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If you have visited the majestic National Museum of Singapore in the daytime, come again at night. You'll be surprised to find that the nation's oldest museum has turned into a giant earth harp under the magic hands of American artist William Close.
Not only the National Museum but the city-state at night is about to change with magic and sound. The annual Singapore Night Festival will unveil its dazzling beauty on Friday and Saturday, as well as the same days next week, giving audiences brand-new experiences when exploring the city-state at night.
With the theme "Bold and Beautiful," the eclectic line-up of this year's event will transform the urban cityscape into a fun- filled playground with lots of surprises.
"We are challenging ourselves to push boundaries to pursue bold artistic directions, breaking conventional presentations to give our best to the audience," said Christie Chua, the festival's creative director.
One of the festival headliners will be the performance of William Close, who has invented over 100 instruments. Inspired by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright's quote "architecture is frozen music," Close will push boundaries again by transforming the facade of the museum into the largest stringed instrument in Singapore.
To play the giant harp, Close wears specially-designed gloves which have the violin rosin on his cotton gloves. With the help of rosin, Close said "it allows my fingers to create friction on the strings, it's very similar running your fingers on the edge of a wine glass, it's actually pushing the vibration among the strings. "
This is the first time Close performs in the open air in Singapore. And this time, he will also collaborate with other groups for the first time in his performance, including local drum group ZingO and Austrian-based collective Phoenix, who will infuse acrobatics, aerial dances and pyrotechnics during the show.
"I love collaboration, I love it when it crosses borders and boundaries, it's so amazing to be working with the amazing drum group...and to bring this instrument of mine in connection with them, it became sort of newly-invented instrument, it's really special," Close said.
While Close is playing outside, visitors can also pluck a smaller scale harp at the museum's Rotunda during the festival, creating a very unique "duet" with the world-class musician.
Apart from that, "Night Lights", the crowd-favourite section will also return this year to pay tribute to the power of nature and the creation of light.
One example is photographic light art installation "Divine Trees" by French artist-photographer Clement Briend. He overlays trees with haunting mirages of divine figures highly revered in Asian culture, creating the illusion of awakened deities towering over passers-by.
Another new feature is the Festival Village at Cathay Green -- a specially programmed space which offer a wide selection of food and drinks, including chicken rice balls, cheese steaks and Dutch pancakes for festival-goers to recap the night.
This is the 7th edition of Singapore Night Festival. This year, organizers have invited over 60 artists and groups from Singapore and abroad. For audiences and visitors, it's a great opportunity to find the other face of the city-state with nothing but ease, as all the performances are offered for free.
