National Gallery Singapore
Wondering what to do this coming Friday evening? Join us for the last week of the Light to Night Festival.
Light to Night Festival returns from 19 to 28 January 2018. The annual night festival is set to paint Singapore's Civic District in a dazzling array of colours as it transforms iconic cultural institutions and parks into a creative canvas with spectacular works of art.
National Gallery Singapore
In its second edition, the festival will expand to become a precinct-wider arts festival spearheaded by the Gallery, together with four other precinct partners - The Arts House, Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall, Asian Civilisations Museum and The Esplanade. It is also one of the marquee events of Singapore Art Week.
National Gallery Singapore
Themed 'Colour Sensations', the festival takes visitors on a captivating, multi-sensorial journey through the changing colours of the precinct from day to night with the various commissioned works. Visitors can look forward to a vibrant kaleidoscope of public art and activities by artists from Singapore and beyond, including interactive light projections, immersive colourscapes, illusionary play with mirrors, and participatory indoor works and performances that span seven programme zones within the precinct - making it the largest precinct-wide visual, literary and performing arts festival in Singapore.
An art of dazzling and interactive public art installations
Watch as the Civic District comes to live as a noctournal wonderland when the sun goes down, as revelers are spellbound by the illuminated city streetscapes. For the first time ever, the National Gallery Singapore's City Hall Facade will become an interactive canvas for audiences to create public artwork. Titled Chromascope, visitors are invited to participate by stepping on stomping pads to project coloured visuals onto the Gallery's facade.
National Gallery Singapore
Its neighbouring former Supreme Court Building, together with the Arts House, Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall and the Asian Civilisations Museum, will also be a sight to behold with the biggest facade light extravaganza in Singapore - Art Skins on Monuments - where coloured light projections by 30 Singapore and Singapore-based artists, illustrators and multimedia designers, including new media artist Brandon Tay, visual artist Speak Cryptic, illustrator-artist Aeropalmics and contemporary artist Samantha Lo, adorn each monument.
On the Empress Lawn, a multi-sensory adventure awaits as House of Mirrors by Melbourne artists Christian Wagstaff and Keith Courtney makes its Asian debut. A thrilling blend of both delight and paranoia, the installation is a fascinating labyrinth of endless mirrors which takes one on a journey through thousands of disorientating optical illusions and bewildering reflections - all taking place in a house-sized kaleidoscope after dark.
Check out the Esplanade Park tunnel light up as Singapore-based lighting design collective Nipek presents Trip to Colourscape, a display of vibrant hues aimed at stimulating one's awareness of our environment through the interplay of coloured lights and shadows. This experience will be enhanced with musical performances at the Esplanade Park by local bands such as Cosmic Child and Sang Mataharitidur Mati. In addition, Year 1 students from the National University of Singapore's Architecture faculty will be presenting a new site-specific installation, Art Incubator: Tropical Primitive Hut, which takes centre stage at the ACM Green. This interpretation of the primitive hut explores the natural connections between people, architecture and the environment that may often be overlooked during Singapore's rapid urban development - adding a different perspective to visitors' experience of the Civic District.
Also, if you are an avid movie lover, you might also want to visit the Asian Civilization Museum. ACM will be screening Edward Scissorshands (starring Johnny Depp) and
Fantastic Mr. Fox on both Friday and Saturday night. Check our article here for more details.
Photos by National Gallery Singapore with additional photographs by Edric Koh