Come March 9-April 1, a series of 30 genre-bending lights shows will take place across various Marina Bay venues. According to curator and festival director Mary-Anne Kyriakou, the festival aims to reduce reliance on coal-based electricity and promote the best practice in energy efficiency. Green efforts aside, there are some genuinely impressive works on show. Terry Ong picks five of the best.

The Gate by Li Hui
The concept is based on the doorway or gate as a path to the spiritual realm. To create this universe, Chinese artist Li Hui employs hundreds of small beams framing a doorway, blinding visitors as they transgress its narrow path, before confronting an image of themselves at the end of it.

Parmenides I by Dev Harlan
This hypnotic 3D-projection work of swirling abstract patterns is a psychedelic mish-mash of movement, color and form, drawn from the US artist’s recent solo show, The Astral Flight Hangarin in New York.

Gap the Mind by Be Takerng Pattanopas
Comprising a long row of fabric shelters illuminated from within by different levels of pulsating lights and triggered by programmed soundscapes, this work aims to translate Asian vernacular rituality into the language of light art. Coupled with glowing fabric shelters that are a reinterpretation of traditional umbrella shelters used by Thai monks, this multi-sensory presentation is an aural and visual delight.

Classification Pending by Craig Walsh
Artificial life forms appear to exist in the Singapore River as permanent residents in this visual trickery. Visible only after dark, watch out for images of various sea creatures like eels, turtles and mullets finding a mate and breeding under water using three-channel projections.

Planting Shadows by Vertical Submarine
Previously shown at the Botanic Gardens in 2009, the work is based on a poem by local writer Chien Swee-Teng about the common tale of a sunflower plantation owner’s Faustian bargain with an imp who lived in an empty bottle of sunflower oil for success in his trade. Local art collective Vertical Submarine deciphers the tale with their presentation of lighted grey-colored sunflower to moody effect.

i Light Marina Bay 2012 is on from March 9-April 1 across the Marina Bay precinct. For more details on other shows and specific sites, visit their website.

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