Our picks of the coolest installations at Light to Night Festival 2020: Invisible Cities
SINGAPORE - The annual Light to Night Festival is back, and it runs from 10 Jan to 19 Jan 2020. This year’s line-up is even more exciting, where art will extend beyond the walls of the Civic District's cultural institutions into the precinct's public spaces, namely the National Gallery, Asian Civilisations Museum, The Arts House, Victoria Theatre & Victoria Concert Hall and the Esplanade Theatres.
Whether you are a light enthusiast, into visual projections, or just want to see what the fuss is all about, here are our top picks at the Light to Night Festival with over 60 day and night programmes.
Optical Maze by OTTOTTO
This colourful, luminous structure beckons you to walk through it and it is the perfect Instagram spot for your pictures. The structure, composed of steel triangles, appears to change shape as you navigate the labyrinth.
View the installation from the skyscrapers that surround the Padang, and you may spot a hidden message: a line from a sonnet composed by Singapore poet and photographer Marc Nair.
When: 10 – 19 Jan, Sun–Thu, 10:00am – 10:00pm | Fri–Sat, 10:00am – midnight
Where: Padang
Floating City by Nipek x KNOTS
Ethereal towers lit from within are suspended at different heights to resemble skyscrapers, creating a glowing city while illuminating this grand space. The towers seem to morph as you move around the installation and even appear see-through from certain angles.
The lights will respond to the music from the performances taking place in the Padang Atrium, varying in colour and intensity.
When: 10 Jan–1 Mar, Gallery opening hours
Where: National Gallery Singapore, Padang Atrium
Light Lane by Felix Marzell, DIX au carre
Cycle through the sidewalks of foreign cities by taking a ride on Light Lane. Using shadow light projection, stationary bikes along Esplanade Park Sidewalk bring to life bustling activities, sounds and sights beyond Singapore, transporting you into an invisible city.
Ride on the bicycles both in the day and at night for different effects!
When: 10–19 Jan, Sun–Thu, 10:00am– 10:00pm | Fri–Sat, 10:00pm – midnight
Where: Esplanade Park sidewalk
Between Two Worlds by Quarters Architects
Between Two Worlds is a passageway of mirrored memory pools that forces the participant to confront Singapore’s multi-faceted reality, pieced together from fragments of history.
The work is inspired by Kevin Wong’s sonnet So We Might. Based on the Festival's theme "Invisible Cities", it discusses losing a loved one to an unreachable elsewhere, and explores memory, trenchant longing and displacements.The lines of Wong’s poem are juxtaposed against shadows of text mined from surrounding monuments and sites, heightening the clash of narratives.
When: 10–19 Jan, Sun–Thu, 10:00am – 10:00pm | Fri–Sat, 10:00am – midnight
Where: Esplanade Park
Metapolis: City As A Canvas
Once the seat of power, City Hall and the former Supreme Court were where all municipal and judicial matters were decided in modern Singapore. Drawing on this rich history, this visual journey imagines the monuments’ states of mind beyond physical structures, unveiling the secret desires of metropolitan living.
When: 10–19 Jan, Sun–Thu, 8:00pm – 10:00pm | Fri–Sat, 8:00pm – midnight
Where: National Gallery Singapore, City Hall Wing Facade & Supreme Court Wing Facade
Metapolis: Concrete Collage
Watch the Metapolis canvas stretch into the realm of signs and symbols. This city is a montage of surfaces filled with ideograms, authored and arranged by the invisible hands of its inhabitants.
When: 10–19 Jan, Sun–Thu, 8:00pm – 10:00pm | Fri–Sat, 8:00pm – midnight
Where: National Gallery Singapore, Supreme Court Wing, facing The Arts House
Interpolis: Crafting Connections
The activities of the inhabitants within a city leads to social encounters. In this work, the movements of throngs of dwellers are harmonised into an urban choreography, with the Interpolis as a choreographer and conductor, orchestrating its daily flow and building connections.
When: 10–19 Jan, Sun–Thu, 8:00pm – 10:00pm | Fri–Sat, 8:00pm – midnight
Where: Victoria Theatre & Victoria Concert Hall
Art x Social (Festival Village)
The Festival Village features stalls offering a scrumptious array of food, exciting crafts, games, Molly the mobile library, dance performances and two stages for live music all through the night.
Look out for The Swag Social’s Watshi-delish Beef Cubes and Lobster Shack’s Lobster Roll.
When: 17 & 18 Jan, 6:00pm – 11:00pm
Where: Empress Lawn, Connaught Drive and St Andrew’s Road
Light to Night Festival 2020: Invisible Cities runs from 10 - 19 Jan 2020 in the Civic District. Admission is free. For more details, visit www.lighttonight.sg.
