bringing extra energy to the space. Kids under 12 can visit for free, and creative little gallery-goers can also check out the Young Archie exhibition, featuring artworks by young artists aged 5 to 18. While not strictly an escape room, the one-of-a-kind Hijinx Hotel will appeal to people looking for a fun challenge. An immersive, interactive game set inside a quirky New York hotel, there are 15 rooms with fairly simple challenges or puzzles that you need to complete in order to move forward. Rooms are themed around board games like Scrabble and Twister, historic events like Titanic, or just crazy concepts like The Floor is Lava.
Centennial Park is an enormous green space on the eastern edge of the CBD with almost 200 hectares of parkland, gardens, ponds and trails. Kids will love the natural surrounds of the Ian Potter Children's Wild Play Garden, an immersive space of bamboo forests, free-form timber climbing frames and waterways. On the other side of the city, award-winning Sydney Park covers 40 hectares of green space, complete with a skate park, bike track for pint-sized cyclists, an adventure playground, wetlands and picturesque grassy hills. Wander the boardwalks that run through the Badu immersive experience Mangroves at Bicentennial Park or cycle some of the 60km of trails that wind through Western Sydney Parklands. In a world-first, the internationally acclaimed Van Gogh Alive will be housed in The Grand Pavilion, a specially designed and constructed 25,000 square foot immersive gallery.

Together they will envelop you in a world full of colourful brushstrokes. Look toward the other end of the room, and you will find space splits evenly down the middle by more towering screens to form two archways. Everything the eye can see are screens with projections of Van Gogh’s famous works, they even cover the floor! Visitors are welcome to roam, stand or sit anywhere while enjoying the exhibition. We saw a something similar on our family trip to Hong Kong not long ago, but it was a small exhibition.
Melody Owen is an ecologically minded conceptual multi-disciplinary artist and writer from Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland, she holds an MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts, and an MA in Environmental Arts  and Humanities. Her practice includes collage, curation, video, installation, and virtual worlds.
Go through a black-clothed tunnel , and you will find yourself facing  the full space of Royal Hall of Industries. No online pictures will prepare you for this stepping-inside-an-Imax-movie-screen feeling. All four walls have towering floor-to-almost-ceiling rectangular screens of varying widths and height. Some will have close up details of a painting; some will have a full view of a different picture; others may have words said by Van Gogh or phrases from his letters.

This technological approach allows for a level of detail that is virtually impossible for the naked eye to appreciate in Rome. Visitors will be able to study the subtle expressions on the faces of prophets and sibyls, the intricate musculature of Adam and God in The Creation of Adam, and the individual brushstrokes of the master himself. Experts view this exhibition as a strategic blend of cultural preservation and modern engagement, offering a balanced approach between technological innovation and respect for the original artistic intent. Van Gogh Alive will run from Thursday, December 8 at The Grand Pavilion, The Entertainment Quarter.
Sydney Arts Guide acknowledges the traditional land and its owners and the contribution of the First Nations People of Australia, past, present and evolving. My highlight of the exhibition was the sight of ‘mountains’ of letters flying down the screens. It was a brilliant way of describing the vast number of letters that were exchanged between Vincent and his brother Theo.

It’s a brilliant idea, but didn’t always land as it was intended, with the binary questions often leading to abstract or random uses for my answers in the narrative. However, with continued experimentation, these technologically-enabled elements have the potential to be the most engaging and impressive components of the Darkfield experience. Flight and Coma were my personal favourites, but we bit the bullet and did all four experiences in one night, so you can get the lowdown and choose your own adventure. Immerse yourself in the life and works of Vincent Van Gogh under the Grand Pavilion, a specially designed and constructed immersive gallery that is suitable for all ages.
Australia has a rich history of art and culture, and its contemporary artists are some of the most exciting and innovative in the world. Whether you’re new to investing in art or looking to expand your collection, you can’t look past Australian contemporary art. The  venue, set across two levels at 154–160 Broadway, is designed as an “experiential playground” where illusion, sound and tactile engagement meet. Visitors will wander through holographic moon rooms, mirrored mazes, levitating trains and projection spaces that challenge the senses.
Her current research is focused on exploring the philosophical field of zoosemiotics through virtual installations of 3D representations of bird song sound waveforms in social, creative, virtual worlds. Having an extensive research background in biomedical science at the University of Melbourne and a longstanding interest in the visual arts, Andrew works as a postdoctoral research fellow and lead pre-rendered content developer at 3DXLab. Andrew specialises in developing creative solutions to complex visualisations in addition to carrying out roles in the lab’s interactive VR content development. The Visual microscope is a fully interactive and ultra-high resolution navigation tool that has been developed to browse and analyse gene expression levels from human cancer cells. Newly established cutting edge research and production space for live performance capture and photogrammetry.

Vincent was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2025 for service to arts administration. Peter was educated at Elizabeth West and Enfield High Schools, University of South Australia, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and was elected valedictorian at Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. Alongside her husband and business partner Sam Hill-Smith, Margo has demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting arts philanthropy through close relationships spanning several decades. In 2022, Wagner was recognised as the winner of the San Pellegrino Young Chef Pacific Final Awards. Robin Wagner began his career in Germany, gaining invaluable experience in Michelin-starred restaurants across the globe before moving to Australia.
Italian baritone Renato Dolcini joins the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra for a program of Baroque music spanning Naples, Rome, Venice, and Florence. Sydney-based dancer and choreographer Martin del Amo returns to solo performance with a work that blends dance and spoken word to examine fear in its many forms. The closing night includes an after-party in the Opera House foyer with DJ Goddess Naavikaran. Australia’s leading Indigenous performing arts company presents a triple bill of works exploring First Nations perspectives on country, identity, and intergenerational connection. Two film festivals run in June — the Sydney Film Festival across 12 days in the CBD, and the South African Film Festival which opens late in the month.

This is unquestionably one of the must-see exhibitions of your life, for there is nothing else like it. The children had an amazing time, and every display was delightful and engaging. From intricate sculptures to fully immersive environments, our installations push the boundaries of craft and design, redefining what balloon art can be. The Department of Legend and Myth (D.L.M) was a popular secret pop-up bar during VIVID, giving people a taste of the epic experience of ETERNITYLAND that was to come.
Approximately 150 minutes in length, the small to medium-sized group tour includes the Scenic Railway, Skyway and the 10-minute rainforest boardwalk. Explore ancient landscapes while learning about traditional uses of local plants and animals, and deepen your understanding of the landscape beneath the lush rainforest canopy. All tours grant unlimited day access to Scenic World rides so you can continue to explore after the tour. Once you're in the grand expanse of the exhibition, it's difficult not to feel excited. Embark on a unique, immersive journey — perfect for groups who want a meaningful, visually stunning experience before the big day.