After missing the last two years, i Light Singapore — the famous sustainable light festival — will make its grand return this 2022, bringing back the dazzling pieces of creative light art for people to experience in the Marina Bay area. i Light Singapore 2022 marks the festival’s eighth edition, and it will be held from 3 to 26 June 2022.
The year will also see the beginning of a new tradition. i Light Singapore will now base each edition of the festival on a colour within the visible light spectrum, symbolising the various ways of seeing and understanding the world. 2022 will be using the colour violet, which is described as having the shortest wavelength with the most powerful electromagnetic energy in the visible light spectrum, but more importantly, defines the colour as signifying the awakening of the senses; similar to when a spark of an idea lights up in your mind.
It is no surprise then that i Light Singapore 2022 follows that definition, with the theme being called Spark of Light. “It is our hope that the long-awaited i Light Singapore 2022 experience will not only stimulate festival-goers’ visual senses and spark joy, but also inspire them to live more sustainable lifestyles,” says Shee Tse Koon, the Singapore Country Head of DBS who is sponsoring the festival.
The making of this year’s festival began in 2019, with an open call made to local and international artists to grasp the potential of repurposing everyday objects and waste using their creative interpretations. And the fruits of their work, along with several new artworks, will be on show this year.
One that will be immediately evident to visitors is the spectacle that will be showcased around the ArtScience Museum. Titled MOTHEREARTH ClimateChange Data Sculpture, the exterior of the iconic museum will see a video projection covering it with moving lights, colours and sounds using A.I and machine learning to transform publicly available environmental data like weather recordings into a feast for the eyes
Beyond that, there’s also the artwork Alone Together on show at i Light Singapore 2022. Created by Singaporean artist Ping Lim and her American collaborator Ian Grossberg, it features a projection installation that visitors can interact with in real-time using their mobile phones. Inspired by the experiences of isolated living during the pandemic, visitors can discover the story of people’s lives through vignettes of the private moments depicted within the projection.
South Korean artist group, Nerdist x ARTINA, brings another highlight with another projection-based artwork called Fallen.
Using a recycled transparent dome and bubble wrap and combining it with projection mapping helps tell the story of a space jellyfish that crash-landed on Earth, a result of consuming trash jettisoned into orbit by humans after running out of disposal space. The artwork aims to remind visitors of their effect on the environment from their lifestyle, spotlighting the way consumerism has led to excessive waste.
If you’re a frequent visitor to the Marina Bay area, you will notice that some familiar places have been transformed — a transformation which might enable you to view these places in a different light, so to speak.
Red Dot Design Museum has an artwork called Light Canvas by local artist group Trial & Error which allows visitors to temporarily “paint” their own artworks on a digital canvas with the help of the flashlights from their phone. Now you can say that you have an artwork featured at i Light Singapore!
Meanwhile at The Promontory at Marina Bay, Studio Toer from the Netherlands has made the surrounding area into a hypnotic display of lights. Firefly Field features 500 flying and blinking lights that mimic the firefly, bringing a visual spectacle that evokes the feeling of being in a fantastical environment.
There’s many things to see at i Light Singapore 2022 and you can see everything that’s on offer at their official website. The event starts from 7.30pm to 11.00pm daily, but you can mingle around a little longer on Fridays and Saturdays, with hours extended to midnight. Admission is free, but specific programmes carry ticket charges.
With more details on the full lineup of artworks and programmes expected later this month, be sure to hop on their social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram or check out the official website to be updated!
Visuals courtesy of i Light Singapore.
*Article amended with updated name
