First off, how is it already May?? 2018 has been so packed and such a whirlwind for me, it feels good to take some time now to sit down and write this post. On the art front, I haven’t been seeing much exhibitions or related showings in Singapore lately, and i Light Marina Bay 2018 is probably the first art event of the year that I saw here.

The annual light festival has apparently been here for six years already, but it’s only my first time catching it! I think such a light festival is perfect for a place like Singapore, where digital installations and light shows always seem to be very popular. I also really liked that it made me go on a nighttime walking tour of the Marina Bay area, which I would always want to do but not actually not do it because of excuses like humidity, heat, so on… ;)

The entire walk took me about one and a half hours, starting from Esplanade Park, crossing the Helix Bridge to the Marina Bay walkway and completing the circuit near One Fullerton, with a total of 22 light installations situated along the way. I will be highlighting 10 installations in this post!

Studio ALEX, Flawless

I’m starting with the last installation listed on i Light’s map because Flawless was the first one I saw while walking along Esplanade Park on one afternoon – without realizing that this was a part of i Light! I really like how it gives a fluttery leaf effect.

Yuree Hong and Siyong Kim, Dancing Grass

Perfectly placed on the large grassy patch at Esplanade Park.

Luzinterruptus, Transistable Plastic

I was a little, er, alarmed by the immense use of plastic in Transistable Plastic, but of course, it’s meant to raise awareness of the amount of waste we generate, and all of these plastic was ‘waste’ contributed by the community and corporate partners.

It’s a huge installation of hanging bags of plastic which you could walk through and be enveloped in – but I always have a few misgivings about these kinds of work that raise awareness of certain issues or products by performing or making use of such issues or products, like in this installation. I just think, are there perhaps better ways of raising awareness and getting to the heart of these issues?

Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design and Media, Starlight

Starlight was one of a couple of interactive pieces. The suspended balls start off unlit, and you could bang one ball at the end against the next, and the rest will light up in sequence. That’s me lighting up the upper row! :)

Serge Maheu, Passage

I didn’t walk through the Passage, but I found it really cute to see so many people walking through it, and it’s fun to see it changing colours as well!

Nanyang Polytechnic, School of Interactive Design and Media, Kloud

I think the various structures of Kloud were supposed to change colour when you touched them but I couldn’t seem to get it right…

Christopher Simpson, Isabella Bain, Khanh Nguyen, James Rotanson, Anthony Zeater and Steven Bai, Mailbox

So many people were crowded around Mailbox with their phones out, which made me very curious to see what it was all about! Turns out you could tweet emoijis/messages to it and your message would appear on the giant digital mailbox.

Franck Pelletier, With Love…

Ended my tour and i Light adventure With Love… which is my favourite of all. The large heart (that kinda looks like an apple from some angles) was pulsing along to the sound of a heartbeat and the red colour was going on and off to the beat.

I really enjoyed the added liveliness and colour that i Light brought to the area at night, and it’s fun to see tourists and locals alike taking in the extra sights as well, haha! The entire i Light circuit felt a little unexpectedly big, but it seems like there are plans to go even bigger for next year’s edition in conjunction with Singapore’s Bicentennial, marking the 200th anniversary of Sir Stamford Raffles’ founding of Singapore. Let’s see what comes up next year!