i Light Singapore Returns This June With New Immersive Experiences And Locations

The Festival will feature new immersive light art installations and programmes, as well as expand to two new locations - South Beach and Millenia Walk.

Venue: Marina Bay
Date: 1 to 25 Jun 2023, 7.30pm to 11.00pm daily with extended hours to 12.00am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Admission: Free with paid programmes

i Light Singapore is returning to illuminate Marina Bay from 1 to 25 June 2023 with 14 captivating light art installations that will transform Marina Bay into a visual playground where art, technology and sustainability converge. Organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and presented by DBS, Asia’s leading sustainable light festival will also feature an exciting line-up of programmes to delight the senses and spark conversations on sustainability.

A New Wave

i Light Singapore 2023 is curated to the theme of A New Wave and anchored on the colour blue - a wavelength on the visible light spectrum that is omnipresent in nature’s blue spaces such as oceans and rivers, and often associated with emotions such as calmness and serenity.

22 artists from eight countries come together to put up a vibrant showcase and families are invited to reflect on our natural environment by immersing themselves in these innovative and multi-sensory experiences, and be inspired to contribute to a more sustainable future.

Here's taking a closer look at what you can expect at i Light Singapore 2023:

Artworks

The Festival covers a larger ground with the expansion to two new locations - South Beach and Millenia Walk – to offer families fresh experiences and bring the artworks closer to more people. You can refer to i Light Singapore for more details. 

Glacier Dreams

Refik Anadol
Refik Anadol Studio (USA) and Julius Baer

Location: Façade of ArtScience Museum

Inspired by both the beauty and fragility of glaciers, Glacier Dreams is the result of a groundbreaking, long-term research project involving machine learning, environmental studies and multi-sensory media art. Visual materials collated from publicly available data and institutional archives, together with glacier images personally collected by Refik Anadol in Iceland, are processed through machine learning algorithms and transformed into Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based multi-sensory narratives. The artist, together with his Los Angeles-based team, hopes to raise awareness of climate change and rising sea levels through poetic glacier-themed experiences, and also contribute to the study of glaciers with their existing AI tools.

Co-presented by: Julius Baer & Marina Bay Sands

Moooooootion

XD49 (Thailand)

Location: Bayfront Event Space

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a period of ‘mandatory isolation’ when people were made to stay indoors to be safe from the virus. With our movements restricted to indoor spaces, the world turned quiet and seemed motionless. Time stood still.

Moooooootion is an interactive stage set conceived as a playful counterpoint to the confinement brought about by lockdowns. At this installation, visitors are encouraged to bring colour and music to a grey world through movement.

Symphony 1

Chan Wan Kyn, Linknito, Linez
The Grand Lowlife Orchestra (Singapore | USA | Morocco)

Location: Mist Walk

Symphony 1 is a light-based architectural entity that inhabits space. Like a living being, its ethereal and translucent organic form populates any location.

Masses of twisting vine-like structures emit an icy glow to fill the space before sprouting into sprigs of crystalline flowers. The sprawl of its existence is a comment on nature and our relationship with it, contradicting yet also enhancing the brutal denseness of urban spaces it finds itself in.

Tree Man

ENESS (Australia)

Location: Event Square

Encircling a sapling in his arms, Tree Man provides sanctuary for a young tree while carving out an inner sanctum for visitors. The act ofnurturing and connecting with our environment is emphasised in these whimsical light sculptures. 

Emitting light with heads that are shaped like digital screens, the artwork invites reflection on humans’ insatiable preoccupation with devices, which could be detrimental to our circadian rhythms. As one enters the arms of Tree Man, light switches across a spectrum of colours, and sparse melodies on top of a forest-inspired soundtrack are triggered, leaving one to wonder if we can ever find a balance between the digital and natural world.

Trumpet Flowers

Amigo & Amigo (Australia)

Location: Clifford Square

Step into a giant musical garden and be surrounded by an immersive jungle of light, colour, and sound. At Trumpet Flowers, families get the opportunity to create a unique floral symphony using interactive keys that control the towering musical and light instruments.

Inspired by gramophones, these super-sized flowers burst to life occasionally with a specially commissioned musical score by Otis Studio, accompanied by some of Sydney’s finest jazz musicians.

Presented by: The Fullerton Heritage

the things left unsaid

Brigette Teo
Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design and Media (Singapore)

the things left unsaid is a manifestation of the artist’s unspoken thoughts and feelings about growing up in a time of seemingly never-ending doom. Repeatedly confronted by news of a gloomy future and an impending climate catastrophe, the artwork acts as a refuge from despair. 

Comprising weaved sheets made of upcycled plastic bags draped across the space, the artwork exudes a sense of both comfort and unease, much like the mysterious phenomenon of bioluminescent algal bloom that inspired it. Above all, it is a quiet reminder of the hope and possibilities that still exist.

Block Party

Jeremy Lin, Jedy Chen, Dexter Hong
Plug & Play (Singapore)

Location: Entrance of Marina Bay Link Mall

The dynamic relationship between humans and the environment is explored in Block Party, where families can participate in collaborative placemaking through the playful medium of dance. Familiar public housing blocks in Singapore come to life as they react to movement prompts from families, taking on personalities of their own. As one bends and twists with the buildings, gardens bloom spontaneously over their facades. This interactive feature is a reminder of the power we wield to shape our surroundings and make a difference to the world. Through light-hearted interactions, families are called upon to take responsibility for the environment and a sustainable future.

Light Anemones

Malte Kebbel
Studio Kebbel (Germany)

Location: The apex at The Promontory at Marina Bay

Light Anemones is a versatile light sculpture that evolves with time and space. It seeks to portray the captivating world beyond the water surface, where the mysteries of the deep sea and the wonders of underwater creatures come to life. 

During the day, the sculpture’s surroundings and sunlight are reflected on the curved titanium-stainless steel mirrors. In the night, linear beams appear due to the play of light along the sculpture’s concave and convex structure with a rotating centre. As light from the three sculptures interact with one another and merge with mirrored silhouettes of neighbouring buildings, people and landscape, a complex symphony of light, sound and imagery is composed — as though from a different time continuum.

Blumiwave

DP Design (Singapore)

Location: Mist Walk

Blue energy is harnessed from the chemical potential of a salinity difference between the sea and river waters. Blumiwave is an interpretation of this renewable energy source. 

Seen from afar, sculptural waves appear to crash at varying heights and directions. Upon closer inspection, these are in fact made of a carefully weaved fabric of safety nets and scaffolding — everyday objects that the interior designers at DP Design encounter at construction sites. Here, the team transforms materials normally perceived as unsightly into a space that invites multiple interpretations of the mundane and its possibilities.

Résonances

Louis-Philippe Rondeau in collaboration with ELEKTRA (Canada)

Location: Open Plaza, OUE Bayfront

Résonances is an interactive installation that embodies the inexorable passage of time. It seeks to reveal the limit between present and past.

As an arch of light appears in darkness, a temporal portal emerges. When visitors cross this threshold, their image will be projected onto the adjacent wall and seem deployed in time through the slit-scan technique. In this visual metaphor, the past constantly takes over the present, and visitors will see their own image fade inexorably into the oblivion of white light. The artwork emphasises that all light is the manifestation of events that have already occurred; the twinkle we see in the night sky is but a bygone snapshot of the stars.

Show III

Chen Jiawen, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore) and Lai Ling Ling, James Cook University (Singapore)

Location: South Beach Main Entrance (next to JW Marriott Singapore South Beach drop-off point)

Co-presented by: South Beach Consortium, Aedas, & Sunray Woodcraft Construction, supported by JW Marriott Singapore South Beach

What does one usually think about in the shower? Inspired by a belief that showers are perfect settings for self-contemplation, Show III is an invitation to unwind outdoors by soaking in its calming blue light, with the company of a composed soundscape and virtual water droplets. The act of showering without water serves as a reminder for visitors to re-evaluate their water usage. It also aims to provide an alternative environment where one can be free of worries in the bustle of the city.

Aquatics

Philipp Artus (Germany)

Location: Under Esplanade Bridge (near Merlion Park)

Aquatics is an interactive animation depicting sea creatures swimming around and interacting with one another. It explores the emergence of life through abstract shapes and movement. 

Using a tablet, visitors can design their own creatures and add them to the underwater world. By witnessing the beauty of animal locomotion in its natural habitat, participants are reminded of the urgent need to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems.

Bleached

Berenice Chao Zong Xin, Nicky Josephine Tjandra
National Technological University School of Art, Design and Media (Singapore)

Location: South Beach Avenue – Level B1M (beside Akira Back)

Bleached connotes the fate of marine ecosystems affected by climate change and human activities. Simulating the experience of walking on a seabed, this artwork invites visitors to wander through an illuminated seascape adorned with ‘seaweed’ and ‘corals’. These are either made from seaweed bioplastics developed by the artists themselves, or upcycled from single-use plastics. The ‘reefs’ turn white temporarily when they sense movement and contact, alluding to coral bleaching caused by global warming and providing a stark reminder of how our actions can impact the environment.

Co-presented by: South Beach Consortium, Aedas, & Sunray Woodcraft Construction, supported by JW Marriott Singapore South Beach

Prism

Jun Ong (Malaysia)

Location: Millenia Walk (The Great Hall)

Prism is an immersive installation that harnesses both natural and artificial light to create an ever-changing interplay of colours and spatial perception. It is inspired by the power of pure forms - when combined with a purposeful use of light, such forms trigger a deeply emotional reaction. This artwork is made up of numerous truncated pyramids, and each has a dynamic and translucent coloured surface that transforms from a natural light shaft in the day to a glowing beacon of interactive artificial lighting at night. The stereotomy of the artwork and its three-dimensional geometry invites families to experience the calming and healing world of chromotherapy.

Presented by: Millenia Walk

Programmes

GastroBeats 2023

Venue: Bayfront Event Space
Dates: 1 - 25 June 2023, 4 pm - 11 pm daily
Admission: Free

As the Festival Village of i Light Singapore, GastroBeats is a month-long celebration of good food, good music and good fun that brings the community together and showcases the diversity of local culture.

Foodies can indulge in delicacies served up by 50 homegrown F&B vendors, featuring both classic and modern dishes to tantalise their taste buds. Music lovers are also in for a treat with live performances by talented local musicians from a variety of genres, such as 53A and Tabula. In addition, fun seekers are sure to be delighted by the array of activities, such as Jumptopia with towering bouncy castles for both the young and young-at-heart.

Lightwave: Turning the Tide, presented by Alibaba Cloud

Location: The Promontory at Marina Bay
Time:
Sun to Thu: 7.30pm to 11pm (last experience at 10.40pm)
Fri & Sat: 7.30pm to 12am (last experience at 11.40pm)
Fee: SGD5 per ticket | Purchase via Klook from 15 May 2023

Lightwave: Turning the Tide imagines a future where human exploits have damaged the world around us irrevocably. Transported to an underwater world, families are left to ponder: How have we come to this? Through three unfolding chapters of thought-provoking multi-sensorial light experiences, explore how our way of life has impacted nature. Be inspired to make a change and turn the tide.

Light Wash

Venues: Key buildings and bridges across Marina Bay precinct
Dates: 7.30pm – 11pm daily (with extended hours to 12am on Fridays and Saturdays)

In line with the Festival’s colour theme for this edition, key buildings and bridges around the Bay will be lit up in a blue hue on Festival nights, complementing the light art installations and evoking a tranquil ambience.

i Light i Pledge, presented by Alibaba Cloud

This year, the Festival is once again partnering susGain, a local social enterprise championing sustainability, on i Light i Pledge. Families are encouraged to pledge their commitment to eco-conscious practices by making small but impactful changes in their daily lifestyles to cultivate sustainable habits.

They can do so through two separate pledges:

• The Switch Off, Turn Up (SOTU) pledge calls for all to switch off non-essential lightings and turn up air-conditioning temperatures during and beyond the festival period. Since the Festival’s inception in 2010, SOTU has been a key component of i Light Singapore’s sustainability drive. The initiative has rallied many building owners, corporations and businesses around and beyond Marina Bay to reduce their energy consumption in lighting and air-conditioning, and will continue to do so this year. Participation in the programme has been extended to the families, schools and the community at large for the first time this year.
• The Be a Zero Hero pledge encourages families to adopt zero waste habits such as reducing the use of single-use items and food waste.

For each pledge submitted by participants up to the first 5,000 pledges, All Clear – a sustainability enterprise providing offshore and ocean clean-ups – will remove 100g of waste from Singapore waterways. As such, up to 500 kg of waste will be removed as an outcome of the pledge. Families can take part in i Light i Pledge here and stand to win attractive prizes.

For each pledge submitted online, a visual, unique to each pledge, will be generated using Alibaba Cloud’s AI technologies. The visuals can be viewed on i Light i Pledge’s website and as part of the last chapter at Lightwave: Turning the Tide. This initiative aims to demonstrate how a small step taken by an individual can contribute to a larger sustainability objective.

Dates and Times

i Light Singapore 2023 will be held from 1 to 25 June 2023, 7.30pm to 11.00pm daily with extended hours to 12.00am on Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is free, while charges apply for certain programmes.