Singapore Night Festival 2018 – Night Lights | Aug 17, 2018


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.

I certainly had quite the adventure last night, exploring all the imaginative displays downtown.

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, though, 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 spiritual heart of the Singapore Night Festival.

Singapore Night Festival 2018 Brochure.
My standard “because I got there before dark” opening pic. This is the free handout. It has a map on the back too.

Waited, loitered inside the NSM till it was appropriately dark, and …

Aquatic Dream By Auditoire & Lekker Architects at Singapore Night Festival 2018.
Aquatic Dream By Auditoire & Lekker Architects.

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 the display does the job reasonably, with the effect best when waves of dry ice mist are released.

Zone 5: NAFA / National Design Centre Vicinity

Moving on, I made a beeline for the art projection at 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, however, as well as the massive projection pillars before the museum, I couldn’t capture everything despite having a super-wide lens. I thus opted to just focus on the main façade.

Singapore Night Festival 2018 Light Projection Show.
Odyssey By Arnaud Pottier & Timothée Mironneau.
Singapore Art Museum Light Show.
I love this part! Momentarily, you feel as if the entire world is spinning together with the light show.
Odyssey By Arnaud Pottier & Timothée Mironneau
In outer space, you will meet aliens resembling museum sculptures. How Star Trek!

Moving on once more, I headed down Waterloo Street to NAFA Campus 1, where the next Singapore Night Festival 2018 Night Lights is located. While Odyssey is majestic and strident, the display here is serene and whimsical.

Splendour By NAFA.
Splendour by NAFA. Couldn’t get a good shot of this, though, because there were too many visitors. Also, those are UV paint-coated acrylic strips. I guess they represent grass. (It has to be grass, right?)

Next on the itinerary, the National Design Centre. This was a major location last year, so I expected “hardcore things” here. According to the map, two Night Lights are on display here too.

World of WearableArt™ | Singapore Night Festival 2018
It’s a fashion parade! Titled World of WearableArt! (Hey, that’s WoW in Short)
World of WearableArt™ | Singapore Night Festival 2018
Funny thing is, I was reminded of the 80s Manga/Anime, the Five Stars Story when viewing these displays. Incidentally, World of WearableArt™ is an international design competition that seeks to combine fashion and art.

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 8 pm 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.

Queue for the Search at Singapore Night Festival 2018.
Queue for The Search. To be fair, this was the only Night Light of Singapore Night Festival 2018 with a long wait. The rest of the Night Lights were easy to enjoy.

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 that I’ve read before heading down, I had the impression that Graffiti Alive was a star attraction of the festival. Well, I wouldn’t say it disappointed. But what definitely interested me more were the people striking very instagrammy poses in the alley. (LOL)

Graffiti Alley by Arup | Singapore Night Festival 2018
Graffiti Alive looks better in a photo than when I was there. Man, those Instagram models know a good photo-op when they see one!

By the way, both ends of Graffiti Alley had Steampunk-like cameras for visitors to try. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand what on earth one was supposed to see with them. If you know, please enlighten me!

Peranakan Museum during Singapore Night Festival 2018
Good ol’ Peranakan Museum was lit up as well. It’s more or less the same as last year, though.




Singapore Night Festival 2018 Night Lights Zones 3 and 4

‘Right, this picture post is getting too long. Let me just share the other Night Lights pictures that  I took.

Hyperbands By KopI/O | Singapore Night Festival 2018
Hyperbands By KopI/O. This represents the energy of dynamic Singapore.
Before The Word By Pierre Ranzini & Cristina Di Pasquali
Before The Word By Pierre Ranzini & Cristina Di Pasquali. I enjoyed this installation, which was at CHIJMES. It has a motion sensor that detects your hand movements to produce a response in the pyramid.
The Leap of Faith by Teng Kai Wei | Singapore Night Festival 2018
An enthusiastic tourist trying The Leap of Faith by Teng Kai Wei.
Orbit By LiteWerkz x 3M | Singapore Night Festival 2018
Orbit By LiteWerkz x 3M. You’re supposed to flash the globes with your camera and then spin them.
Ember Rain by Starlight Academy at Singapore Night Festival 2018
Ember Rain by Starlight Academy. You pedal to produce a shower of sparks, the act itself representing ideation and innovation.

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.

Summary
Singapore Night Festival 2018 – Night Lights
Article Name
Singapore Night Festival 2018 – Night Lights
Description
Singapore Night Festival 2018 is on! Join me as I check out the many enchanting light installations in this year’s massive line-up.
Author
Scribbling Geek
Scribbling Geekhttps://www.scribblinggeek.com
Geek, gamer, writer, movie lover, photographer, and occasional graphic artist. I like to consider myself a one-stop content creator of sorts. But the truth is, I obsess over too many hobbies.

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