i Light Marina Bay

i Light Singapore (Chinese: 照亮滨海湾) is a sustainable light art festival held in the Marina Bay, Singapore.[1] The festival is organised and presented by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).[2]

i Light Singapore
Official logo
Genre	Light art festival
Location(s)	Marina Bay
Country	Singapore
Inaugurated	2010
Organised by	Urban Redevelopment Authority
Website	https://www.ilightsingapore.gov.sg/

I Light Marina Bay
Traditional Chinese	照亮滨海灣
Simplified Chinese	照亮滨海湾
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhàoliàng Bīnhǎi Wān Bopomofo ㄓㄠˋ ㄌㄧㄤˋ ㄅㄧㄣ ㄏㄞˇ ㄨㄢ

i Light Marina Bay was first held in 2010 and the festival was officiated by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean on 15 October 2010.[3] Following its success, a second edition was held in 2012 and a third edition was held in 2014.[4][5] The 2016 festival, themed "In Praise of Shadows" (named after an essay by Junichiro Tanizaki), takes place from 4 to 27 March. The event now takes place annually.[6]

The 'i' in the name is said to allude to the festival's innovative content, the intelligent use of lighting as well as its international line-up of creative talent.[7]

In 2019, the festival was renamed i Light Singapore as an anchor event to commemorate the Singapore Bicentennial.

2010 i Light Marina Bay: People, Place and Time

The inaugural edition of the festival was held from 15 October to 7 November in 2010[8] and was originally part of Marina Bay Invitations 2010, a series of events planned to promote Marina Bay as a venue and destination. Curated along the theme People, Place and Time, the festival was intended to serve as the regional platform for the exchange of ideas and technology, artistic expression and public engagement through light art works with intelligent light usage and sustainable use of energy.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] The festival showcased about 25 dynamic light art installations and sculptures as well as interactive and performance-based art displays by 14 artists from Singapore and 20 international artists. The artworks were arranged in a line around the Marina Bay waterfront promenade to form a Light Walk.[8]

The key highlight of the Light Walk was an installation that consisted of 29 large light artworks of My Public Garden by French light art group, TILT, depicting a whimsical, fantasy garden which adorned The Promontory@Marina Bay.

The inaugural festival was attended by more than 433,000 visitors over the three-week duration, of which approximately 71,031 were international visitors.[16]

Participating Artists

• Human Tiles by OCUBO – Nuno Maya (Portugal) & Carole Purnelle (Belgium)
• Singapora-Flora by Warren Langley (Australia)
• Fire Flies by Francesco Mariotti (Switzerland)
• Hammerhaus by Kurt Laurenz Theinert & Hanfreich (Germany)
• Flight to Light by Mary-Anne Kyriakou (Australia). This artwork has been made available for preview from 12 August 2010 onwards at the Fullerton Heritage gallery[17]
• My Public Garden by TILT (France)[18]
• I C U Standt:punkt by Ingo K Bracke (Germany)
• Touch. Do Not Please The Work of Art by Michael Lee (Singapore) & Cornelia Erdmann (Hong Kong)
• C/Ɔ by Angela Chong (Singapore)
• WattFish? by Dan Foreman, Cherry Wang & Zi Chang Lee (Meinhardt Light Studio Team, Singapore)
• Jellight by Pascal Petitjean & Aamer Taher (Singapore)[18]
• the light within by Vellachi Ganesan (Singapore)
• Additive Reflection 1, 2, 3 by Jeppe Aagaard Andersen (Denmark)
• Wall Piercing by Ron Gilad, presented by Flos (Singapore)
• The Whirlpool by Martin Klaasen, Shane Richardson and Pascal Petitjean (Singapore & Australia)
• A Living! Project by Sun Yu Li, Allan Lim, Kenny Eng (Singapore)
• Flora Magica by Studio KYbra (Australia & Germany)
• The River Merchants, sculpture by Aw Tee Hong (Singapore) and lightwork by Studio KYbra (Australia & Germany)
• Animal Tree by Pitupong Chaowakul (Thailand)
• Digital Origami Tigers by Chris Bosse (Germany)
• Rainbow by Mark Hammer & Andre Keckes (Australia)
• A Blue Mirage in the City of Light by WY-TO Architects (Singapore)
• Lumenocity Singapore by Sasha Crocker & Andrew Daly (Australia)
• Positive Attracts by Edwin Cheong (Singapore)
• Doves that Cry by Mary-Anne Kyriakou & Joe Snell (Australia)
• All of us by Zymryte Hoxhaj (Germany)

Switch Off, Turn Up Campaign

The "Switch Off, Turn Up" campaign was held in line with the festival.[19] This campaign called for participating properties to make a conscious effort to switch off all non-essential indoor/outdoor lighting and office equipment and turn up air-conditioning temperatures to 24 to 25 °C.[19]

2012 i Light Marina Bay: Light Meets Asia

The second edition of the light festival, Light Meets Asia, returned in 2012 and ran from 9 March 2012 to 1 April 2012. The theme was "Lights Meet Asia". Installations featured new, emerging and well-known light art artists from countries across Asia including China, Philippines, Japan and Singapore.[20]

The festival showcased 31 environmentally sustainable light installations by multidisciplinary artists, with strong focus on works from Asian artists.[21] 11 of the works were by Singaporeans and 12 were from regional artists.

The 2012 festival attracted 565,000 local and international visitors over the three-week period.[22]

Programme

A series of fringe activities was arranged throughout the duration of the festival. These included free guided tours, performances, workshops and competitions.[23]

Fringe activities comprised activities such as a weekly weekend Night carnival, with booths selling food and drinks as well as eco-friendly merchandise.[24] The highlight of the Night Carnival was a light painting activity – which involved moving hand-held lights through the air to spell words or sketch symbols that was then captured by using long exposure on a camera.[25]

There were also roving performances of Samba, Rata and Reggae beats by Junk Jam, LED light twirlers, towering LED stilt walkers as well as synchronised kite flying.[26] A photography competition and Low Light Photography Workshop was also held.[25][27] The festival also included an i Light Symposium where curators, artists and lighting designers had the opportunity to exchange ideas on light culture and architecture.[28]

Participating Artists[29]

No	Artist	Work	Gender	Born	Country/Region of Birth	Based in
1	Aleksandra Stratimirovic	Sweet Home (2011)	F	1968	Yugoslavia	Sweden
2	Andrew Daly Katherine Fife	Crystallised (2011)	F	1986	Australia	Australia
3	Angela Chong	Tree Stories (2012)	F	1977	Singapore	Singapore
4	Be Takerng Pattanopas	Gap the Mind (2012)	M	1965	Thailand	Bangkok
5	BIBI	Bibigloo (2012)	M	1964	France	France
6	Cornelia Erdmann	Fancy/Lightweight (2012)	F	1976	Germany	Hong Kong
7	Craig Walsh	Classification Pending (2007)	M	1966	Australia	Australia
8	Dev Harlan	Parmenides I (2011)	M	1978	USA	USA
9	Edwin Tan	enLIGHTenment (2012)	M	1981	Singapore	Singapore
10	Groupe LAPS Thomas Veyssiere (Director)	Key Frames (2011)	M	1971	France	France
11	Hexogon Solution Adrian Goh (Team Leader)	Garden of Light (2012)	M	1976	Singapore	Singapore
12	Li Hui	The Gate (2007)	M	1977	China	China
13	Light Collective Martin Lupton Sharon Stammers	Urban Makyoh (2012)	M	1969	UK	UK
14	Marine Ky	Receptacle (2012)	F	1966	Cambodia	France Cambodia Australia
15	Martin Bevz Kathryn Clifton	Immersion (2011)	M F	1986 1985	Australia	Australia
16	OCUBO Nuno Maya Carolle Pumelle	Light of the Merlion (2012)	M F	1978 1964	Portugal Democratic Republic of Congo	Portugal
17	Olivia d’Aboville	Coral Garden (2012)	F	1986	Philippines	Philippines
18	Olivia Lee	FLOW (2012)	F	1985	Singapore	Singapore
19	Ryf Zaini	5QU1D (2012)	M	1980	Singapore	Singapore
20	Shinya Okuda	BioShell (2011)	M	-	Japan	Singapore
21	StoryBox	After Light (2012)	M	1975	New Zealand	New Zealand
22	Singapore Student Showcase 1: LASALLE College of the Arts	-	-	-	-	Singapore
23	Singapore Student Showcase 2: School of the Arts Singapore	-	-	-	-	Singapore
24	Takahiro Matsuo	Wite Rain (2011)	M	1979	Japan	Japan
25	Tay Swee Siong	Illumination Disorders II (2012)	M	1968	Singapore	Singapore
26	Teddy Lo	MEGAPOV (2012)	M	1974	Hong Kong	Hong Kong
27	The Propeller Group Phu Nam Matt Lucero Tuan Andrew Nguyen	Uh… (2007)	M M M	1974 1976	Vietnam USA Vietnam	Vietnam
28	Uno Lai	The Light Dam (2012)	M	1975	Taiwan	Taiwan
29	Vertical Submarine Loke Kian Whee, Justin Yang Kwang Yong, Joshua Koh Wen Chii, Fiona	Planting Shadows (2009)	M M F	1979 1974 1983	Singapore Malaysia Singapore	Singapore
30	Wiyoga Muhardanto	Tangible Gallery (2012)	M	1979	Indonesia	Indonesia
31	Zulkifle Mahmod	Deck Journey (2012)	M	1975	Singapore	Singapore

Sustainability

Artists were selected for the use of energy-efficient LED lights and/or the incorporation of sustainable, recycleable and/or re-usable materials into their light artworks. Some of these artworks leveraged on alternative sources of energy such as solar, kinetic or wind in order to generate energy for the light installations.[30][31]

Professional sustainability consultants were also engaged to work with the event partners, artists, contractors and suppliers to ensure that suitable sustainable practices are incorporated to reduce energy use.[32] The total energy usage for all the installations in the 2012 i Light Marina Bay festival was less than 7,000 kWh.[33]

The festival also participated in Earth Hour on 31 March 2012 and all 31 featured artworks were switched off for an hour.[34]

In festival again featured the Switch Off, Turn Up Campaign, extending its reach beyond the Marina Bay precinct, with buildings across the island pledging their support.[35] The campaign saved more than 200,000 kWh, four times the energy saved in 2010.[19] This equates to 100 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, enough to generate electricity for 762 4-bedroom HDB flats for three-weeks.[19][36]

47 properties that participated 2012's Switch Off, Turn Up campaign, up from 16 properties in 2010:[35]

i Light Marina Bay 2014: Light+HeART

The third edition of i Light Marina Bay, themed Light+HeART, returned to Marina Bay from 7 to 30 March 2014. The festival showcased 28 environmentally sustainable light installations from around the world. To promote an environmentally-responsible behavior for a sustainable future, participating artists incorporated the use of recyclable materials and adopted energy-efficient lighting in the creation of their light art installations.

i Light Marina Bay 2014 attracted a total of 685,000 local and international visitors over the course of the three-week period. The festival again engaged in the "Switch Off, Turn Up" Campaign. In 2014, 52 buildings committed to put in place measures to save energy during the festival period. Key developments involved include Marina Bay Sands, Marina Bay Financial Centre, and One Fullerton. Their participation signified their commitment to play a part in working towards a more sustainable future together. The campaign in 2014 achieved energy savings of 268,890 kWh.

Programme

i Light Marina Bay 2014 also featured a variety of complementary events and activities, such as free guided tours, educational talks and seminars, sporting activities, bazaars and culinary treats.

Participating Artists

Name of Installation	Name of Artist(s)	Country/Region
Beat	Arup (Singapore)	Singapore
The Wishing! Tree	The Living! Project	Singapore
iSWARM	SUTD – Thomas Schroepfer & Suranga Nanayakkara	Singapore
Happy Croco	Bibi	France
Bedazzled	Meinhardt Light Studio Pte. Ltd.	Singapore
Lightscape Catcher	Arup (Shanghai)	China
Mimosa	Jason Bruges Studio	United Kingdom
#WEHEARTLIGHT	Light Collective	United Kingdom
Joujou-Ours	Uno Lai	Taiwan
Floating Hearts	Travesias De Luz	Spain
**Insert Caption Please	Ryf Zaini	Singapore
The Guardian Angels	Maro Avrabou & Dimitri Xenakis	Greece & France
Fool's Gold	Vertical Submarine	Singapore
The Pool	Jen Lewin Studio	USA
Light Rain	Troika	United Kingdom
LiveLight	Oz Collective	Singapore & France
3D Tic-Tac-Toe	Angela Chong & Sonny Windstrup	Singapore / Denmark
Scribbledribblequibble	Soh Ee Shaun, Chong Li-Chuan, Kenneth Cheong & Kashmira Kasmuri	Singapore
The Wheels of Industry	Twist Design	United Kingdom
Giant Dandelions	Olivia d’Aboville	Philippines / France
HeartBeat City Lights	Egied Simons	Netherlands
Skeletal Retreat No.1	Michael Lee	Singapore
CLOUD	Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett	Canada
1.26 Singapore	Janet Echelman	USA
Digital Wattle	Out of the Dark	New Zealand
Flash	Nathan Yong with OTTO Solutions Pte. Ltd.	Singapore
A Land of Reverie	Sheryl Ng & Nigel Ho	Singapore
Celebration of Life	Justin Lee with Dorier Asia Pte. Ltd.	Singapore & Switzerland

i Light Marina Bay 2016: In Praise of Shadows

The fourth edition of i Light Marina Bay, held from 4 to 27 March 2016, featured 25 installations. The 2016 theme, "In Praise of Shadows", challenged the obsession that brighter is better and sought to reframe perceptions of light and sustainability. A one-for-one exchange campaign of used incandescent bulbs for energy efficient LED light bulbs was run at i Light Marina Bay 2016. The "Switch Off, Turn Up" Campaign held since the inception of i Light Marina Bay garnered a greater response from buildings around Marina Bay and beyond, with key developments involved including Marina Bay Sands and Marina Bay Financial Centres.

Installations

• CYCLE HOUSE Hafiz Osman (Singapore)
• LIGHT WALK Jen Lewin (USA)
• CLOCKWORK STORIES NYP School of Design (Singapore)
• GROOVE LIGHT NUS Department of Architecture (Singapore)
• THE UNVEILED BEAUTY NYP School of Interactive & Digital Media (Singapore)
• EMOGRAPH "I DID IT" Society (Latvia)
• BOLT Jun Ong (Malaysia)
• TORRENT Brandon Tay (Singapore)
• MARINE CONSTELLATIONS Laughing Stars (Japan) & Lumen Artistry (Singapore)
• SHADOW BATH Loop.pH (United Kingdom)
• LAMPSHADE Snøhetta (Norway)
• ANGELS OF FREEDOM OGE Group, Gaston Zahr & Merav Eitan (Germany & Israel)
• MOON HAZE Feng Jiacheng & Huang Yuanbei (China)
• C'SCAPE Illuminate LD (Singapore)
• LIGHT ORIGAMI KAZ Shirane (Japan)
• LIGHTSCAPE PAVILION MisoSoupDesign (Taiwan)
• TERRA.GLIMMER SP School of Architecture and the Built Environment (Singapore)
• DANDELION Supermachine Studio (Thailand)
• FISSURE Ong Kian Peng (Singapore)
• THE CLOUD Kenny Hong (Singapore)
• UNSEEN: TOUCH FIELD Alecia Neo (Singapore)
• ODE TO THE WIND NTU School of Art, Design and Media (Singapore)
• SONICTOWER Zulkifle Mahmod (Singapore)
• GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR TOM Rohan Abdullah & Stanley Yeo (Singapore)
• WHAT A LOVING & BEAUTIFUL WORLD–ARTSCIENCE MUSEUM teamLab (Japan)*

References

1. i Light Marina Bay Festival Returns from 9 March to 1 April 2012 Archived 6 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Culturepush. 1 April 2012
2. Smart Light Archived 30 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine. The Long Winding Road. 8 March 2012
3. City of lights. The Straits Times. 15 October 2010
4. i Light Marina Bay 2012, Asia’s Only Sustainable Light Art Festival Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Calvin Timo. 7 March 2012
5. i Light Marina Bay 2012 Official Launch. Archived 15 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Celebratelah. 11 March 2012
6. "Archived copy". Urban Redevelopment Authority. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
7. Let There Be Light Archived 31 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Culture Y Journal. 11 November 2010
8. ILIGHT MARINA BAY Archived 11 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine SingaporeKopitam.sg. Retrieved 13 April 2012
9. Article on Archived 7 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Artinasia.com. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
10. Article on LEDs Magazine Archived 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Ledsmagazine.com (7 November 2010). Retrieved 17 December 2011.
11. Article on When Lights Work
12. Marina Bay Light Festival Archived 22 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine. The Design Society (26 May 2010). Retrieved 17 December 2011.
13. S'pore to hold Asia's first sustainable light festival this Oct Archived 17 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Channel NewsAsia (12 August 2010). Retrieved 17 December 2011.
14. Kolesnikov, Sonia. (1 September 2010) Let There Be Light – of the Efficient Kind. The New York Times. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
15. Article on Youth.sg
16. About The Festival Archived 11 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 13 April 2012
17. Flight to Light @ The Fullerton Archived 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Events.insing.com (10 September 2010). Retrieved 17 December 2011.
18. ARTS VISUEL – Lorsque Marina Bay s’illuminera… Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Lepetitjournal.com (11 November 2005). Retrieved 17 December 2011.
19. Lighting-up for sustainability Archived 8 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine The Long and Winding Road. 27 March 2012
20. i Light Marina Bay 2012: Full list of participating artists unveiled LEDS Magazine. 8 February 2012
21. I Light Marina Bay 2012 Archived 19 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Mhisham. 16 January 2012
22. iLight Marina Bay draws over half a million visitors Archived 14 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine PropertyGuru. 12 April 2012
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24. Light art festival to add colour and buzz to Marina Bay Archived 14 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Channel NewsAsia. 7 March 2012
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27. i Light Marina Bay 2012 Official Launch & "Key Frames" by Groupe LAPS video Archived 20 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Calvin Timo. 12 March 2012
28. i Light Marina Bay 2012: i Light Symposium Archived 31 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine Come Singapore. Retrieved 14 March 2012
29. i Light Marina Bay. 8 February 2012
30. Marina Bay light festival returns in March Archived 19 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine AsiaOne. 24 February 2012
31. SINGAPORE. Art Installations light up Marina Bay Archived 31 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine ArtMap. 13 March 2012
32. Going Green in Singapore Archived 21 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Travel and Beyond. Retrieved 12 April 2012
33. Asia’s first and only sustainable light art festival concludes on a high note, drawing a record 565,000 visitors and achieving significant energy savings i Light Marina Bay. 11 April 2012
34. Be part of Earth Hour Archived 2 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Her World Plus. 30 March 2012
35. "Switch Off, Turn Up" Campaign Archived 14 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine i Light Marina Bay. Retrieved 12 April 2012
36. i Light Marina Bay 2012 closed on a successful note Archived 31 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine Adlib Magazine Singapore. 11 April 2012