i Light Singapore, the city’s premier sustainable light festival, is coming back to Marina Bay this June. Showcasing a selection of stunning works which focus on sustainability and use recycled materials, the festival also shines a spotlight on Singaporean artists across its visual playground.
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Besides Marina Bay, one of Singapore’s most iconic landmarks, the installations can also be found in South Beach and Millenia Walk. Over the course of the monthlong festival, there will also be a series of workshops and talks addressing important issues pertaining to climate change and environmental awareness.
Taking place from 1 June to 25 June, this festival is free to attend. Each installation will be lit up from 7:30 pm to 11 pm, with festival hours extended until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The installations are also easily accessible for visitors, who are welcome to walk through and take photos with all the art. (Parents: bringing the kids to this event is a great idea.) Additionally, the festival will feature a variety of attractions around the installations, such as a playground for kids, carnival games, and twinkling lights. Below, check out all the artworks you mustn’t miss at i Light 2023.
Glacier Dreams
This groundbreaking project combines machine learning, environmental studies, and multi-sensory media art to create, you guessed it, a glacier-like effect. It’s a work inspired by both the beauty and fragility of glaciers.
Artist: Refik Anadol
Location: Façade of ArtScience Museum
About the Artist
Refik Anadol is an Istanbul-born media artist, director, and pioneer in machine intelligence and data aesthetics. The intersection of humans and machines is a key focus of his art. Anadol uses the body in motion as a canvas for radical visualisations of our digitised memories.
Bleached – a description of how human activities and climate change affect marine ecosystems. An illuminated seascape adorned with ‘seaweed’ and ‘corals’ creates the feeling of walking on a seabed. When the surface senses movement, the ‘reefs’ briefly turn white, alluding to coral bleaching caused by global warming.
Artist: Berenice Chao Zong Xin & Nicky Josephine Tjandra
Location: South Beach Avenue
About the Artist
Berenice Chao and Nicky Tjandra use interaction and multimedia art as the basis for their interdisciplinary works. Chao’s works are meant to elicit a sense of amusement through art and design. Meanwhile, abstract concepts and tactile objects fascinate Tjandra, who is trained in Traditional Fine Arts. They are currently pursuing their degrees at Nanyang Technological University.
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Immerse yourself in a musical jungle filled with light, sound and colour. Using interactive keys to control towering musical and light instruments, visitors at Trumpet Flowers can compose a unique floral symphony from their own imagination. Thanks to some of Australia’s finest jazz musicians, these huge flowers are occasionally accompanied by a specially-commissioned musical score by Otis Studio.
Artist: Amigo & Amigo
Location: Clifford Square
About the Artist
A studio with offices in Sydney, Shanghai, and Las Vegas, Amigo & Amigo was founded in 2012. Using light and materials to transform spaces, their work shows an extensive background in sculpture and industrial design. Their goal is to transform environments into memorable experiences which engage the audience through meaningful interaction.
Visitors to Block Party can engage in collaborative placemaking through dance as they explore the dynamic relationship between humans and the environment. A familiar-looking Singaporean public housing block reacts to movement from visitors, becoming a lifelike character of its own.
Artist: Jeremy Lin, Jedy Chen & Dexter Hong
Location: Entrance of Marina Bay Link Mall
About the Artist
Multidisciplinary makers, technologists, and engineers make immersive experiences that ignite joy across all mediums at Plug & Play. In collaboration with some of the world’s most innovative brands, the studio helps reinvent new possibilities by simplifying complex problems.
Show III is a visual meditation that invites you to unwind outdoors in the company of a composed soundscape and virtual water droplets, all while soaking in its calming blue light.
Artist: Chen Jiawen & Lai Ling Ling
Location: South Beach Main Entrance
About the Artist
Chen Jiawen graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts with a degree in Furniture and Spatial Design. Meanwhile, Lai Lingling is currently studying at James Cook University. They aim to inspire people to take a more socially-responsible and environmentally-friendly approach to living.
Prism creates an ever-changing interplay between colours and spatial perception using both natural and artificial light. Numerous truncated pyramids form this artwork, each with a dynamic and translucent coloured surface which changes from a vessel of natural light during the day to an interactive beacon of light in the evening.
Artist: Jun Ong
Location: Millenia Walk
About the Artist
An artist based in Kuala Lumpur since 1988, Jun Ong creates innovate, beautiful light installations. Through his work, he examines how artificial light influences our perception of built forms and their environments in collaboration with programmers, quantum physicists, and artists across all mediums.
Related article: Artists In Residence
Lightwave: Turning the Tide posits a world where human exploits have irreparably damaged the environment. The experience is meant to engage your senses in a way that is both inspiring and energising. Tickets will be available for $5 starting on 15 May.
Location: The Promontory at Marina Bay
