Name: Vaiola
Start: 2026-05-22T08:00:00
End: 2026-06-13T13:00:00
Location: Museum of Contemporary Art

Sāmoan-Australian artist Angela Tiatia presents Vaiola, a new large-scale light projection on the façade of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia...

Location:

Circular Quay
Australia

Venue:

Museum of Contemporary Art

Price:

Free

Artist Details

Angela Tiatia

Angela Tiatia is a Samoan-Australian artist who works across moving image, photography and performance. For the past 20 years, she has explored global power structures and their impact on Pasifika communities. Tiatia has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally, with recent work The Dark Current (2022) commissioned by the Ian Potter Cultural Trust under the Ian Potter Moving Image Commission for exhibition by ACMI, and subsequently featured at Frieze London, Tate Modern and the Venice Biennale.

Artist photo credit: Kieran Cooney

Spinifex Group

Spinifex Group is an award-winning experiential content studio with over 30 years of experience transforming stories into captivating moments. Known for turning architecture into mesmerising light displays, Spinifex has been a long-term Vivid Sydney collaborator since 2011, with acclaimed works including Ken Done’s For Sydney With Love (2022) and Sweet Dreams (2025).

Corin Ileto

Corin Ileto is a Filipina-Australian electronic producer, composer, DJ and performer working in the field of performance art, sound design, theater and club spaces.

Photographer: Hyun Lee

Collaborator:
Spinifex Group (Australia)

Event Details

Sāmoan-Australian artist Angela Tiatia presents Vaiola, a new large-scale light projection on the façade of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for Vivid Sydney.

Projected onto one of Sydney’s most important and iconic buildings, Vaiola transforms the MCA with a bright, lush palette that brings to life many of Tiatia’s signature visual motifs — pearls, water, fire, flowers and the female form.

Vaiola takes its name from an area close to Tiatia’s home in Savai'i, Sāmoa, and means “water of life.” The title speaks directly to the work’s emotional and visual core. At its heart, this work tells a story of migration and longing — exploring memory, history, belonging and beauty through Tiatia’s distinctive cinematic language.

Presented at monumental scale with an accompanying score by Corin Ileto, Vaiola invites audiences into Tiatia’s richly layered visual world while offering a shared public encounter with themes both deeply personal and widely felt.

Artist statement by Angela Tiatia

For me, Vaiola is about the emotional currents and tensions between longing and belonging. During Vivid Sydney, when the city comes to life and invites locals and visitors alike into shared celebration, the work can unfold at a massive scale while still holding an intimate space for connection and reflection.