Every year, Singapore’s iLight Festival brightens Marina Bay, the Central Business District, and surrounding areas with a blend of street performances, events, and dazzling art installations.

Head downtown during this June festival, and you’ll be treated to a free, open-air evening of entertainment. You never know what you’ll find from year to year, which makes it all the more fun.

In 2025, seventeen installations lit up the city, some more compelling than others. For a sense of what you might find, here are some of last year’s highlights.

The Guardians, by Matthew Aberline & The Beautiful and Useful Studio (Australia) at Raffles Place Park

What an incredible sculptural landscape. I spent ages winding my way through these giant inflatable lanterns. The beautiful combination of birds and foliage wowed up close …

… and at a distance.

Bridge of 1,000 Dreams, by Studio Toer (Netherlands), at Cavenagh Bridge

From a distance, Cavenagh Bridge shimmered with what looked like millions of tiny, sparkling lights. But when you moved in a bit closer…

… and then closer still, you saw that the glow came from a thousand hand-painted bamboo sticks shining in the night.

We spent a long time studying these poles, because many of them have direct references to Singapore — the Merlion, the ArtScience Museum building, HDBs, and more. Each person — both serious artists and ordinary citizens — took on this bamboo design challenge and made it their own.

Sign, by Vendel & de Wolf (Netherlands), at The Promontory

Wow — these glowing orange Marina Bay rods put up a dramatic show!

This fiery display was meditative, attention-grabbing, and simply spectacular. It was easily one of the stars of the show.

VJYourself!, by Playmodes Studio (Spain), at the aboveground entrance to the Downtown MRT Station and the Marina Bay Link Mall

This installation easily won the award for being the most immersively joyful: people stood in front of a camera and watched their actions multiply before your eyes. This was just pure fun! That said, it didn’t make my top three — the queue to participate was far too long, and I have a hard time falling in love with art that requires line-standing patience.

Embrace, by Beamhacker (Australia), at the Event Square next to Marina Bay Sands

You also needed patience for this piece, yet somehow I was more willing to wait and see what might happen. The concept of the piece was that when everyone stood in a ring and held the “hands” of the figures, they lit up in a ribbon of color and sound. When a group of strangers suddenly appeared to close the circle, magic happened.

Fantastic Planet, by Amanda Parer (Australia), at the Waterfront Promenade and Red Dot Design Museum

How can you not love giant, glowing human figures — especially one that’s leaning over the top of a building?

Bonus: Street Performers

There’s no official program of buskers at the iLight Festival, so you just have to hope you get lucky and stumble on something you enjoy. We had a good time in our front row (sitting on the sidewalk) seats for Singapore’s own Bryan “Brylights” Wong.

Bonus: Spectra Light & Water Show, Marina Bay Sands

If you’re at Marina Bay anyway, it’s worth grabbing a spot along the waterfront railing in front of the Marina Bay Sands mall at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. to watch the nightly light and water show unfold. And if you’re further down the bay, you can watch a different kind of light-based drama unfold on the side of the ArtScience Museum.

The Spectra show is free at Marina Bay year-round —so even if you miss the iLight Festival, there’s still an illumination spectacle waiting for you!

Looking for other things to do around Marina Bay? Don’t miss Gardens by the Bay — or hop on the MRT to explore nearby parks.