The annual arts festival that truly comes alive after sunset is back and the Civic District is glowing once again! ✨ Light to Night 2025 returns with its biggest edition yet, transforming our familiar cultural landmarks into luminous playgrounds filled with art, music, and moments that make you pause and reflect.
This year’s festival features over 70 artworks and programmes, stretching across the Padang, National Gallery Singapore, Asian Civilisations Museum, The Arts House, Esplanade, Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall, and even nearby malls. Whether you’re planning a romantic night stroll, a creative catch-up with friends, or a solo wander with your camera, there’s something waiting around every corner.
A Theme That Asks You to Look Closer
The 2025 theme: “Do You See Me?”, is a deeply reflective one. It invites us to think about what it really means to see... ourselves, others, and the communities we’re part of. As Singapore celebrates its 60th birthday, many of the works explore identity, visibility, and how we understand one another in an increasingly complex world.
Beyond the installations, the festival atmosphere is elevated with live DJ sets, music, dance, theatre performances, and of course, food. You won’t go hungry thanks to Art X Social: Festival Street along St Andrew’s Road, where food stalls and live entertainment keep the vibes going late into the night.
Organised by National Gallery Singapore, which is also marking its 10th anniversary, Light to Night 2025 shines a spotlight on both veteran and emerging artists from Singapore and Southeast Asia. Best of all? Admission is completely free, with the Gallery extending its weekend opening hours until 11pm from Friday to Sunday, alongside complimentary entry to all exhibitions.
Running for three weeks only from 17 January to 6 February 2025, time is limited, so here's what you the event highlights to help you plan your visit.
Installations at Light to Night 2025
Travelling Through the Tropical Rainforest
By Han Sai Por
๐ Padang
If you’ve been to Light to Night before, you’ll know the Padang is where the festival’s most iconic centrepieces live. This year is no exception. Cultural Medallion recipient Han Sai Por presents six colossal sculptural forms inspired by tropical ferns.
Towering yet elegant, these organic structures quietly remind us of the natural world that exists alongside Singapore’s urban landscape; often unnoticed, yet deeply rooted in our everyday lives. It’s one of those installations that feels especially magical when viewed against the night sky.
Art Skins on Monuments
The Perception of Beauty by Jaafar Latiff
Spirit of Resilience by Chng Seok Tin
Imprinted Memory by Goh Beng Kwan
๐ National Gallery Singapore, Faรงade
Look up as you cross the road from the Padang and you’ll be treated to a stunning visual spectacle. The National Gallery’s faรงade becomes a living canvas, animated with bold colours and hypnotic patterns inspired by works from three late Cultural Medallion recipients.
Created in collaboration with a Bandung-based multimedia design studio, these projection mappings are especially meaningful, marking the Gallery’s first collaboration with the estates of late artists, celebrating their legacy through contemporary digital storytelling.
Blades, Shrapnel
By Ang Song Nian
๐ National Gallery Singapore, Former Supreme Court Foyer
What seems mundane — grass-cutting — becomes strangely mesmerising in this performative installation. Featuring laser-emitting grass cutters, the work mimics synchronised maintenance routines while questioning our relationship with nature and control.
Live performances:
17, 18, 24 & 25 January, 7.30pm at the Padang and Empress Lawn
(Performance remnants remain on display throughout the festival.)
Through The Looking Glass
By Claire Teo
๐ National Gallery Singapore, Level B1 – Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium Foyer
๐ National Gallery Singapore, Level B1 – Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium Foyer
This quietly powerful installation explores the heart of the festival’s theme. Inspired by artist Claire Teo’s lived experience as a visually impaired individual, the work brings together voices from people with disabilities and underserved communities.
Visitors are invited to answer intimate questions and add their responses to the artwork using silver stickers, turning personal reflections into a collective conversation about visibility, inclusion, and empathy.
Adding another layer to the experience are live performances by five artists living with disabilities, each sharing deeply personal narratives through movement, sound, and expression.
Performance times:
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17 Jan: 6.30pm & 8pm
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18 Jan: 6pm & 8pm
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1 Feb: 6pm & 8pm
kฤlacakra (a clock for progress)
By Kapilan Naidu
๐ National Gallery Singapore, Rotunda Library
๐ National Gallery Singapore, Rotunda Library
This interactive generative art installation invited visitors to take part through a QR-code quiz, which created unique AI-generated artworks drawn from the National Gallery’s archives. Each personalised piece was then woven into an ever-evolving collective projection on the Rotunda’s dome ceiling, merging individual reflections with shared memory. Doubling as a timepiece, the projection featured glowing rings and a sweeping line that marked the passing hours, minutes, and seconds.
Performance times:
Fri - Sun: 5.30pm - 11pm
Mon - Thu: 5.30pm - 7pm
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| Photo Credits: National Gallery |
Return to Paradise
By Beverley Ng
๐ National Gallery Singapore, Supreme Court Wing, Level 1 – Padang Atrium Corridor
Imagine a personal scrapbook gently unravelled across the floor. Through collages, handwritten notes, old photographs, and fragments of thought, Beverley Ng invites us into an intimate space of memory and vulnerability.
It’s a quiet, contemplative work that encourages you to slow down and appreciate the beauty found in reflection, creation, and moments of emotional honesty.
Return to Paradise (Play)
By Beverley Ng
๐ Funan B2 Underground Link
This installation serves as an extension of her work at the National Gallery, bringing together illustrations and imagery inspired by life in Singapore during the 2000s — from arcades and theme parks to pasar malams. Designed to evoke a sense of carefree nostalgia, the piece invites viewers to reconnect with the simple joys and shared memories of that era.
A Little Bead of Work
By Kray Chen
๐ The Arts House at the Old Parliament – Outdoor Lawn
Feeling crafty? This hands-on installation is part of VERSE and invites everyone to create glow-in-the-dark word bracelets using alphabet beads.
Simply grab a string and start beading — or join the guided sessions happening every Friday to Sunday, 6pm to 10pm during festival weekends. It’s playful, creative, and perfect for couples or friends looking to make something meaningful together.
We’ll Make Heaven a Place on Earth
By Arterly Obsessed
๐ Asian Civilisations Museum – ACM Green
Step into a glowing pagoda made of two-way mirrors and lose yourself in endless reflections. This immersive installation feels almost dream-like, amplified by an atmospheric soundtrack that makes it impossible not to linger (and take photos or even show off soe dance moves).
Now You See Us?
by Singaporean street artist TraseOne (Sufian Hamri)
๐ The Arts House at the Old Parliament
TraseOne transforms the historic faรงade of The Arts House at the Old Parliament into a striking visual canvas, responding to Light to Night Singapore 2025’s theme, “Do You See Me?”
Now You See Us? delves into the essence of graffiti as an art form rooted in visibility and self-expression. Charting the journey of Singapore’s graffiti scene from its underground beginnings to mainstream recognition — and hinting at its future possibilities — the multimedia projection combines layered visuals with an immersive soundscape. Projected onto the iconic building, the installation bursts with bold colours, playful characters, and rhythmic beats, offering a fresh lens on street art as cultural storytelling and artistic identity.
Unsung Threads
by SOTA Students
๐ Asian Civilisations Museum's facade
Featuring student-created animations projected onto the Asian Civilisations Museum’s faรงade, this installation celebrated Singapore’s layered history through stories of river life - from coolies and hawkers to artists and everyday communities. Drawing visual motifs from the museum’s artefacts, such as fish dishes and rattan covers, the vibrant projections highlighted often untold narratives that form the foundation of Singapore’s success.
By weaving together art, history, and community spirit along the river, the work connected diverse voices through colour, movement, and shared heritage, offering a fresh and heartfelt perspective on the lives that shaped the nation.
Words
By Song-Ming Ang
๐ Victoria Theatre
This installation featured abstract words flashing across the space, mirroring emotions and everyday anxieties in a way that felt eerily familiar, much like scrolling through endless digital feeds of text, visuals, and sound. Offering a contemporary commentary on identity and perception, the work aligned seamlessly with the festival’s broader aim of encouraging introspection and inviting audiences to see themselves — and others — from new perspectives.
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| Photo Credits: National Gallery Singapore |
Our Migrants’ Leisure
In collaboration with Ministry of Manpower, ACE Group
๐ National Gallery Singapore, City Hall Wing, Level B1, Auditorium Anteroom
๐ National Gallery Singapore, City Hall Wing, Level B1, Auditorium Anteroom
This moving exhibition offers a heartfelt glimpse into everyday joy beyond the workplace. Featuring over 80 photographs submitted by migrants and locals, it captures moments of fishing trips, football games, and quiet connection — stories that are often overlooked but deeply human.
Angin Cloud
by Art Labor
๐ National Gallery Singapore – Padang Atrium
๐ National Gallery Singapore – Padang Atrium
Spanning multiple floors, Angin Cloud draws inspiration from Vietnam’s Central Highlands. From suspended pillars referencing peppercorn farming structures to hammocks in the basement, the installation blends tradition with modern architectural space, inviting you to pause, lie back, and breathe.
Scarce City
by Rainshadow Studios
๐ Basement 1, Concourse Gallery, Supreme Court Wing
๐ Basement 1, Concourse Gallery, Supreme Court Wing
*Available until 2 February 2025 only.
Eat, Chill & Hang Out at Art X Social
On selected weekends — 17–18 Jan, 24–25 Jan, and 31 Jan–1 Feb — St Andrew’s Road transforms into Art X Social: Festival Street, featuring Mediterranean bites, live music, and games.
Prefer something more laid-back? Head indoors to The Living Room at National Gallery Singapore’s Courtyard. Open throughout the festival, it offers colourful cardboard furniture, DJ sets, workshops, artist talks, and identity-driven activities, perfect for winding down after a night of art hopping.
Don't Miss Light to Night 2025
With luminous installations, meaningful performances, and spaces that invite both play and reflection, Light to Night 2025 is more than just an art festival, it’s an experience! Whether you’re here for the visuals, the conversations, or simply a beautiful way to spend an evening in the city, this is one event worth lingering for.
Light to Night 2025
๐ Civic District
๐
17 January – 6 February 2025
๐ 6.00pm – 12.00am
๐ Free admission (ticketed programmes apply)
๐ 17 January – 6 February 2025
๐ 6.00pm – 12.00am
๐ Free admission (ticketed programmes apply)
*Things to note:
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Timings vary by programme
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Exhibits span multiple locations across the Civic District
For full details, visit lighttonight.sg.
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