5 Things to Do at Asia’s Leading Sustainable Light Art Festival — i Light Marina Bay Singapore 2018

Organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), i Light Marina Bay, Asia’s leading sustainable light art festival, is returning to Singapore, bigger and better, from 9 Mar to 1 Apr 2018.

With 22 unique light art installations extending beyond Marina Bay and four festival hubs — ILLUMI Bar, Art-Zoo Inflatable Park, GastroBeats and Prudential Marina Bay Carnival, the entire central business district will come to life and transform into a visual kaleidoscope of lights and colours.  

Here are the five must-visit highlights of this FREE event:

1. Capture an Insta-worthy shot with the 22 enthralling light art installations

This year, festival-goers can expect a line-up of 22 stunning and vibrant art installations from 14 different countries that will illuminate the festival zones from Marina Bay to Esplanade Park.

Out of these 22 artworks, nine are from Singapore and six of these nine artworks are by students from local institutions, namely Nanyang Polytechnic, Nanyang Technological University, Raffles College of Higher Education, School of the Arts and LASALLE College of the Arts.

To save you the hassle, TripZilla has handpicked these eight installations that are bound to get Instagrammers double-tapping on your photos.

From an illuminated Twitter-powered MailboX artwork to Milk Bottle Cows by Singapore-based artist BP Loh that was created with 2,000 milk bottles, every installation is designed with energy-saving lighting and environmentally-friendly materials.

These installations also serve as reminders to encourage the public to adopt sustainable habits in their daily life.

2. Chill with drinks and live music performances at ILLUMI Bar

Kicking off its debut at i Light Marina Bay 2018, ILLUMI Bar is a brand new LED-lit pop-up lifestyle lounge furnished with reusable plastic tanks as tables and chairs for friends and family to gather over drinks and great music. You can enhance the experience by catching the spectacular 15 minute-outdoor light and water show, Spectra, along the promenade.

Festival Hub 1: ILLUMI Bar
Date: 9 Mar – 1 Apr 2018
Time: 4 – 11pm daily
Venue: Marina Bay Sands Event Plaza outside The Shoppes
Admission: Free

3. Bounce on giant animals and plants at Art-Zoo Inflatable Park

The Art-Zoo Inflatable Park, which is the largest of its kind, returns for its second edition at the floating platform with a brand new lineup of 15 adorable animal and plant inflatables for the young and young at heart. Think a 9.5 metre-tall giant pink flamingo, a six-storey high banana skin inflatable and even extinct or mythical creatures from your imagination!

Excited to get a glimpse of this imaginative play-garden? From now till 25 Feb 2018, you can hop over to one of these six CapitaLand Malls — Bedok Mall, Bugis+, JCube, Plaza Singapura, Raffles City, and Westgate to experience bouncing on some of the humongous inflatables!

Festival Hub 2: Art-Zoo Inflatable Park
Date: 9 Mar – 1 Apr 2018
Time: 5 – 10pm daily (opens at 3pm on weekends, school holidays, PH & eve of PH)
Admission: S$18 per pax (tickets can be bought from artzooworld.com or at the gates)

*Children under 24 months get in free with each paying visitor.

4. Eat, sing, play and repeat at GastroBeats

Back by popular demand, the highly anticipated GastroBeats spans across four weekends and will be housed at the Prudential Marina Bay Carnival. This year, GastroBeats will expand beyond delectable food and eclectic live band performances and feature a slew of other programmes and activities including an all-new neon playground at the Promontory with LED-lit hula hoop stations and glow-in-the-dark Jenga.

Festival Hub 3: GastroBeats
Date: 9 Mar – 1 Apr 2018
Time: 4 – 11pm daily
Venue: The Promontory @ Marina Bay
Admission: Free

Here are some activities to check out at GastroBeats 2018:

Channel your inner Picasso at eco-craft workshops in Terra Village

In line with i Light Marina Bay’s sustainability efforts, GastroBeats partners social enterprise Terra SG to organise Sustainability Sundays at Terra Village to raise environmental awareness among the public and gather like-minded environmentalists. You can shop for eco-friendly items specially created by crafters and designers, and even make your own at the eco-maker workshops and EcoCraft Upcycling Workshops.

Sustainability Sundays at Terra Village
Date: 18, 25 Mar & 1 Apr 2018
Time: 4 – 10pm (Eco-Craft Upcycling Workshops at 5pm & 8pm)

Sweat it out at free mass workout sessions by the bay

If you are looking to burn the calories gained during Chinese New Year, grab your buddies for a fierce and exhilarating complimentary mass workout set against the picturesque Marina Bay skyline. Organised as part of the Fitness By The Bay programme in collaboration with Pure Fitness and Pure Yoga, you can expect various types of yoga and fitness workouts such as BODYCOMBAT™.

Fitness By The Bay @ GastroBeats
Date: 13 – 15, 20 – 22 & 27 – 29 Mar 2018
Time: Various timings (please visit fitnessbythebay.com.sg for more information)

Eat to your heart’s content while enjoying great music acts

Dine under the stars with a wide selection of gastronomic delights from Adrift, ERWIN’s Gastrobar and more while immersing in hardcore faves from the local music scene, including Jack and Rai, Akeem Jahat, Cadence, M1LDL1FE, and Mediocre Haircut Crew.

Stage Acts
Date: 9 Mar – 1 Apr 2018 (every Fri to Sun)
Time: Various timings

Party with your friends at ILLUMI FEST RUN 2018

For the first time, GastroBeats will be hosting ILLUMI FEST RUN as part of i Light Marina Bay 2018 on the final weekend of the festival. The run will see participants dancing through heart-pumping beats of electrifying Electronic Dance Music anthems while getting splashed with vibrant, glowing neon colours.

After the run, participants can fight it out with friends at the ILLUMI Paint War, have a go at the ILLUMI Splash Box and the giant ILLUMI slide, or dance along with the crowd at ILLUMI Fest Village Party Box.

ILLUMI FEST RUN 2018
Date: 31 Mar 2018
Time: 4pm

*Tickets can be purchased at www.illumirun.com.sg

5. Prudential Marina Bay Carnival

Not your typical Uncle Ringo carnival, Prudential Marina Bay Carnival has over 40 adrenaline-pumping thrill rides and classic carnival game stations including the 55 metre-tall Booster Maxx pendulum ride, and the Star Flyer, a 35-metre tall giant swing.

There are also numerous food booths offering carnival treats like curly fries, sizzling sausages, warm melted raclette and churros.

Festival Hub 4: Prudential Marina Bay Carnival
Date: 9 Mar – 1 Apr 2018
Time: 4 – 11pm daily
Venue: The Promontory @ Marina Bay and Bayfront Event Space
Admission: Free (additional payment for rides and carnival games)

i Light Marina Bay
Date: 9 Mar – 1 Apr 2018
Time: 7.30 – 11pm daily (with extended hours to 12am on Fridays and Saturdays, around the Marina Bay waterfront and Esplanade Park)
Admission: Free

Mark your calendars and head down to i Light Marina Bay 2018 for a whale of a time!