i Light Marina Bay, Asia’s leading sustainable light art festival, will be back from 4 to 27 March to illuminate the Bay with the most number of art installations presented by local educational institutions since its inception.
Organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the fourth edition of the festival will transform the Marina Bay waterfront into a glittering ensemble of more than 20 light art installations from local and international artists. Among these are five light art installations designed and produced by local tertiary institutions, including National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Nanyang Polytechnic and Singapore Polytechnic – all presenting art works at the festival for the first time.
Mr Jason Chen, Festival Director and Director for Place Management, URA, said, “We are glad to be able to pass on the important message of sustainability to the younger generation. The success of the first three editions has been very encouraging, and with it becoming an annual festival from this year, we hope more people will join us in becoming advocates for a positive environmental change.”
A festival of light and shadow The festival will see a showcase of innovative light art installations from emerging and world-class artists from Singapore and around the world, including countries such as Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Israel, Norway, and the USA. Based on the theme “In Praise of Shadows”, the light art installations are designed with sustainability in mind while inviting visitors to re-imagine the fundamentals, forms and roles of light.
Mr Randy Chan, co-curator of the festival and Principal Architect at Zarch Collaboratives, said, “This year’s theme challenges the obsession that brighter is better and seeks to reframe perceptions of light and sustainability. We want to invite artists and visitors to re-imagine and reconsider sustainability issues in a new light, and to contemplate upon larger issues of light, beauty and the city in relation to the bigger community.”
An example of an installation that will be presented at the festival is Groove Light, designed and produced by 11 architecture students from NUS. The installation uses 3D printing to create large sculptural lanterns that produce geometric shadows when light is shone through. By moving the lanterns, visitors can modify the lightscape created by the installation.
Another example is Ode to the Wind, a product by 12 students from the School of Art, Design and Media of NTU. The art work makes use of the power of wind to create a dynamic light installation, with the colours and brightness of the LED lights changing with the strength of the wind. Visitors will be able observe the visualisations of the wind across continents, as the installation draws from numerous wind datasets from around the globe.
Refer to Annex A [PDF, 400kb] for more information on the installations by local educational institutions.
A Festival for all Beyond light art installations, anchoring the festival is a myriad of activities with weekly highlights set to keep crowds returning. Families can bond through a timeless carnival by Uncle Ringo and an outdoor camping trip under the city skyline; music lovers can groove to the beat of roving drums and music performances; while foodies can enjoy the wide array of offerings from gourmet market PasarBella, food trucks and craft beer festival, CRAFT Singapore 2016.
Festival goers can also look forward to complimentary events and activities such as educational talks, seminars and sporting activities. Refer to Annex B [PDF, 355kb] for more information on the partner programmes.
i Light Marina Bay will open from 4 to 27 March 2016, 7.30pm to 11pm daily with an extension to 12.00mn on Fridays and Saturdays, around the Marina Bay waterfront promenade. Admission is free. Visit www.ilightmarinabay.sg for more information.
facebook.com/marinabaysg | instagram.com/marinabaysg/ | @ilightmarinabay | #ilightmarinabay
About Marina Bay Marina Bay is the heart of Singapore’s city centre and a well-established, vibrant destination for the local community. It provides Singapore with an opportunity for further urban transformation and to attract new investments, visitors and talents. Extending seamlessly from the existing Central Business District, Marina Bay is the new focal point that reinforces Singapore’s position as a leading global city. It offers extraordinary potential for growth and development in the heart of the city, an advantage that few other cities can offer, and creates an exciting array of limitless opportunities for locals and foreigners alike, to explore (live), exchange (work) and entertain (play).
About Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is Singapore’s national land use planning and conservation agency. URA’s mission is “to make Singapore a great city to live, work and play”. We strive to create a vibrant and sustainable city of distinction by planning and facilitating Singapore’s physical development in partnership with the community. As the main land sales agent for the state, our multifaceted engagement strategy includes the sale of state land to attract and channel private capital investment to develop sites for meeting our land use needs. As the place manager for Marina Bay, we promote exciting activities within Marina Bay in collaboration with other government agencies and private stakeholders. To create an exciting cityscape, URA also actively promotes architecture and urban design excellence. For more information, please visit us at www.ura.gov.sg.