marina bay singapore Archives

[Something To Do This March]- Visit The i Light Marina Bay 2014, Asia’s Only Sustainable Light Art Festival

By delta March 7, 2014

From today till 30 March 2014, be enthralled when you visit i Light Marina Bay 2014, Asia’s only sustainable light art festival that showcases innovative content, the intelligent use of lighting, and as well as an international line-up of creative talents.
The festival this year will feature more than 25 innovative and environmentally sustainable light art installations from around the world that will transform the Marina Bay into a magical space of light and colour for an unparalleled experience.

A photo of Happy Croco, a light art installation by Bibi from France.

The curatorial team for i Light Marina Bay 2014 has introduced the theme of Light+HeART to convey the message that in the heart of sustainability matters is the matter of the heart. Hence, one of the aims of i Light Marina Bay 2014 is to inspire a collective change in the attitude and a widening of perspectives towards issues relating to sustainability amongst individuals like you and I.

If you are planning a family and friends gathering this weekend and you are heading down to the Marina Bay to check out the i Light Marina Bay 2014, here are 5 exhibits that you should not miss!

Name Of Exhibit:
iSwarm

Created By:
Professor Thomas Schroepfer and Professor Suranga Nanayakkara, together with their team from the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

Location Of Exhibit:
In Marina Bay, near Bayfront Water Taxi Stop.

About The Exhibit:
iSwarm is a swarm of luminous “sea creatures” that interact with passers-by. Subtle and hardly visible by day, iSwarm comes alive at night. As daylight fades, the cells of iSwarm illuminate the waters of Marina Bay with fluorescent light reminiscent of natural phenomena such as bioluminescent algae or the Aurora Borealis. iSwarm reacts to groups of visitors by detecting human presence and greeting them with subtle modulation of its light patterns.

Name Of Exhibit:
Mimosa

Created By:
Jason Burges Studio

Location Of Exhibit:
Marina Bay City Gallery

About The Exhibit:
Mimosa is an interactive artwork, displaying behaviour that mimics responsive plant systems. The piece was inspired by the Mimosa family of plants, which change kinetically to suit their environmental conditions. The studio used the slim form of individual organic light-emitting diodes [OLED] to represent the delicate light petals of flowers, which appear to dance with its petals opening and closing in response to visitors’ hand movements. This installation presents a perfect combination of art and technology, where the most innovative lighting technology, OLED, is integrated into a dynamic installation that reacts to people’s hand motions, forming a magical experience.

Name Of Exhibit:
#WeHeartLight

Created By:
Light Collective from United Kingdom

Location Of Exhibit:
Marina Bay City Gallery

About The Exhibit:
Making light is open to everybody and Light Collective demonstrates this by teaching about 200 locals to each make a simple light box, personalised with images and text, with red as the predominant colour for half of these boxes. When assembled together, the light boxes make up the installation, #WeHeartLight. Light Collective worked closely with students from different schools in Singapore to build the first installation for I Light Marina Bay that is made and inspired entirely by the people who live in Singapore. This installation is created through a series of workshops where students play an important role in the making and design of the artwork. The process of constructing this installation helps to emphasise the role of education in guiding our future generation towards a more sustainable future.

Name Of Exhibit:
CLOUD

Created By:
Caitlind R.C. Brown & Wayne Garrett from Canada

Location Of Exhibit:
The Float @ Marina Bay

About The Exhibit:
CLOUD illuminates the curatorial themes of i Light Marina Bay 2014 on a number of levels. As the sculpture is created from both new and recycled materials, combining the aesthetic of incandescent light bulbs with the brilliance of energy-efficient bulbs, CLOUD creates a playful commentary about the changing face of sustainability. While the piece is bright and attractive to audiences, the internal contrast of old and new light technologies provides a critical dialogue about energy, sources of light, and sustainable progress. By pulling on a switch, the viewer is able to trigger a quantifiable shift within the greater aesthetic of CLOUD, visually highlighting the power of an individual’s ability to impact progress and achieve significant change. However, the real magic happens when multiple viewers work as a community towards a unified shift.

Name Of Exhibit:
The Pool

Created By:
Jen Lewin Studio from United States of America

Location Of Exhibit:
Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade, Near The Promontory @ Marina Bay

About The Exhibit:
The Pool is a group of giant, concentric circles created from interactive circular pads. By entering The Pool, visitors enter a world where play and collaborative movement create swirling effects of light and colour. Imagine a giant canvas where you can paint and splash light collaboratively. This installation is best enjoyed and is most beautiful when a group of people play with the different pads together.

Apart from viewing the exhibits, you can also enjoy a full array of complementary events, public performances, and fun activities that have been lined up over the four weekends.

To discover more about the dazzling art installation around the Marina Bay, you can sign up for the Free Guided Tours that will take place every Friday to Sunday at 7:30pm, 8:30pm, and 9:30pm. There are two routes to choose from and each covers a different set of artworks. Registration closes a day before on i Light Marina Bay 2014 Festival Website or 30 minutes before the commencement of a tour.

And if walking isn’t your cup of tea, you can participate in the Boat Tour that will take place every Friday to Sunday from 7:00pm to 11:00pm. The cost is SGD$12 per person per tour and the boat departs every 30 minutes.

In Summary

What:
i Light Marina Bay 2014

When:
7th to 30th March 2014, 1930 to 2300 hours

Where:
Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade

How:
Narest MRT Stations are Downtown, Raffles Place, City Hall, Esplanade, Promenade, Marina Bay, and Bayfront

Tip:
Dress as comfortably as you can and bring your own snacks and water. One round around the Marina Bay is about 3.5KM and it will probably take you about 1.5 hour to complete viewing the entire exhibits at i Light Marina Bay 2014.

Admission is FREE!

If you need more information about i Light Marina Bay 2014 and the various complementary workshops and activities that you can take part in, do visit i Light Marina Bay 2014 Official Website.

Let the i Light Marina Bay 2014 inspire you and light up your life so that you too can take action and make a difference in your own ways to create a sustainable environment for the future.

A Day For A Celebration [New Year’s Eve]

By delta December 31, 2013

Cliché as it may sound but today is definitely the day for a celebration!
Why?

Because it is New Year’s Eve!

Yes, after 365 days of working hard and toiling away, you definitely deserve a good break to celebrate your successes and achievements in the last 12 months!

If you are still thinking of ideas about how you can celebrate and welcome the New Year at the Marina Bay, we have some suggestions for you:

Celebrate with the World Countdown Party @ The Promontory @ Marina Bay
From 6pm to 1.30am, Free admission

[Image Courtesy of Celebrate With The World]

Usher in 2014 in style at Celebrate with the World 2014 – A Countdown Extravaganza! Featuring local and international artistes, Celebrate with the World Countdown Party aims to make the world a smaller place and have every individual in Singapore, no matter what nationality, ring in the New Year together as one!

Dance the night away to over 7 hours of non-stop entertainment by Renowned German DJ Ronski Speed, Filipino rock band RiverMaya, Malaysian singer/songwriter Namewee and our homegrown Juz-B, Chriz Tong and Queen Inc. featuring Sylvester Sim!

The countdown party is free of charge to the public and will feature key areas for partygoers to purchase drinks from the bar. Look forward to 2014 with unrestricted views of Marina Bay Sands, ArtScience Museum and the Marina Bay Floating Platform as you enjoy various entertainment acts from around the world!

Marina Waterfront Bazaar @ Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade
From 4pm to 1am, Free admission

[Image Courtesy of Marina Bay Singapore]

Feel the soothing breeze and admire Singapore’s most spectacular skyline as you shop at the Marina Bay waterfront promenade. Offering a variety of good buys from fashion accessories and apparel to toys, books and souvenirs, this bazaar ensures that there will be something for everyone.

Downtown Bites by Marina Link Bay Mall @ Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade
From 6pm to 1am, Free admission

[Image Courtesy of Only William]

Planning to arrive at Marina Bay early in the evening to reserve your favourite spot to count down to 2014 and watch the majestic fireworks at midnight? Satisfy your hunger pangs and quench your thirst with gourmet food and beverages from Buzz, Eskimo, Four Seasons Gourmet Market, Fruit Frolic, Jollibean, Old Tea Hut, Smoothie King and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

And by the way, if you are an avid shutterbug, don’t miss out on the wonderful photography opportunities that are available for you to capture beautiful and happy moments of people celebrating and welcoming the New Year because your photos might probably win you some prizes that are proudly sponsored by OSIM! “Beautiful Life” is the theme for the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2014 Photography Competition and all entries submitted shall be based on this theme.

For more details about the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2014 Photography Competition, do check out the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2014 Website!

Oh, and less we forget about the most important point; you might want to take note of the road closures [if you’re driving], and the bus services that would be affected by the road closures [if you’re taking the public bus].

Road Closures

[Image Courtesy of Singapore Police via Marina Bay Singapore]

If you are driving, do note that parking lots are limited and you are strongly advised to leave your house early. Otherwise, it is wiser to take the public transport. The last trains toward Joo Koon, Pasir Ris, and Jurong East MRT stations will depart City Hall MRT station at 2.15am and the last train toward Marina Bay MRT station will depart City Hall MRT station at 2.01am. Last trains toward HarbourFront and Dhoby Ghaut MRT stations will depart the respective terminals at 1.38am.

Bus Services and Bus Stops that are Affected by the Road Closures

[Image Courtesy of SBS Transit via Marina Bay Singapore]

Last but not the least, while you enjoy and soak yourself in the happy occasion, don’t forget to keep Marina Bay clean for the community to enjoy by not leaving your thrash behind!

Have fun and Happy New Year everyone!

May all your wishes and dreams come true!

[Behind The Scenes]- Installation of Wishing Spheres for Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2014

By delta December 21, 2013

4 more days to Christmas and 11 more days to the start of a brand new year! Time really flies and while we are all busy doing our Christmas shopping, there is a group of people whom are working extremely hard to prepare the Marina Bay for the nation’s biggest countdown party of the year, the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2014.
If you have recently been to the Marina Bay, you would have noticed thousands of white spheres that are set afloat for the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2014 and on these white spheres are the wishes that individuals/groups of people have written for the coming New Year.

The wishing spheres project is an extensive one and a lot of coordination work has been done to consolidate the wishing spheres. To find out more about what goes on behind the scenes at the Wishing Stations, check out Hong Peng’s blogpost.

5 days ago, on a hot Monday morning, we were extremely privileged to have the opportunity to go behind the scenes and we learnt how the wishing spheres were installed and set afloat on the waters of Marina Bay.

Together with another Blogger, we boarded the boat and were given a brief tour around the Marina Bay where the wishing spheres were.

To install all the 20,000 wishing spheres, there is a grid system underneath the waters that guides where the wishing spheres are to be installed and there is a rope that would be attached to the wishing sphere to keep them in place.

To keep the wishing spheres in tip-top condition, maintenance is usually carried out after Christmas and because of environmental factors like heat and light, some of the wishing spheres would deflate or change in colour; hence, they would either be manually inflated or replaced with a new wishing sphere.

The installation of the wishing sphere is certainly not an easy feat. With a crew size of 4 persons and equipped with 2 boats, the crew will have to either brave the scorching hot sun or the unrelenting rain to get this gigantic task done by New Year’s Eve!

Now that you know what goes on behind the scenes, be ever grateful that there’s someone out there who will make your New Year celebration a joyous occasion! Just head down to the Marina Bay on New Year’s Eve to check out the spectacular light display of the wishing spheres and don’t forget to bring along your camera!

On this note, we would like to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas in advance! 🙂

We Are Official Bloggers for Marina Bay Singapore’s Year-End Countdown to 2014!

By delta December 2, 2013

The year is almost coming to an end and for us, this year has really gone by so quickly that we are literally caught by surprise! As always, it is during this time of the year that we take a step back to reflect on the events and activities that took place in the last 12 months.
[Image Courtesy of Ewallpapers]

In this year alone, we have attended 100s of events, snapped over 70 Gigabytes worth of photos and videos, and wrote more than 139,000 words for A Winsome Life. Even though we are not some big time writers like others, we are extremely thankful for the many wonderful opportunities that were given to us and as we gear ourselves for the New Year, we are very hopeful that 2014 will be the best year yet!

To start the coming year on a very good note, we are very happy to announce that we have been appointed by the Urban Redevelopment Authority [URA] to be 1 of the 5 Official Bloggers for Singapore’s most exciting countdown event of the year, the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2014.

[Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2013, picture courtesy of Marina Bay Singapore]

As the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown has always been broadcasted live on the television year after year, many people usually have the misconception that the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown is organised by MediaCorp. However, what many people do not know is that the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown is co-presented by URA and Esplanade- Theatres By The Bay.

This year’s Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2014 is pretty exciting because there are a couple of events and activities that you can look forward to and the best part is; most of them are free and are accessible to the general public! If you want to find out more about how you can spend New Year’s Eve with your family members and loved ones at the vicinity of Marina Bay, do check out Marina Bay Singapore Countdown’s Website!

No stranger to the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown are the well-kept traditions of the “Wishing Spheres Project”, and the 8-minute long “Spectacular Fireworks Display”. If you are looking for avenues and vantage points to delight your little ones or if you are even thinking of an idea for a wedding proposal, this might probably be the perfect opportunity for you.

[Image Courtesy of Marina Bay Singapore Countdown Website]

If you’re new to the “Wishing Spheres Project”, it is essentially an annual tradition of the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown where people from all walks of life will pen their personal wishes for the New Year onto the wishing spheres that are located at the wishing stations situated island-wide. These wishing spheres will then be consolidated and set afloat on the waters of Marina Bay where it will be part of a visual display for the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown event.

[Image Courtesy of Marina Bay Singapore]

If you are interested to pen your wish on the wishing spheres, you can click here to locate the wishing station nearest to you. However, if you’re overseas and you really want to pen your wishes, you can also do it online through the virtual wishing spheres and you might just be 1 of the 5 lucky winners to win an OSIM uVision and uBuzz Latte prize worth more than SGD$100!

One winner will be selected each week between 27 November 2013 and 1 January 2014.

Here’s how you can pen your wish on the virtual sphere:

Step 1: Log on to Marina Bay Singapore Countdown’s Website, click “wish upon a sphere”, and click “make a virtual wish”.

Step 2: Follow the steps as indicated, and don’t forget to click “submit”.

Step 3: Your wish is successfully submitted when you see this.

Also, we’re pretty sure fans of Wang Leehom and The Wanted will be excited to know that both singer songwriter Wang Leehom, and UK’s hottest and biggest boyband, The Wanted, will be coming to join all Singaporeans in the New Year countdown festivities at The Floating Platform @ Marina Bay for the “Celebrate TV50”, a 7-hour non-stop entertainment live event which starts from 8pm to 3am on New Year’s Eve. If you’re interested, tickets from the price of SGD$28 onwards are now available for sale at all SISTIC outlets and SISTIC Online.

[The Wanted, Image Courtesy of The Wanted Facebook Page]

[Wang Leehom, Image Courtesy of Wang Leehom Facebook Page]

Well, with so much upcoming events leading up to the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown, be sure you don’t miss out on them by checking out Marina Bay Singapore’s Official Facebook Page! For now, here’s the both of us signing off and we hope to bring you more updates real soon!

Celebrated Guinness Arthur’s Day at The Promontory @ Marina Bay in Singapore!

By delta September 30, 2013

As part of the Marina Bay Ambayssadors programme, we were invited to the Guinness Arthur’s Day that was held at The Promontory @ Marina Bay on Friday and we had a blast with the energetic crowd of Guinness fans!

I was participating in some mini activities at Guinness Arthur’s Day and one of them includes this one where I have to make a toast, “To Arthur!” as loudly as I could. Well, as you can see, I’m not so tall and had to stand on a platform to match up to the model’s height!

Jacqueline and I posing for more photos at Guinness Arthur’s Day! We were indeed partying like rockstars!

Guinness memorabilia over the years.

Thanks to Guinness, we had a complimentary chicken kebab wrap…

and also 5 pints of Guinness Stout!

Bringing together 1,759 fans for a celebration of its boldest fans, Guinness hosted Arthur’s Day celebrations for the second time in Singapore, with double platinum record artists, The Fray, headlining this year’s programme.

Partying in a specially constructed pint-shaped concert arena at The Promontory @ Marina Bay, guests at the concert enjoyed an epic set by The Fray, and were also entertained by local band, Ellipsis, whom were winners of the ‘Play on the Day’ competition.

Local Band Ellipsis

This was how the party looked like from an aerial point of view. The idea of a specially constructed pint-shaped concert arena is really indigenous.

To top it all off, as The Fray took their positions onstage and began their first song, the Guinness Arthur’s Day backdrop came down to reveal a transparent screen that allowed for views of the illuminated Marina Bay and the breath-taking Singapore skyline. Everyone, including us, were caught by surprise and it was really a sight to behold.

Can you spot the breath-taking Singapore skyline in the background?

Isaac Slade, the lead vocalist, main songwriter, pianist, and co-founder of The Fray.

Joe King, the guitarist, backing vocalist, songwriter and co-founder of The Fray.

Ben Wysocki on the drums.

Dave Welsh, the lead guitarist for The Fray.

In an intimate setting, The Fray led the the huge crowd of fans and invited guests in the signature toast, “To Arthur”; celebrating Guinness’ founder, Arthur Guinness, who was distinctive, bold and epitomizes the concept,”Made of More”.

Much to the audience’s delight, The Fray are in the mixing and editing stage of their fourth studio album and they even performed a sneak peek of their upcoming album that will be debuting for the first time outside of the United States!

“It has been amazing being part of our first Guinness Arthur’s Day here in Singapore, from leading the toast to Arthur, to the super cool stage with the city in the backdrop, and even having Ellipsis open for us today. Performing here is truly a special experience, with everyone singing not just to our tracks that air on the radio but also the album’s track songs. It’s honestly quite a pleasant surprise the lengths everyone has gone to, to be part of the experience tonight, and we hope we have given everyone as great a night as we have had,” said The Fray.

The Fray sends their love to Singapore!

Their new songs ‘Hold My Hand’ and ‘Wherever This Goes’, were thrown into the crowd-swaying mix, along with their award-winning tunes ‘How to Save a Life’, ‘Never Say Never’, ‘You Found Me’ and ‘Over my Head [Cable Car]’, amongst others.

“From the ‘Play on the Day’ competition which led to a local emerging band opening for The Fray today, to the bold activations and sharing of Guinness moments that have brought these 1,759 fans together in this special way, the second installment of Guinness Arthur’s Day in Singapore has indeed been an amazing success for the brand,” said Mr Rene de Monchy, Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore. “Guinness has, and will continue to stay true to rewarding its fans with novel experiences such as Arthur’s Day, and continue being a passionate supporter of live music here in Singapore.”

Singapore joined over 55 countries and an estimated 1.7 million people across the world to celebrate the fifth year that Guinness Arthur’s Day has been celebrated globally.

Like we mentioned, we had a blast at Guinness Arthur’s Day and we would like to conclude this posting by saying a big “Thank You!” to Guinness for having us there at the event. It was indeed a night to remember and we’re pretty sure all of the bold fans whom were present share similar sentiments!

If you were there for the Guinness Arthur’s Day, don’t forget to visit the Guinness Singapore Facebook Page for post-event updates!