i Light Marina Bay, Asia’s only sustainable light art festival, is set to return next year with the theme “In Praise of Shadows”. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is inviting artists to submit proposals for light art installations to be showcased during the festival which will be held from 4 to 27 March 2016. This popular light art festival will also become an annual event.
In Praise of Shadows
i Light Marina Bay 2016 offers an opportunity for artists to reflect on Singapore’s future after reaching its Jubilee year and how the city can be transformed and lit in the future. The curators for the 2016 edition are Randy Chan, Principal Architect at Zarch Collaboratives, and Khairuddin Hori, Deputy Director of Artistic Programming at Palais de Tokyo, Paris. They drew inspiration for the theme from Japanese writer Junichiro Tanizaki’s seminal essay on aesthetics of the same title, “In Praise of Shadows”. Their hope is to be able to provoke artists to re-imagine the fundamentals, forms and roles of light, and to readjust perceptions of lighting. It will also be an opportunity to reframe issues relating to sustainability and to contemplate larger issues of light, beauty and the city. See Annex A for more information about the curatorial team.
The festival welcomes participation from local, regional, and international artists. It will also offer opportunities to bring together artists from other relevant creative fields to create light art installations. As with past editions, there are also plans for collaborations with the community and educational institutions.
Interested artists can visit the i Light Marina Bay website at www.ilightmarinabay.sg to find out more about the open call and submit their proposals by 26 June 2015. The curatorial team and the URA will review the proposals.
Festival to be a yearly affair
Since its first edition in 2010, the biennial i Light festival has seen increasing participation and visitorship. The third edition, held in 2014, attracted a record 685,000 visitors. In response to popular demand, the festival will be held annually from next year.
Jason Chen, Director for Place Management, URA, said, “The festival has gained a strong following since its inception and we have received a lot of feedback suggesting that it be a yearly affair. Holding it annually at Marina Bay will allow more people to enjoy the light art installations, and more importantly, to heed our message about sustainability. We hope the upcoming festival will provide a more stimulating visitor experience beyond visual aesthetics and attract greater participation, especially from local and regional artists, and the community on various fronts.”