Top Image: Komorebi 2 by Lighting Planners Associates and NUS Design Incubation Centre (Singapore), Zone 5

The Singapore Night Festival 2016 (SNF) has kicked off, lighting up our arts and heritage precinct with spectacular light art installations, performances and programmes created by local and international acts. The SNF is one of the most anticipated outdoor night events in the region – last year’s edition drew in more than 600,000 people.

This year’s festival revolves around the theme of Inventions and Innovation, with over 80 programmes and 14 light art installations dotted around the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct, and taking place over two weekends. In its 9th edition this year, the festival is gearing up for its 10th anniversary in 2017. Says Festival Director, Angelita Teo, “We are reinventing and innovating to experiment with new ways to present the festival.”

KEYFRAMES by Groupe LAPS (France), Zone 1

Here are five highlights from this year’s festival:

1. KEYFRAMES by Groupe LAPS (France)

The facade of the National Museum of Singapore has continuously served as canvas for the headlining show of the SNF. This year is no exception. French art collective Groupe LAPS from France presents KEYFRAMES, a part animation and part moving sculpture that entertains festival-goers with over 90 LED stick figures that move up, down and across the colonial windows and walls of the museum to narrate micro-stories of urban life.

JOURNEY by NOVAK (United Kingdom), Zone 5

2. JOURNEY by NOVAK (United Kingdom)

Another anticipated facade display, JOURNEY by creative studio NOVAK explores the world of Victorian invention and fantasy. Seven classic novels by Victorian novelist Jules Verne are reinterpreted into seven scenes that are projection-mapped onto the facade of the Singapore Art Museum. Each scene depicts a different environment and landscape found in Verne’s novels, inviting viewers to visualise the museum’s facade in another world.

#showerthoughts by LiteWerkz (Singapore), Zone 5

3. #showerthoughts by LiteWerkz (Singapore)

The first installation by LiteWerkz – a team of nine sophomore students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design – #showerthoughts is held in a dark, mirrored room at the National Design Centre. Inspired by the serendipitous ‘eureka moment’ occasionally experienced in the shower, the room is seemingly filled with infinite illuminated ‘bubbles’, inviting viewers to slow down, relax and explore their inner thoughts freely – as if they are in a shower. 

Komorebi 2 by Lighting Planners Associates and NUS Design Incubation Centre (Singapore), Zone 5

4. Komorebi 2 by Lighting Planners Associates and NUS Design Incubation Centre (Singapore)

‘Komorebi’ is a Japanese term referring to sunlight that filters through tree branches and foliage, creating beautiful transient patterns on the ground. Lighting Planners Associates and the NUS Design Incubation Centre partnered up to create Komorebi 2, reimagining this natural phenomenon by using advance lighting technology, exploring the relationship between nature and technology.

Aurora by SOTA, Zone 3

Aurora by SOTA (Singapore)

Aurora features a series of soft, organic forms that juxtapose the tough, rigid geometry of the steps leading up to the School of the Arts (SOTA). Incorporated with motion sensors and LED lights, the interactive installation surprises the audience as they navigate the stairway. 

Samara by Max Pagel and Jonathan Hwang, Zone 2

Apart from visual installations, visitors of SNF 2016 can look forward to theatrical performances and workshops that present the medium of light in new and creative ways.

All photographs courtesy of Singapore Night Festival 2016

The Singapore Night Festival 2016 takes place over two weekends on 19 and 20 August, and 26 and 27 August, from 7.30pm to 2am around Singapore’s Bras Basah.Bugis precinct.

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