One of Singapore’s biggest light festivals returns this week to liven up the city with new awe-inspiring installations as well as online programs to enjoy from home.
A total of five light projections are in store in this year’s Light to Night Festival, which will take place at the usual landmarks across Singapore’s Civic District: the National Gallery, Victoria Theatre, Arts House, Asian Civilisations Museum, and Padang.
This year’s works are meant to forge deeper connections between Singaporeans through innovative and engaging art, according to organizers. The theme for the 9th edition is “____-in-Progress.”
Coconuts had the pleasure of touring the festival Tuesday to catch the latest psychedelic facades and paintings brought to life through augmented reality. There are also a slew of Instagram filters to play with. Yung Raja and other local artists also filmed performances inside the National Gallery which can be viewed online.
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— Coconuts Singapore (@CoconutsSG) January 21, 2021
The festival is free for all. The usual COVID-19 safety measures apply to visitors.
The facade of the 64,000sqm National Gallery will be lit up at night with a projection by Singaporean artists Joanne Ho and W.Y. Huang. Called (Re)rooting, it shows their vision of Singapore’s past and present in pixelated landscapes.
There in the Middleness by Singaporean artist and product designer Nathan Yong is a circular installation beaming across the Padang field. According to the artist, it signifies all things cyclical such as rebirth, completion, unification, regeneration and eternity. Its shape is also inspired by the ancient symbol of Ouroboros, depicting a serpent eating its own tail.
I’m All Hands All Eyes is projected onto the dome of the National Gallery’s Rotunda Library. Created by artists Randy Chan, Fiona Tan, Faye Lim, Stanley Yong, and Finbarr Fallon from architecture studio Zarch Collaboratives, it focuses on the hands and eyes they said have become important communication tools during the pandemic.
The art installation Arrive, Arrive hangs from the center of the National Gallery’s Padang Atrium. It was created by Singaporean visual artist Tan Guo-Liang and consists of colorful wing-like structures that invite moments of stillness and reverie.
A minute’s walk from the National Gallery, the Art House facade greets visitors with Passages projected onto its exterior. It is created by students from the Institute of Technical Education College Central, projection artist Heider Ismail, and sound designer Safuan Johari. The striking visuals were meant to symbolize the carving out of new routes from unknown obstacles and unchartered paths.
Artworks by local studio Mural Lingo are on display at the entrance of The Arts House. Inspired by Wesley Leon Aroozoo’s documentary and book I Want to Go Home, the multi-sensory installation pay homage to the tale of a Japanese man who dove into sea every week to search for his wife, lost in the 2011 tsunami.
Outside the Asian Civilisations Museum, Ways of Seeing by Zarch Collaboratives invites audiences to peer through a giant metallic structure resembling a telescope to gain new perspectives.
Wrapping up the light trail is the smaller scaled projection shining on the facade of the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall. Absence of Presence was done by Nanyang Polytechnic students, Singaporean designer William Chan, and sound designer Louis Quek. It explores how people are adapting to the pandemic reality.
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