★★★★☆ Intel’s Drone 100 lights up the Sydney sky with sparkling and synchronised aerial acrobatics.

Sydney Opera House Podium
June 9, 2016

A swarm of sparkling blue lights lifted gracefully into the air over the water of Sydney Harbour, a high-tech simulacrum of the floating lanterns of Thailand’s Yi Peng festival. Intel’s Drone 100, a collaboration with Ars Electronica Futurelab, saw 100 illuminated drones dancing above Sydney Harbour as part of the Vivid Sydney festival.

The spectacle broke the world record for most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (or UAVs) airborne simultaneously when it premiered in Hamburg, Germany, last year. However, the performance in Sydney on June 8 was still an auspicious event, as its Australian debut, the first performance in front of a public audience, and the first time the work was performed over water.

^{Intel’s Drone 100 at Vivid Sydney}

From my vantage point on the eastern side of the Sydney Opera House podium – though it could also be viewed from the harbourside – Vivid’s Cathedral of Light in the Royal Botanical Gardens offered a luminous backdrop. On Thursday night, the performance was delayed by an hour due to high winds – drones being...