Singapore Night Festival 2018 is here!
Yes! It’s that time of “Singapore summer” again. The Singapore Night Festival 2018 is on!
I’ve been looking forward to this since June, naturally because I had a great time last year checking out the many avant-garde light art installations and performances.
With some degree of experience gained from 2017’s treks, I was confident I’d be able to cover more ground this year too. (I.E. more photos at more locations) By the way, if you check the official homepage, you’d know the theme for this year is “Bring On The Night.” The subsequent write-up is a tad florid, if you ask me, equating the evening with imagination, danger, dreams, etc. But having experienced last year’s show, I think the descriptions aren’t too farfetched either. For first-timers especially, the Singapore Night Festival hosts some of the most enchanting evenings of the Singaporean calendar year.
Zone 1: National Museum of Singapore Vicinity
The festival covers a larger area this year, with the entire arts and heritage district, and the Dhoby Ghaut area, included as zones. After perusing the online brochure, I decided I’d still begin at the National Museum of Singapore i.e. Zone 1, double i.e. where I started last year. This, after all, is still the rough heart of the Singapore Night Festival.
Waited, loitered inside the NSM till it was appropriately dark, and …
Co-presented by PUB i.e. the government water people, Aquatic Dream offers a glimpse at the dreamy world beneath the sea. I’d say it does the job reasonably, with the effect best when waves of dry ice fog are released.
Zone 5: NAFA / National Design Centre Vicinity
Moving on, I crossed Stamford Road and made a beeline for Bras Basah Road. Unlike last year, the main projection show this time round isn’t at the National Museum of Singapore, it has shifted to the Singapore Art Museum. Titled Odyssey, this psychedelic journey is described as an “immersive journey through time and space, tricking visual and aural senses to bring you through multi-sensory environments.” Because of the crowds, and the massive projection pillars before the museum, I couldn’t capture everything despite having a super wide lens. I could only focus on the main façade.
Moving on, I headed down Waterloo Street to NAFA Campus 1 where the next Singapore Night Festival 2018 Nights Light is located. While Odyssey is majestic and strident, this one is serene and whimsical.
Next on the itinerary, the National Design Centre. This was a major location last year, so I expected “hard core things” here. According to the map, two Night Lights are on display here.
Okay. Time for a downer. The other Night Light at the National Design Centre was The Search by The Search Party. Unfortunately, and similar to last year’s Phosphene at the exact same spot, the queue was way too formidable.
I reached slightly after 8pm and was told it would be a 40-minute wait. So as to have time for the rest of the zones, I decided to skip The Search. Argg. If I’m visiting the Night Festival again next year, I have to come up with a solution for this spot.
Down to Zone 2: Armenian Street Vicinity
After leaving the National Design Centre, I spent 90 minutes checking out various programmes and exhibitions, including SAM’s Imaginarium 2018, which isn’t listed as one of the programmes for the Night Fest. Upon finally reaching Zone 2, I also had a much needed drinks-break before joining the crowds at the Graffiti Alive display. Because of the various promotional write-ups I read before heading down, I had the impression this was a star attraction of Singapore Night Festival 2018. Well, I wouldn’t say it disappointed. But what definitely interested me more were the people striking very instagrammy poses at the alley. (LOL)
By the way, both ends of Graffiti Alley had this Steampunk-like camera for visitors to try. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand what on earth one was supposed to see. If you know, please enlighten me!
Singapore Night Festival 2018 Night Lights Zones 3 and 4
In my next post, my favourite programme of Singapore Night Festival 2018!
The festival itself is ongoing till Aug 25, 2019. Note that most, if not all, performances, programmes, etc, will only happen on the weekends.
Singapore Night Festival 2019 Night Lights.
