Entering a new decade, the 11th Singapore Night Festival will get visitors involved in the installations and spark some creativity. Festival goers can find themselves walking along an alleyway near Armenian street and activate motions sensors that light up objects on the graffiti walls or walk through the lawn of the National Museum of Singapore which will be transformed into a forest below the sea, letting you explore the past and future of the oceans.
The annual festival which is happening on 17 – 25 August at the Bras Basah-Bugis precinct is organised by the National Heritage Board in collaboration with over 60 partners from artists to designers, engineers and architects, who all came together to collaborate on the installations and performances.
“This diverse mix has resulted in some very exciting collaborations this year, and showcases the festival as a platform where people from all walks of life are able to come together to celebrate, experience and contribute to the arts,” added Ms Teo.
The Night Lights segment showcases 16 light installations by both local and international artists. The Ember Rain by Starlight Alchemy is one such installation. At Cathay Green, visitors can pedal a bike to send up baskets of charcoal to a grill at the top of the installation which then creates a downpour of sparking embers.
“We wanted audience members to be part of the process of making the artwork come to life … Pedalling the bicycle to ignite the ember rain signifies mankind’s role in developing ground breaking ideas and innovation,” said Ms Sophia Guan, 30, who is part of the five-member team behind the installation.
Another is the Light Wave installation by Max Labs that creates waves of light that flow across the tranquil water surface using light rods suspended above the water feature in from of SMU’s Li Ka Shing Library. This visual manifestation of wave energy transmission can be controlled on one end by a mechanism that triggers a wave of motion in these light rods depending on how you manipulate it.
This different format of allowing visitors to get up close and personal with the installations and performers is done in hopes that the visitors will feel encouraged to add their own creative energy to the performances and be active participants in the festival.
Themed “Bring on the night, bring on your creativity”, the festival will also feature over 25 different performances from various art disciplines including a Pole Art showcase by The Brass Barre, movie screenings, musical performances at the Armenian Backyard and the Festival Village Stage and incredible dance performances like the Exo Skeleton Dance where local jazz dance troupe EV Dance collaborated with local engineering firm Hope Technik to have the dancers perform in the ‘Audra Exoskeleton’ designed to assist workers in lighting heavy weights. There will also be exhibitions, tours, marketplaces, a live action arcade pro-wrestling performance, and so much more in every corner of the festival.
“The idea is for unexpected encounters at different corners of the festival grounds, which we have creatively curated for that element of surprise. We invite everyone to explore the numerous interesting spaces around the precinct, participate and interact with the different acts, performers and art installations we have created and planned,” said Mr Choo.