Singapore Night Festival 2013 – 23 & 24 August

The first weekend of the Singapore Night Festival 2013 attracted big crowds and a great turnout  on the nights of 23rd and 24th August 2013. It was nice to see many visitors coming down to the many different arts performances, events and festivities around the National Museum of Singapore, Armenian Street, SMU Green and Singapore Arts Museum compounds. After attending the media preview of Singapore Night Festival a few days earlier, I was excited to come back again on the 23rd and 24th August to continue photographing and sharing about the Singapore Night Festival 2013!

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There were many things happening during 23rd and 24th August at the Singapore Night Festival, a few of them that stood out and got my attention were the outdoor arts performance acts from France, Vertical Extraction and Pyramid of Void by Compagnie Retouramont. Judging from the crowds that sat around the National Museum of Singapore compounds, waiting patiently and eagerly watching the performers “hanging”, “flying” and dancing in the air with their ropes, Compagnie Retouramont is definitely a crowd puller and a key performance attraction for Singapore Night Festival 2013!

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Another star performance attraction was Starlight Alchemy, with their sleek, electrifying, hot and sizzling fire performances in front the National Museum of Singapore facade. I am always a fan of bonfire performances and enjoyed photographing their silky fire dances movements! From the crowds gathered around their performance area, Starlight Alchemy was definitely another hot (yes, hot with fires too!) arts performance that was enjoyed by the spectators at the Singapore Night Festival 2013!

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Inside the National Museum of Singapore, there were also arts performances too! I went up to the Glass Atrium and watched Circus Swingapore in action with their gymnastics performance with the hoops, poles and ropes! A fun circus artistic performance, popular with the young and old, especially with the young children eagerly watching them from the sidelines! There was an interesting showcase by Absolut Vodka known as Absolut Canvas, with many beautiful Absolut Vodka bottle designs of different sizes, attracting a queue of visitors into the exhibition!

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Walking down to Armenian Street, where the street was closed for the Singapore Night Festival 2013 and allowing the visitors to have more space to walk, relax and enjoy the festivities around the Armenian Street area. There was an intriguing and interesting outdoor arts performance, OOMOONBEINGS by Singapierrot. From Singapore Night Festival website, describing about Oomoonbeings –

Two ethereal jesters descend from a crescent moon and explore the land. Dressed in plastics, these contemporary incarnations of Pierrot play in a series of teasing vignettes combining movement and installation. With a whimsical oldtime mood, this little reverie features gypsy-swing jazz duo So Ma Fan as live accompaniment.

While the Oomoonebings performance was a little bit abstract, it was still able to attract the crowds to sit down and watch their unique production! With the warm applause by the crowds at the end of their performance, we can see that they were able to appreciate and understand their performance better! At Armenian Street, with the SubStation located there, it’s an iconic arts/music place. The front of the SubStation area turned into a nice and warm outdoor concert arena, with indie bands, alternative and rock bands gave their hearts out into the night of live music performances!

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Along an alley along Armenian Street, between The SubStation and Peranakan Museum, there were festivities inside there too! There was a visual artist works that caught my attention, it was titled “Everyday Aspirations” by Karen Mitchell. I was personally mesmerised by her works that she deserves the recognition from my thoughts and sharing here! The beautiful and inspiring art work by Karen Mitchell, showcased at Singapore Night Festival 2013. Each mixed media (wood, laminates and light) showed one-word definitions of “Aspiration”, representing the “Everyday Aspirations” of ordinary people. The texts were laser-cut into the wood panels and the light shines through the wood panels to cast shadows of the Aspirations. The reflections of the Aspirations is not just a shadow, it’s also an imprint into a person’s memory. This visual arts display at Singapore Night Festival 2013 is popular with the visitors, the collection of 365 “Aspiration” words means something to them, deep in their hearts and minds. They are all searching for a word among the many words of “Aspirations”, to take and leave an imprint for their hearts, minds and souls. It was great disappointment for the artist Karen Mitchell and everybody else who loved her visual works at the Singapore Night Festival 2013, that 114 of her visual works were missing and they were not returned back to the rightful artist owner! Please return the 114 words back!

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With such great first weekend action at Singapore Night Festival 2013, it’s not over yet. There’s still the second weekend of the Singapore Night Festival 2013 happening on Friday 30th and Saturday 31st August 2013! Stay tune for more information!

Here are some useful links for you to learn more and get more information for Singapore Night Festival 2013!

– Singapore Night Festival 

– Bras Basah.Bugis Precinct

– Bras Basah.Bugis Precinct Facebook Page

– National Museum of Singapore

– Singapore Night Festival Twitter account

– Singapore Night Festival Instagram account

Bring out your cameras, gather your friends and head out for the Singapore Night Festival 2013 this coming weekend on Friday 30th and Saturday 31st August 2013!


Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

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