Last night Papa T and I visited the River Nights Festival which celebrates the Singapore River's changing identity throughout the years from vital trading artery in the colonial past to the current magnet for locals and tourists alike drawn to it's history and colourful nightlife. This is only the second year this festival has been held, this year the theme is "Colours of Life"
We arrived just before dusk and walked passed the glorious Fullerton Hotel towards the festival area, sadly the haze from Indonesia is still at a high level so the sky looked white/grey and the air is full of particles so some of my photos do not do the buildings and art installations justice
We went first to the Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM) where an art installation called 'Ocean Of Flowers' is on display.
The artist is Li Hongbo and he has created a landscape made from brightly coloured paper flowers
At a table to one side you could play with the paper shapes and see how the artist has created his piece. Papa T enjoyed making a colour wheel-I don't think art is his forte
However it was a little disturbing to discover that all of the paper 'flowers' when folded back down form the shape of guns!
Back outside it was beginning to get dark and we found the next art installation entitled 'Les Voyageurs'. These larger than life human figures are placed around the area, either flying through the trees, siting on the grass and later we spotted one sitting on the roof of the ACM
Then we spotted 'Walter', actually you couldn't miss him; he's an enormous, white, inflatable bunny that has been inserted in many locations around Singapore. Created by a local artist Dawn Ng in order to "create scenarios filled with surprise and wonder". This bunny reminded me of seeing the Rubber Duck in Shanghai (blog post-48 hours in Shanghai, Nov 2014). I wonder how many more giant inflatable animals are travelling the world?
Just then the light and sound show started and different patterns were projected onto the ACM building as a local group Nadi Singapura sang traditional Malay songs and played their drums
Around the corner of the ACM we entered a small temporary structure called The Little Room of Wonders, inside is the private collection of Emile Hermes of paintings, equestrian objects, rare books and unusual knick-knacks
Back outside we walked to the nearby newly refurbished Victoria Theatre which looked wonderful lit up
By now it was time for the next outdoor performance, we sat on Empress Place lawn and watched the Buster Keton silent film 'The Haunted House' whilst the T'ang Quartet played the soundtrack. I can't recall ever having watched a silent film, it was very funny in a slapstick way and many people in the audience laughed loudly including two young children sitting next door to us
Before heading back home we found the last installation, this one called '160' is a sound and light installation that consists of 160 light bars which change colour, not sure it's my cup of tea!
Although not part of the festival the lights on the Cavanagh Bridge and the Fullerton Hotel added to the atmosphere of the area
and as we looked back we saw one last Les Voyageurs figure sitting on the very top of the ACM, he seemed to be watching over the evenings entertainment
Singapore seems to be excellent at hosting free events like this and we are enjoying making the most of these opportunities and look forward to future events
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