From the eye-catching, to the fun and quirky, there is something that will certainly catch your attention as Marina Bay brightens up from this evening until the end of March 2014, all in a sustainable way I should add – the festival’s 28 light art installations have been picked so as to convey the message of sustainability through art – a key area of focus for the three week long festival. It would probably take more than one visit to take in all 28 – especially with the installations spread around the bay area and that is just what the curatorial team hopes visitors would do, taking in the lights, as well as the fun that does come from some of the interactive installations.
From the pick of installations participants of a preview were introduced to, my favourites are in fact the interactive ones as well as the somewhat quirky ones. These are CLOUD by Caitlind Brown and Wayne Garrett (which I only got to see from afar) – judging from what has been said about it, Jen Lewin’s The Pool, and Happy Croco by Bibi – who some may remember for his igloo installation during the last festival. The festival will be opened this evening and will be on every evening until 30 March 2014. More information on the festival and the host of fringe events and activities can be found at the festival’s website.
A pick of installations
The Pool
Jen Lewin Studio (USA)
Marina Bay waterfront promenade near The Promontory @ Marina Bay (A14 on the map)
Promises to be lots of fun, especially for the kids and those like me who want to be kids again. Watch as circular pads arranged in concentric circles change hues through movement – an effect that will best be seen when a group of people play together. The installation was created in a way that it can quite easily be recreated anywhere it needs moving to.
Jan Lewin at The Pool
CLOUD
Caitlind Brown and Wayne Garrett (Canada)
The Float @ Marina Bay (B9 on the map)
The CLOUD apparently has people pulling at strings – literally, by getting people to congregate under a rain cloud, the aesthetic of which is influenced by those under it pulling at light switches. The CLOUD features a contrast of old and new technologies, and is intended to demonstrate how an individual has the power to impact progress and achieve change. The real magic happens when multiple visitors work as one towards a unified response.
Happy Croco
Bibi (France)
Marina Bay waterfront promenade near Mist Walk (A4 on the map)
Happy Croco is a happy and somewhat quirky luminous 20 metre long installation – made with a backbone of traffic cones. There is an underlying message in the so-called urban crocodile though – in being made of items we discard everyday, Bibi, attempts to bring to attention the issue of plastic waste.
Mimosa
Jason Bruges Studio (UK)
Marina Bay City Gallery (A7 on the map)
Another that will be a favourite with the kids would be Mimosa – a work that uses organic light-emitting diodes to mimic the leaves of the responsive plant by sensing hand movements.
JouJou-Ours
Uno Lai (Taiwan)
Marina Bay City Gallery (A9 on the map)
The work, which features giant teddy-bear heads and intended to revisit childhood memories in which the soft toy would be a feature of , encourages the visitor not only to give the installation a hug, but also, judging to the response take lots of photographs with it.
Uno Lai
#WeHeartLight
Light Collective (UK)
Marina Bay City Gallery (A8 on the map)
An installation made up of individual and personalised light boxes – the work of students from different schools in Singapore that emphasises the role of education in guiding the future generation towards a sustainable future.
Beat
Arup (Singapore)
In front of Marina Bay Sands (A1 on the map)
An installation that appeals to the instinct to touch, simulating a response from lighted globes that then adopt a human heart beat light pulse – another favourite with the kids.
iSwarm
SUTD (Singapore)
In Marina Bay, near Bayfront Taxi Stop (A3 on the map)
A luminous swarm of “sea creatures” that interact with passer-by through light sensors.
Floating Hearts
Travesias de Luz (Spain)
Marina Bay waterfront promenade, near Marina Bay Link Mall pop-up structure (A10 on the map)
A wall of illuminated hearts that invites passers-by to play with them.
The Guardian Angels
Maro Avrabou and Dimitri Xenakis (Greece and France)
Marina Bay waterfront promenade near Breeze Shelter (A12 on the map)
Echoes the preservation of the garden and plants, and by extension, nature – a tribute to gardeners and artificially created gardens.
**Insert Caption Please
Ryf Zaini (Singapore)
Marina Bay waterfront promenade (A11 on the map)
Giant speech bubbles that displays thoughts and messages akin to comic strips – a humourous reference to the shift in the way we interact socially in the digital age towards screen-based forms of communication.
Fool’s Gold
Vertical Submarine (Singapore)
The Promontory (A13 on the map)
A work that alludes to a Chinese idiom about a fool who hides his gold but gives it away by erecting a sign to disclaim its existence.
1.26 Singapore
Janet Echelman (USA)
The Float @ Marina Bay (B10 on the map)
A huge illuminated net that depicts the force of nature that uses space-age Honeywell Spectra fibre. Suspended over the floating platform, the work is a 3D representation of the force of a tsunami created by the 2010 Chile earthquake and draws on laboratory research done by NASA and NOAA on the earthquake. The earthquake resulted in a shift in the axis of the earth’s rotation, which shortened the day by 1.26 microseconds – hence the installation’s name.
1.26 Singapore
Justin Lee and Dornier Asia Pte Ltd (Singapore and Switzerland)
ArtScience Museum (B14 on the map)
Celebration of Life is a large-scale projection by local artist Justin Lee on the ArtScience Museum – the first time he has taken on such a challenge. The projection takes viewers through a commentary on the role and value of traditional culture on contemporary society, blending traditional Eastern icons with modern day symbols.
Digital Wattle
Out of the Dark (New Zealand)
Near The Float @ Marina Bay (B11 on the map)
Based on the Golden Wattle, the installation explores the interplay between individual ethnic groups that co-exist within a city – the change of colours of the flowers swaying in the breeze representing the new mix of cultures.
i Light Marina Bay 2014 related:
- An introduction on this blog
- An interactive map
- Marina Bay on Facebook
- Marina Bay on Flickr
- #ilightMarinaBay on Instagram
- Marina Bay on Youtube
The Long and Winding Road 