S’pore’s Light To Night Festival 2020 Returns 10 Jan With Interactive Art Installations Inspired By Local Poets

The fourth edition of Light to Night Festival returns with the theme, ‘Invisible Cities’. It draws inspiration from the Italo Calvino novel, which goes by the same title, in which Marco Polo uncovers a host of surreal cities that blur the line between reality and imagination.

This year, the installations and artworks featured during the festival are all inspired by sonnets written by four local poets—Marc Nair, Nuraliah Norasid, Desmond Kon and Kevin Martens Wong. Divided into four zones, the pieces follow a thematic design in harmony to the sonnet which they were assigned to.

In Zone A, the sonnet behind its inspiration is ‘Preparing the Canvas‘ by Marc Nair. It stretches from The National Gallery, to the Padang and finally to St Andrew’s Cathedral. There, you can find installations such as Floating City by Nipek x KNOTS, Optical Maze by OTTOTTO and the Art x Social Festival Village which boasts an array of food stalls and a makers’ market.

Also, I’m not gonna spoil anything for you, but all I’m hinting at is that if you get to a vantage point high enough to view the top of the Optical Maze, you’ll get to read a special message left by the artist. One of the better viewing spots for this is Smoke & Mirrors at the National Gallery.

Behind the Optical Maze also lies an interactive piece that’s projected onto the facade of the National Gallery, called City Tiles. Here, you can scan the QR code that’s available all around the area and design your very own city scape.

Once you’re done, hit send and watch your contribution get added onto the screen to join the rest of the customized pieces. Spot mine in green at the bottom right hand corner.

Zone B, which covers The Arts House and the Victoria Theatre region, is where you can catch Open Books: The Worlds of Haruki Murakami by Ly Yeow, Tell Your Children and The Merry Men Works and a fun performance by the SNYO Percussion Ensemble entitled, ‘Sonic Journeys‘.

Zone C is solely at the Asian Civilisations Museum where you can view the Shadows of Dust and Clouds by Vertical Submarine. It is inspired by Desmond Kon’s ‘The Mirrored Dias of History and Signs‘.

In the vicinity, five giant Five Stones structures are also scattered around the area, waiting to be spotted. Try and see if you can uncover all five by the end of the night.

Lastly, Zone D spans from the Esplanade to the Esplanade Park. There, you can find Between Two Worlds by Quarters Architects and an interactive piece that tingles your senses, Light Lane by Felix Marzell.

Marzell wanted to bring the city and sound scapes of the West to us here in Singapore, as “the sights and sounds that you get from Asian cities are quite different from those in the West”, he comments. Through Light Lane, you get to be immersed in the simulation of city living that’s not quite the same as Singapore’s. And remember, the harder you paddle, the more stimuli you’ll see.

Don’t forget to hashtag #lighttonightsg on your socials when you post your pictures and videos!

Date: 10 – 19 Jan 2020
Price: Free Admission 

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