Light to Night Festival 2024 is back from 19 Jan to 8 Feb 2024 at the National Gallery and Civic District. Get your cameras ready for over 60 artworks (including a 6-metre saga seed and a ‘Ping Pong Go-Round’ interactive table tennis artwork), light shows and performances
The Light to Night Festival 2024, organised by National Gallery Singapore in collaboration with its Civic District partners, is back! The theme for the Light to Night Festival 2024 is “Reimagine” and explores what it means to reimagine art. The Light to Night Festival promises to take us on a journey of ‘unconventional exploration, using inspiration from history, origin, and national collections to create truly immersive and interactive experiences’. Want to check out a video of what to expect at Light to Night Festival 2024? Watch our Instagram reel here!
Highlights of the Light to Night Festival 2024 include a giant inflatable art saga seed ‘Wings of Change’ with five smaller saga seeds that light up at sunset, the iconic Art Skins on Monuments (the biggest facade light show in Singapore) that illuminates the facades of arts institutions, plus 60 immersive day-to-night programmes, electrifying performances, and engaging activities.
Good to know: National Gallery Singapore offers free entry to all visitors on Fridays to Sundays during the Light to Night festival period and extends its opening hours to 11pm on the same days.
Light to Night Festival 2024
“Don’t touch the art!” is something we often hear, but at the Light to Night Festival 2024, a highlight will be the interactive artworks where audiences can become part of the work. The IG-worthy showstopper will no doubt be the 6-metre-high luminescent saga seed, Wings of Change by Kumari Nahappan surrounded by five smaller saga seeds that light up at sunset, symbolising transformation and renewal. Another highlight of Light to Night Festival 2024 is the light show across multiple buildings, and Lee Wen’s Ping Pong Go-Round artwork within the National Gallery.
Admission to the Light to Night Festival 2024 is free with ticketed programmes available.
Highlights of the Light to Night Festival 2024
1. Lee Wen’s Ping Pong Go-Round
A fun exhibit at Light to Night Festival 2024 is Lee Wen’s Ping Pong Go-Round, where you can take part in an unorthodox game of table tennis! Friends and strangers circle around the table and activate the artwork together.
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 2, National Gallery Singapore
How much: Free
2. Art Skins on Monuments: Light to Night Festival 2024
One of our all-time favourites at the Light to Night Festival 2024 is the Art Skins on Monuments — the biggest facade light show in Singapore!
Look out for spectacular light projections created by various artists on the façades of cultural institutions around the Civic District.
The light show can be found on the facades of the National Gallery Singapore, Asian Civilisations Museum, The Arts House and Victoria Theatre & Victoria Concert Hall. Art Skins on Monuments will premiere commissions by international and local artists.
Just walk freely around these buildings and you’ll see the projections.
The main light show is at the National Gallery Singapore – seat yourself on the Padang (the green lawn directly opposite) and watch the building come alive with stunning artwork and music!
When: Daily, 7:30pm to midnight, 19 Jan – 8 Feb 2024
Where: Buildings in the Civic District: National Gallery Singapore, Asian Civilisations Museum, The Arts House and Victoria Theatre & Victoria Concert Hall
How much: Free
3. Giant Saga Seed: Wings of Change
Featuring a visually striking 6-metre-high luminescent saga seed, Wings of Change by Kumari Nahappan, symbolises energy and hope and the urgent need for preservation, conservation and sustainability in the context of climate change in today’s world. It includes a pod representing untapped energy reserves and serves as a call to action for climate preservation. This IG-worthy installation lights up at sunset, symbolising the transformation and renewal.
To complete the artwork, Kumari invites the audience to participate by walking in a clockwise direction around the saga seed to encourage living in the present, going with the flow and making positive change.
Where: Padang
When: 19 Jan – 8 Feb 2024, 10am – midnight (it only lights up after sunset so time your visit for after 7:15pm)
How much: Admission is free
4. Rapture: Eight life-sized wire sculptures of humans
“Rapture” by Victor Tan is an artwork inspired by the biblical concept of ascending to a higher realm. Eight life-sized human figure wire sculptures are suspended in mid-air, symbolising the transition from the earthly to the spiritual and the aspiration for peaceful liberation. It represents the collective desire for a more promising existence, serving as a reminder that hope and tranquillity can be found even in the face of adversity.
Where: National Gallery Singapore, Padang Atrium
When: 19 Jan – 8 Feb 2024, Fri – Sun, 10am – 11pm | Mon – Thu, 10am – 7pm
How much: Admission is free
5. 8-Bit Word Clouds
At The Arts House, look out for 8-Bit Word Clouds: Cloudscape of Literary Arts Reimagined by Justin Loke. This installation is crafted with pixelated elements, reminiscent of early video game graphics that invite visitors to find the missing letters and explore the interplay of words and imagination.
Where: The Arts House
How much: Admission is free
6. Art X Social: over 50 Booths and Live Performances
The Art X Social Festival Village returns at St Andrew Road, serving as a pit-stop where you can grab a bite or a drink at the various F&B options. Look out for live performances at the Padang Atrium plus outdoor workshops!
Where: St Andrew’s Road and Empress Lawn.
7. Performances: Cabaret, Circus Acts & More
ACM’s Entertainment Plaza is a pop-up event that’s part of the Light to Night Festival at ACM where you can look forward to circus acts, traditional martial arts, and unexpected oddities happening on certain days during the Light to Night Festival. Plus inspired by the unconventional theme parks of yesteryear there’s an outdoor installation to admire ‘Party Pavilion’ by Howie Kim and fun free retro arcade games.
Performances The Odditorium (FREE!)
Experience a dazzling array of circus acts, traditional martial arts, and unexpected oddities!
When: 26 and 27 January, 2 and 3 February 8pm – 11pm
Where: Foyer, Level 2 of Asian Civilisations Museum
How much: Free!
Drop-in Activities: Retro Arcade
Enter a time warp of gaming greatness with retro arcade games! Experience epic adventures and chase high scores in a blast from the past. Check out ACM’s collection of timeless gaming objects, from chess to pachisi, showcased in the galleries.
When: 19, 20, 26 and 27 January, 2 and 3 February 7pm – 11pm
When: Lobby, Level 1 of Asian Civilisations Museum
How much: Free!
Deets: on 19, 20, 26, 27 Jan, 2, 3 Feb, 7–11pm; galleries open until 9pm, Asian Civilisation Museum outdoor plaza
8. Light to Night 2024 workshops
Dungeons & Dragons: The Art Quest: Go on a reimagined Dungeons and Dragons adventure while learning more about the artworks at the National Gallery. Dungeon Masters will guide players past fantastical creatures as they unravel enigmatic riddles, while also making decisions that resonate with the emotions and themes found in Raden Saleh and Pratuang Emjaroen’s masterpieces.
When: 20 Jan – 4 Feb 2024 | Sat & Sun | 4 pm – 9 pm (each game lasts for 45min)
Where: Former Supreme Court Lobby, Level 3
How much: $20. Get tickets here.
Light to Night 2024: Wishful Thinking: Reimagine what it means to indulge in escapism. Wishful Thinking is a multi-room installation created by Chia Kwa and Melinda Lauw of Whisperlodge. Discover unexpected textures and sounds as you walk into an ASMR video and experience a heightened state of awareness and sensory perception. On certain nights, participants can enjoy an ASMR performance.
When: 19 Jan – 8 Feb 2024 | 10 am – 7 pm (Mon – Thu), 10 am – 11 pm (Fri – Sun)
Where: Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium Foyer, Level B1, National Gallery Singapore
How much: $5. Get tickets here.
Ways of Not Seeing [Calm Room Creative Residency]: Developed under the National Gallery Singapore’s Calm Room Creative Residency, the workshop touches on notions of wellbeing and recovery, drawing on the artist’s research on aphantasia (a blindness of the mind’s eye), asks us to consider how acts of “not seeing” and imagining can help us to have a deeper appreciation of the many processes that mark our lives.
When: 20 Jan 2024, 2 – 4 pm
Where: Rooftop Studios, City Hall Wing, Level 5
How much: $8. Get tickets here.
Good to know: National Gallery Singapore offers free entry to all visitors on Fridays to Sundays during the Light to Night festival period and extends its opening hours to 11pm on the same days.
All the deets: Light to Night Festival 2024
When: 19 January – 8 February 2024
Where: Various locations around the Civic District including: National Gallery Singapore, Asian Civilisations Museum, Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, The Arts House, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Funan
How much: Free to enter (some workshops have extra charges).
The full line-up of Light to Night Festival 2024 programmes can be viewed here.