Remember those fun, carefree days after school? As much as I would like to return to my childhood, that is all but a distant dream, and I can now only walk down memory lane. Yet, this year’s edition of Singapore Night Festival (SNF) is changing this by offering a magical opportunity to revisit these cherished memories!
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to hop on the mysterious thrill of a midnight adventure through an old school, SNF 2024 is here to sate your curiosity and indulge in your wonder. From 23 August to 7 September 2024, SNF returns to the Bras Basah.Bugis (BBB) precinct for its 15th edition, taking place over three weekends for the very first time!
Inspired by the BBB’s historical significance as the site where some of Singapore’s first schools, such as Tao Nan School and St. Joseph’s Institution, started, this year’s theme explores the “Art of Play” as well as various concepts of childhood and nostalgia.
Imagine strolling through your old school grounds, but those familiar halls are now a glowing playground acting as a doorway to your childhood days. Over 50 programmes, including projection mapping artworks, performances, Festival Villages, Night Lights installations, and partner programmes, make this possible. Here are some highlights to have the best time at SNF 2024!
Highlight Act
Wonder World — The Machine of Nostalgia
Welcome to Wonder World – The Machine of Nostalgia! Here, a magical amusement park from the 1950s awaits you to instill in you a sense of belonging.
While amusement parks of the 1950s were where people escaped for comfort, the amusement parks special to Singapore’s cultural heritage served to be more than just fun attractions. They were worlds within themselves, inspiring people to satisfy their curiosities and aspire for a brighter future!
In Wonder World, the arresting atmosphere of the treasured trio of Singapore’s old “world amusement parks” is recaptured. In a time where remakes, remasters, and throwbacks are the norm, this amusement park is the prime portal to investigate the concept of nostalgia as your sense of imagination is reignited.
This perfect passage to a bygone era is made possible by rides, game stalls, nostalgic trades, and even a wrestling ring, which involves both wrestling and poetry performances!
Over at the Meritocratic Gift Shop, attempt to win something to commemorate your visit to the game stalls, which are challenging achievement-focused cultures. Or to experience a now-faded custom, head down to The Bizarre Bazaar, where trades of yesteryear are reimagined with a modern twist.
Festival-goers can also check out larger-than-life billboards that feature murals by artists Sam Lo “SKL0”, Djohan Hanapi, Ben Qwek/LABSIXFIVE, Kristal Melson, and New World Plaza. Inspired by Samsung’s Galaxy AI, these artworks, set in an alternate 1950s universe, invite you to reimagine and consider what a world shaped by innovative technologies during our growing years would look like.
🗓️Date: 23 to 25 August 2024, 28 August to 1 September 2024, 4 to 7 September 2024.
*Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
📍Location: Cathay Green
💲Price:
- S$25 from 18 August to 7 September 2024
- S$20 from 17 July to 17 August 2024 (Early bird)
*20% discount for first 100 tickets paid using Samsung Pay per night on-site
⏰Time: 7.30pm to 11pm (Last admission at 10.45pm)
Early bird ticket sales for Wonder World – The Machine of Nostalgia are happening from 17 July to 17 August 2024 at S$20, which is S$5 off from the usual price! To get your tickets, head over to Klook’s website or SNF’s ticketing page.
Projection Mapping
Like previous years, SNF 2024 has projection mapping installations—a festival staple that displays a blend of nostalgia, imagination, and creativity. These installations will illuminate two cultural buildings in the BBB precinct that were once schools, allowing you to rediscover the joys of play and artistic expression!
Here are some of the projection mapping installations that embody these themes of play and artistic expression!
PINBOLA
Fancy a classic game of pinball machines? Embracing the “The Art of Play” theme, artists Yanyun Chen and Alex Scollay come together for a fourth collaboration, “PINBOLA”.
PINBOLA is a multi-level pinball machine filled with childhood toys and artefacts. As you progress, the levels become more and more fantastical, adding chaos and challenges as you search for more space, time, and action!
Beyond being just a simple arcade game, PINBOLA allows you to escape the mundane and explore social themes in Singapore.
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: CHIJMES, 30 Victoria St, Singapore 187996
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 7.30pm to 12am
Play Downstairs
Remember the simpler times when entertainment was just a few floors below your home, aka your HDB flat’s void decks?
Well, this was the muse for artist Rachel’s installation “Play Downstairs”. Rather than the term “void deck,” though, she uses the colloquial and affectionate term “downstairs,” which most of us refer to this area below our blocks. She was inspired by her own childhood memories and neighbourhood kids who would gather “downstairs” every evening.
As the name “void deck” suggests, the said public area is an empty level, a mundane playground, but in children’s eyes, it’s a wonderland of fun. “Play Downstairs” captures this same magic of children’s imagination, revealing play through their eyes and demonstrating that regardless of change, the creative spirit of childhood remains a beautiful constant.
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: CHIJMES, 30 Victoria St, Singapore 187996
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 7.30pm to 12am
A Prototype of Play
Continuing this theme of childhood imagination and play is “A Prototype of Play”, which harkens back to most Singaporeans’ childhoods when our imaginations would craft games out of the little things. Throughout history in Bras Basah, be it rocks, sticks, and more, we have always found ways to play despite the world’s constant changes.
This is exactly the reminder that artist deniseardenise wants to impart; no matter how old you are, your mind will never lose the ability to form games and find joy within what it has created.
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: CHIJMES, 30 Victoria St, Singapore 187996
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 7.30pm to 12am
Night Lights Installations
This year’s SNF sees Night Lights making a comeback, where they’ll once again transform everyday spaces around the BBB precinct with 10 site-specific luminous installations.
Here are a few of those installations to check out!
Red House Cafe
Did you know that in the 1960s, the Red House was a popular meeting spot for artists every Sunday before journeying to the Singapore River to paint? “Red House Cafe” taps into this nostalgic experience, being an immersive and experiential light art installation that celebrates the Red House bakery that once graced where Carlton House stands.
As you bask in the installation’s LED lights’ glow, travel back in time to the Red House’s bustling atmosphere while standing in a space reminiscent of a modern-day cafe. Created by artist Jaxton Su, Red House Cafe blends the rich history of Baker’s Bakery, which is fondly known as Red House, with contemporary cafe culture.
This is achieved through the geometric shapes adorning the installation, which represent popular bakery items like curry puffs and cakes, a tribute to the past delights Red House used to offer.
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: Raffles City Singapore, 252 North Bridge Rd, Singapore 179103
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 7.30pm to 12am
Delulu High
Delulu? What’s that? If you’re unaccustomed to this internet slang, delulu is the shortened term for the word “delusional” and is often used when one has false beliefs about certain things.
Here, you can find the word “delulu” in this installation’s title. To Pop GlitterFreak Collective, who are behind “Delulu High”, it started as the challenging and painful memories of school that they experienced.
In this installation, painful memories are reimagined and transformed into a safe, colourful, and reflective space inspired by schools in the Bras Basah precinct. While most imagine a gymnasium to be a tough environment, Delulu High’s gymnasium, The Funnazium, is the opposite with its light, soft, and feminine touches.
Right after, more spaces reimagine dreadful spots in school to be playful and healing. Head to Disco Bus, a life-sized bus to have fun celebrating your individuality without the dread a school bus experience normally comes with. To complete the experience, the Affirmation Steps, a colourful stretch of steps resembling the steps into a classroom, is where you can feel affirmed with every step you take.
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: Bugis Street Art Lane, 261 Victoria St, Singapore 189876
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 7.30pm to 12am
Fortune Beads
SNF 2024 also welcomes regional artists and Thai interactive installation artist KIMBAB:) has a Night Lights installation situated in Funan Mall.
Entitled “Fortune Beads”, this interactive installation engages you in a thrilling race against time with its game that has an abacus-inspired structure. By touching as many illuminated beads as possible within a limited time, you’ll earn points to attempt to get the highest score!
Why the abacus? This is owing to how the abacus is still used today, a tool some generations may recall learning to use in school. It was a tool for commerce, which also references where Fortune Beads is located, being that Funan Mall was once where Hock Lam Street (a popular food street for the pioneer generation) was located.
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: CHIJMES, 30 Victoria St, Singapore 187996
💲Price: Free Admission
Festival Villages
SNF introduces four Festival Villages this year, each with its own distinct identity and character. Of the four, Twilight Playground @ GR.iD, makes its debut at SNF 2024! The other three are returning villages, including the SMU Arts Fest 2024: PLAY, Festival Village @ CHIJMES, and PIXEL Paradise at Armenian Street: Singapore Night Festival.
Twilight Playground @ GR.iD
Even after you’ve explored the many installations, the night is still young, am I right? Enter newcomer Twilight Playground @ GR.iD, a whole new Festival Village that runs until midnight!
Inspired by the shopping mall GR.iD’s youth-oriented offerings and edginess, the Festival Village has an array of late-night adventures. From the illuminated beer garden to a culinary adventure with the Digital Food Trail passport, Twilight Playground @ GR.iD is a twilight playground perfect for night owls.
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: 1 Selegie Rd, Singapore 188306
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 7pm to 12am
SMU Arts Fest 2024: PLAY
Celebrating the theme of PLAY, SMU Arts Fest 2024: PLAY, underscores the joy, spontaneity, creativity, and endless possibilities play brings to art and life. Nostalgic elements and lively cross-disciplinary collaborations mix together to allow you to revel in the wonder of PLAY!
Two main attractions await you. First, in collaboration with SNF, PLAYBACK revisits the 1960s to 2000s eras. Here, you can experience music, dance, and visual spectacles inspired by schoolyard games, Singapore heartlands, and entertainment scenes.
Then, we move to FREE PLAY, an enchanting outdoor installation inspired by the iconic Toa Payoh Dragon Playground. Capturing the essence of free play, explore interactive elements that will spark your sense of imagination and allow you to embrace the transformative power of play and artistic expression.
SMU Arts Fest 2024: PLAY
🗓️Date:
- Dates with PLAY BACK, FREE PLAY, and Food Village:
- 30 to 31 August and 6 to 7 September 2024
- Dates with FREE PLAY:
- 30 August to 7 September 2024
- Dates with Food Village:
- 28 August, 1 and 4 to 5 September 2024
📍Location: SMU Campus Green, 91 Stamford Rd, Singapore 178896
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 6pm to 11pm
PLAY BACK
🗓️Date: 30 to 31 August, 6 to 7 September 2024
📍Location: SMU Campus Green, 91 Stamford Rd, Singapore 178896
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 8pm, 9pm, and 10pm
*Stage shows run for 30min each
FREE PLAY
🗓️Date: 30 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: SMU Campus Green, 91 Stamford Rd, Singapore 178896
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: All Day
Festival Village @ CHIJMES
Historical heirloom CHIJMES is brought to life at night with the Festival Village @ CHIJMES this SNF! Teeming with irresistible deals at participating restaurants and music that’ll get your heart pumping after nightfall, the Festival Village is where the party’s at!
After getting that adrenaline rush, unwind with chill vibes and let your night unfold at the “Lounge At The Lawn” whilst watching a light projection extravaganza at the heart of the Festival Village.
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: CHIJMES, 30 Victoria St, Singapore 187996
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 6pm onwards
PIXEL Paradise at Armenian Street: Singapore Night Festival
Home to renowned landmarks like the Peranakan Museum, Armenian Street is transformed into PIXEL Paradise! Inspired by the Peranakan Museum’s beaded objects and retro video games, PIXEL Paradise is quite literally a pixelated universe of playful art and gamified experiences where you can meet other players, participate in challenges, and win rewards!
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: Peranakan Museum, 39 Armenian St, Singapore 179941
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: Extended museum hours until 11pm on 30 to 31 August 2024 and 6 to 7 September 2024
Partner Programmes
Across the festival’s weekends, look forward to a line-up of exciting performances celebrating creativity, heritage, and the community! These include many “mini-festivals” and programmes by BBB stakeholders that will happen alongside SNF 2024.
Jazz’in @ Capitol Singapore: Sundown Serenades
Jazzing things up at SNF 2024 is Jazz’in @ Capitol Singapore: Sundown Serenades! Celebrating BBB’s rich cultural heritage with the evocative art of vocal jazz, this series hopes to spark feelings of nostalgia with soulful vocal performances that have withstood the sands of time, whilst also weaving in untold stories and the vibrant history of BBB, Singapore’s arts and cultural precinct.
This fantastic line-up includes jazz singer Alemay Fernandez, famed for her sultry singing, hailed as “One of Singapore’s Best-Loved Entertainers” by Timeout Magazine. Adding to the star power is soul singer Nick Zavior, who was discovered by 16-time Grammy-winning producer David Foster, and jazz band Akehao which features some of our most well-known jazz artists, including LASALLE Award recipient and Jazz Association scholar Dawn Wong and more.
🗓️Date: 23 to 24 August and 30 to 31 August 2024
📍Location: Outside Capitol Singapore, 13 Stamford Rd, Singapore 178905
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 7.30pm to 8.10pm and 8.40pm to 9.20pm
A Date with Tradition
Not-for-profit organisation Arts House Limited presents A Date with Tradition at SNF 2024. This is where you can truly immerse yourself in the vibrant tapestry of Singapore’s diverse cultures. This programme includes performances from Chinese Opera, Malay classical dance, and the unique Indian form Kathakali.
Outside of Singapore’s four main ethnic groups, A Date with Tradition will also expose you to other cultures from around the world. One is the MinHwa, a traditional Korean folk art produced by burgeoning artists without formal training.
Aside from watching these stunning shows, get hands-on in a variety of drop-in craft activities you can take home!
🗓️Date:
- 23 to 24, 30 August and 6 September 2024
- 31 August and 7 September 2024
📍Location: Stamford Arts Centre, Waterloo St, #155, Singapore 187962
💲Price: Paid Admission
⏰Time:
- 23 – 24 August, 30 August & 6 September 2024: 6pm to 10.30pm
- 31 August & 7 September 2024: 3pm to 10.30pm
Beras Basah Wet Rice
Before the BBB precinct became the creative heart of Singapore, which it is today, it held historical significance as a hub for rice trade owing to the role of the Bras Basah River. Held at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Beras Basah Wet Rice, as its name suggests, the exhibition is inspired by the BBB precinct’s rice trading past. Fun fact! Beras Basah means “wet rice” in Malay, so this is where the name of this exhibition comes from.
As you journey through this exhibition, you are encouraged to explore the intricate relationship between tradition, modernity, and the art of play. Through these curated experiences, the importance of play in Southeast Asia’s vibrant cultural heritage is illuminated, showcasing its evolution amidst urban development and cultural continuity as well as its ability to bridge generations, cultures, and ways of life.
🗓️Date: 5 to 22 September 2024 (Closed on Mondays)
📍Location: Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Lim Hak Tai Gallery, 80 Bencoolen Street, NAFA Campus 1, 90 Bencoolen St, Singapore 189655
💲Price: Free Admission
⏰Time: 11am to 7pm
Singapore Night Festival 2024
Step into the light and join SNF 2024 for a night of play and nostalgia! For over three weekends, the BBB precinct comes alive with dazzling displays and immersive programmes that’ll tap into your inner child, so if you’re a night owl looking for a reason to come out to party this August, SNF 2024 is the place to be.
🗓️Date: 23 August to 7 September 2024
📍Location: Bras Basah.Bugis district
For more information on Singapore Night Festival 2024, head over to SNF’s official website and their socials on Facebook and Instagram.
Visuals courtesy of Sam Lo “SKL0”, Pop Glitterfreak Collective, KIMBAB:), Jaxton Su, rachodoodles, Yanyun Chen and Alex Scollay, deniseardenise, National Heritage Board, GR.iD, Peranakan Museum, SMU, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and Art House Limited.
