A Neon Buzz for Chinatown

Neon Playground was a stunning activation conceived and produced by Sydney’s Haymarket Alliance as a major festival designed to inject new life into the city’s Chinatown precinct. Mandylights was engaged to provide creative direction and delivery of a precinct-wide series of light-based activations.

Our team conceived, created and delivered some fourteen “art towers” across Haymarket – all featuring collaborations with local Chinese-Australian artists with artworks depicted in multiple media forms – everything from kilometres of LED neon to steaming baskets, spray-painted lanterns and light boxes. Each artwork was specifically created for Neon Playground and installed to operate in all weather conditions over the month-long event.

Kilometres of Custom Lighting...

The Mandylights team designed and fabricated each artwork using bold neons, backlit panels and even commissioning dozens of modified steamer baskets and traditional Chinese lanterns in new and exciting ways. Over a period of three weeks, our fabricators had the pleasure of working with numerous graphic artists as we realised digital and hand-created works as neon pillars of light. Custom lighting components were manufactured with our international partners – specially designed for Neon Playground. This included neon and lightbox elements and nearly a hundred custom steel panels that formed the backbone of the sprawling installation. All fabrication was then completed in Mandylights’ Sydney workshop before being transported to site for installation.

... With Extreme Resilience

Artworks were designed to withstand any weather conditions and operated successfully through Sydney’s thunderstorms and hot temperatures. All scenic elements were treated to resist graffiti and other intentional damage too.

Project Gallery