Vivid Summer Studio

When fourth-year student Seamus O’Sullivan first learned about the UTS Summer Studios he thought it would be a chance to take on a hobby project during the holidays. He was also familiar with the Vivid festival and liked the idea of being part of practical collaboration that would result in something tangible at the end.

“With Vivid such a well-known event in Sydney, I thought the Vivid 2018 studio offered a cool opportunity to create something that I could relate to myself,” he said.

This studio was dedicated to the delivery of an interactive light installation for the vivid light festival– but that’s all the students were told.

The nine-strong team had to work closely together to research the entire project.

“The best thing about the studio is that we were able to lead the design ourselves, but with plenty of support and technical expertise from our tutors when we needed it,” Seamus said.

“We were responsible for all the decision-making as the project progressed and we got to learn a lot through this process.” 

“As well as great support from UTS tutors, you also get a chance to see what’s happening in other majors and get access to new facilities that you may not have needed to use before.”

For Seamus this included using the new UTS ProtoSpace for 3D printing as well as the Fabrication Labs for laser cutting. 

Seamus says the studio offers a different experience to term time study where you follow a standard pathway to meet course requirements. With the studio you’re working on a real-world project tackling real-world challenges along the way, such as:   

• Technical problems
• Time constraints
• Budget constraints
• Effective project management 

“It’s an exciting environment to work in as everyone is there because of their own passions and interests. We all got to bring skills and ideas to the project and pass on useful tips to each other.”

Seamus says the result of the studio was a strong prototype and design concept that can be scaled up in the future – and the project continues to live on!

“Our team has kept in touch and have the foundations to keep the momentum going on this project. The next step is to attract some funding and civil engineering expertise to the project so that we can have an installation ready for Vivid 2019 or 2020.”