Marina Bay is legit lit, thanks to the i Light Singapore 2022 festival

i Light Singapore is back. Time to plan a date night at Marina Bay lo!

"Watt is i Light?" you might ask. Organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and presented by DBS, this annual festival returns after a two-year hiatus, and, this year, showcases 20 captivating light art installations all around the Marina Bay area:

This year’s theme is Spark of Light, as the installations - created by artists from 14 countries - cast a spotlight on environmental and sustainability issues happening in our world today. Just in time to commemorate World Environment Day on June 5.

Installations like this amazing projection on the façade of ArtScience Museum called MOTHEREARTH ClimateChange Data Sculpture, the first stop of the festival.

Created by Turkish new media studio Ouchhh, it aims to highlight climate change by transforming publicly available environmental data, such as local weather recordings, into a visual treat of moving lights, colours and sounds, using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

You can impress bae with that nugget of cheem info as you make your way to...

...this life-sized inflatable Plastic Whale. Go inside it and listen to it breathing in distress. Created by Craig Neo from Singapore, and Feng Qiao, Liao Qingshuang and Li Jianwen from China, the installation comprises plastic bottles and waste, highlighting sea pollution and how it affects aquatic life.

Does this exhibit remind you of a block of HDB flat? Alone Together by Singaporean Ping Lim and American Ian Grossberg stirs up memories of the Covid-19 pandemic, being stuck at home and coping with a new normal.

Keep on moving on the path towards the Waterfront Promenade and you’ll find, um, Keep on Moving - a tribute to the runners that jog around Marina Bay daily. The installation by Belgrade-based architectural designer Ivana Jelić resembles the mannequins at retail stores, drawing attention to our increasingly consumerist society.

Just ahead is Firefly Field (shown at the beginning of this article), which mimics the intermittent flashing pattern of fireflies. This enchanting display by Studio Toer from the Netherlands has 500 lights flying together in a swarm, resulting in a dynamic illuminated scene that aims to trigger your curiosity of the natural world. 

At the lawn next to One Marina Boulevard is Fallen by South Korean artist group, Nerdist x ARTINA. It tells the tragic story of an ethereal jellyfish that roamed the universe in search of stars to consume, but crash landed on Earth after eating trash jettisoned into space by humans who ran out of room for garbage disposal.

The final stop is at Esplanade Park, where you will find a number of Insta-worthy artworks, such as Underworld by Aleksandra Stratimirovic from Sweden and Leonel Kaplan from Argentina. This was made with discarded fishing nets, underlining the fragility of our marine ecosystem.

Then there's Meet Me Under the Moon by Hong Kong-based One Bite Design Studio, which was inspired by the Mid-Autumn Festival – the "moon" shines brighter as more visitors sit on the cloud benches.

These are just a few of the 20 Insta-worthy installations at i Light Singapore 2022 which runs till June 26 at Marina Bay, and serves as the perfect respite from the dark days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.