Top 5 must-see attractions at the Light to Night Festival 2021

Sparkle and shine, phy-gitally.

| Melanie Lim | Sponsored | January 22, 2021, 07:54 PM

The annual Light to Night Festival will be returning for its fifth edition from Jan. 22-31, 2021 at the Civic District and beyond.

For the first time in the festival’s history, the “phy-gital” event will have both online and on-site attractions in a continued effort to make art accessible for everyone, wherever they are.

Drawing inspiration from the Covid-19 pandemic the world is now experiencing, this year’s theme of ‘_______-In-Progress’ invites participants to reflect on their lives in 2020 and fill in the blanks with their hopes for the future.

From pop-up art encounters and online programmes to augmented reality (AR) filters, here are the top five must-see attractions at this year’s festival.

On-site Attractions

1) Art Skins on Monuments

In 2021’s edition, various artists respond to the festival theme of what is in progress for them via exhilarating light projections.

The Arts House, Asian Civilisations Museum and more will come to life in a cacophony of colour and light as one takes a stroll around the Civic District.

(Re)rooting by Joanne Ho and W.Y. Huang, National Gallery Singapore

(Re)rooting embodies how the memory of a place is passed on and transformed through our imaginations, as well as the process we go through to capture moments in time.

Designed using machine learning frameworks, visions of Singapore’s past and present are transformed into colourful pixel landscapes and projected onto the National Gallery’s facade.

2) Arrive, Arrive by Guo-Liang Tan

Arrive, Arrive is a series of “painterly objects” suspended at Padang Atrium.

These pastel-hued, wing-like structures take the experience of viewing paintings out of the gallery and into a public space, inviting viewers to think about what really makes a painting.

Ultimately, the installation invites introspection and meditation, and hopes to provide viewers with a moment of peace and serenity.

3) Decoding the Civic District

Decoding the Civic District is an Escape Game held within the wider Civic District from Jan. 22 to 23 and Jan. 29 to 30, 2021.

Players will be invited to solve a mystery by journeying around the Civic District to uncover hidden secrets across five iconic cultural institutions.

There will also be opportunities to examine notable artworks and artefacts from the National Collection along the way.

Click here to grab your tickets, while stocks last.

Online Attractions

4) Gallery Gigs

Temporal by Intriguant & Flex

Gallery Gigs is a video series that takes viewers behind the scenes with local performing artists such as Yung Raja, Lew, .gif, Scrach Marcs and more.

One will be able to catch a glimpse into the creative journeys of these artists as they perform original works in response to artworks from the National Collection and share what the festival theme “_____-In-Progress” means to them.

5) Instagram AR filters by Eugene Soh

(From left to right: Interactive AR filters effect 1, 2, 3 and 4)

In response to this year’s festival theme, Singaporean tech artist Eugene Soh has taken inspiration from the works and artistic techniques of Singaporean photographer Tan Lip Seng, as well as the woodcut print works found in the National Collection.

Contrasted with how easy it is to manipulate images and colour saturation using digital image-editing tools today, Soh intends to highlight the relationship between the two approaches and mediums through the interactive AR filters.

Audiences will be able to access these Instagram and Facebook filters on the festival’s dedicated social media pages here and here.

Details

Kill two birds with one stone by visiting the Light to Night Festival and activating your FREE Gallery Insider membership at the same time.

As a Gallery insider, you’ll get to save up to S$120 from unlimited and priority access to all exhibitions, as well as 15 per cent discounts on dining and shopping.

Do note that this promotion will end on Jan. 31, 2021.

There will also be free admission to exhibition galleries at the National Gallery Singapore from Jan. 22 to 24 and Jan. 29 to 31, 2021.

Opening hours will also be extended to 10pm during these dates.

Find out more about the Light to Night Festival here.

This sponsored article by Light to Night Festival made this writer thankful for a phy-gital event this year.

Top image via National Gallery