'A New Wave': Reflecting on a sustainable future through multi-sensory experiences

With a focus on sustainability, iLight Singapore is the top light festival in Asia that features a stunning line-up of programmes that spark conversations on green topics. The festival invites visitors to reflect—'How can we embrace sustainability as a way of life?' With new immersive light art installations and programmes that enchant the senses, the 2023 edition is transforming the locations into a visual wonderland, organised by Urban Redevelopment (URA) and presented by DBS Bank.

Besides brightening Marina Bay, the festival is also extending its presence to two new locations—South Beach and Millenia Walk—to create new experiences and connect more people with its artworks. The theme of the festival—A New Wave and the colour blue, a visible light wavelength that evokes calmness and blue of our planet—anchor iLight Singapore 2023. Each edition of the festival is based on a colour from the visible light spectrum that signifies different ways of seeing and understanding the world, such as violet for awakening of senses in 2022. Mr Lim Eng Hwee, Chief Executive Officer, URA, urged everyone to pause and ponder their relationship with the environment. The delightful artworks and programmes are designed to inspire visitors to embrace sustainability as part of their everyday lives.

A vibrant showcase of 22 artists from eight countries has been curated to the theme of A New Wave. Many of the artworks use sustainable materials and interactive methods to highlight oceans and rivers, and take visitors on a journey of exploration and reflection on their relationship with nature. STIR takes a look at some of the events and creative installations at the iLight Singapore 2023.

Refik Anadol Studio and Julius Baer present a groundbreaking research in form of a installation

Glacier Dreams is a stunning fusion of art and science that uses artificial intelligence to transform images of glaciers into multi-sensory narratives. The images are sourced from public data, archives, and the artist Refik Anadol’s personal collection from Iceland. Through this project, Anadol and his team from Los Angeles aim to create poetic experiences that highlight the beauty and vulnerability of glaciers in the face of climate change and rising sea levels. They also hope to contribute to the scientific study of glaciers with their innovative AI tools.

Information centres are available throughout the festival grounds to help visitors find their way around. The sculptures are in proximity to the bus and train stops, and visitors can enjoy the exhibits in any order they prefer.

A multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Berlin makes an interactive animation showcasing the animals in motion

Phillip Artus’s Aquatics invites visitors to create and join a vibrant underwater world of animated sea creatures. Through a tablet, visitors can design their own marine life forms and watch them swim and interact with others. The artwork celebrates the diversity and beauty of life in the ocean and urges us to protect it from environmental threats.

Motivated to be playful, engaging and inclusive, Amigo & Amigo transform the space with real audience participation and interaction as a creative exhibit

Located at Clifford square, this musical garden is presented by The Fullerton Heritage. Trumpet Flowers is a giant musical garden that dazzles visitors with light, colour and sound. Visitors can play with interactive keys to control the huge light and sound instruments shaped like gramophones. The flowers also come alive with a special musical score by Otis Studio and Sydney's jazz musicians.

DP Design is a home-based interior design firm that created the light installation that is symbolic of being sustainable, memorable and meaningful

From a distance, Blumiwave looks like a series of waves crashing in different directions and heights. But as visitors get closer, they discover that the waves are actually made of safety nets and scaffolding materials that DP Design's interior designers often see at construction sites. The team turns materials that are usually seen as ugly into a space that encourages visitors to explore new meanings and possibilities in the ordinary. After the festival, local social enterprise Magorium will recycle all the plastics used to make Blumiwave. With the support of DBS Foundation, Magorium transforms plastic waste into a green building material called 'NEWBitumen' that can be used to pave roads instead of fossil-fuel based bitumen. Blumiwave is thus anchored into the interpretation of ‘renewable’ .

XD49's exhibit is a merge of audio-visual and interactive technologies that reminds us of the memorable experience of COVID 19

At the Bayfront Event space, we have some Moooooootion. Experience Design 49’s Moooooootion is an interactive stage that offers a fun and lively contrast to the lockdown experience. Visitors can use their movement to add colour and music to a dull world. To mark the COVID-19's lockdown experience, this installation reminds us of the contrast.

GLO, a global artist collective creates a Symphony

Symphony 1 is an architecture scale light sculpture that adapts to any environment. Its delicate and transparent shape resembles a living organism which is quite overwhelming. It creates a contrast and a harmony between nature and urbanity with its curling vines that glow in the dark and blossom into crystal-like flowers. It makes us observe that just like humans conquer and hinge to the cities overpowering its scale, inviting us to reflect on how we relate to the natural world in our crowded cities.

Berenice Chao and Nicky Tjandra’s interdisciplinary exhibit speaks to us of Coral Bleaching phenomenon

The installation is named as Bleached. It is a symbolic representation of the threats facing marine life due to climate change and human activities. An immersive environment that mimics the underwater world, where visitors can explore a luminous landscape of ‘seaweed’ and ‘corals’. These are made from either seaweed bioplastics or recycled single-use plastics by the artists themselves. The ‘reefs’ react to touch and movement by turning white, evoking the phenomenon of coral bleaching due to rising temperatures. It urges us to be mindful of how our actions can affect the environment.

The variety of installations range from creative expression symbols to sustainable design elements that blend the sensibilities of both local and international artists. Lightwave: Turning the Tide, presented by Alibaba Cloud, is an immersive light experience that takes visitors to a submerged future and challenges them to rethink their impact on the environment. We also have a dynamic installation Prism by a Malaysian artist Jun Ong that translates natural and artificial lighting to give a colourful experience to the onlookers. Other participating artists are Studio Kebbel, Louis-Philippe Rondeau, a Canadian professor and many more who have created interesting experiences in this festival.

Apart from the installation, there are also curated tours, talks and workshops taking place on the first weekend of the festival. These events encourage people to take up zero waste habits as part of life. There is also Gastrobeats—a celebration of food and music which will go on for a month. This gives opportunities to home grown brands and performers. In all, it is a wholesome experience for the city folks and a learning for people of all ages. In line with the festival’s blue colour theme, major buildings around the Bay will glow in blue light from evening till midnight every day. It is a mindful effort to be inclusive of the whole community and a step towards reminding us of the climate crisis through visual journey of artistic exhibits which makes the reflection interesting and encouraging.