Here’s an idea for this weekend – instead of clocking your daily steps at a park, why not traipse through the Bras Basah Bugis (BBB) district and enjoy some of the over 80 experiences happening at the Singapore Night Festival 2025?
The annual arts and heritage fest is returning for its 16th edition over the next three weekends (22 August to 6 September). The theme this year is Island Nights, emphasising the fact that Singapore is in fact an island – though we almost never associate living here with what would be considered island life.
As festival director Qazim Karim says, “Islanders have to chill”, which is why some of the year’s exhibits and performances are harkening back to the slower, more relaxing days of Singapore past.
Entrance to the Singapore Night Festival 2025 is free, though some programmes, performances, and walking tours have a ticket fee.
There’s another catch we’ve hinted at earlier – the experiences stretch a distance, from Cathay Green at Dhoby Ghaut and Bugis’ Fortune Centre to the National Museum of Singapore, CHIJMES, Capitol Singapore, and Funan near City Hall.
We’ve compiled some of the main highlights of Singapore Night Festival 2025 into a single walking tour (link to the route on Google Maps here) with a total distance of around 3.2km, or about 4,500 steps. The journey is designed to start around 7pm and end no later than 9pm, thought it depends on how long you take snapping pics.
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1. Waterloo Street Stories: Outdoor photo expedition
We’ll start our journey through Singapore Night Festival 2025 from Bugis MRT, heading straight for the Waterloo Street Stories exhibition at Objectifs, an independent photography and film centre just opposite Fortune Centre.
The exhibition will showcase Waterloo Street’s rich cultural heritage through the lens of the five multidisciplinary members that make up the #WaterlooStKakis arts collective. The exhibit includes an outdoor photo exhibition by Objectifs, an audio play by Centre 42, and a thematic performance by dance company P7:1SMA (pronounced prisma).
We figure that rekindling nostalgia with stunningly shot photographs of Waterloo Street’s residents – think trishaw uncles, fortune tellers, street hawkers, and more – will be equally enjoyable while it’s still bright outside, which is why we’re putting it first on our trail.
There are various other performances and workshops by the collective though. So if you’re interested, you’ll have to come down at your own time depending on the time and date (full schedule here).
2. Plaza Singapura: Photo op with an upcycled cyber swordfish
Now that we’ve had our fill of looking at photographs, it’s time to snap some of our own. Tighten your shoelaces and get ready for the longest stretch of uninterrupted walking tonight – a full 15-minute trek down the vibrant Waterloo Street before hooking a right and heading for Plaza Singapura.
For your trouble, you’ll be duly rewarded with a photo op in the form of a neon-lit cyberpunk swordfish – except it’s not wires that make up this robotic cyber swordfish, but e-waste. It’s a play on sustainability and the ancient legend of Singapore’s Bukit Merah, or Redhill, brought to life by local artist Yang Derong.
The nearby Plaza Singapura mall also serves as the first rest or toilet stop on the night’s trail.
Note that Cyberswordfish 2.0: From Myth to Megabytes will only light up at 7:30pm daily, which should be just in time if you’re following our trail.
3. Sky Castle by ENESS: Whimsical light and sound installation with interactive elements
Next, head down towards the School of the Arts and cross the road to Cathay Green, where you’ll find Sky Castle by Australian studio ENESS – an immersive, and interactive, light and sound installation which whimsically responds to the crowd’s movements around each pillar.
While you can pay $5 a head (link here) to join the crowd creating a dynamic orchestra of light and sound, you could also skip the queue, hang outside and snap pictures from a distance to your heart’s content.
As with the Cyberswordfish 2.0, Sky Castle only opens at 7:30pm.
4. Mosaic: Projection mapping light show on the facade of the National Museum of Singapore
The Singapore Night Festival wouldn’t be complete without a light show projection-mapped onto the facade of an iconic building, and this year is no different.
Mosaic, designed by artist Jeremie Ballot (returning from last year), will carry the year’s Island Nights theme with a spectacle of naval odysseys, constellations, and architecture.
Elements of kebaya and batik will be woven into the immersive tapestry as a way of paying homage to the flow of influence (and textiles) around the waters of Southeast Asia.
The light show will play regularly from 7:30pm to 11pm nightly. It lasts about 5 minutes.
A handy countdown will be prominently displayed on the National Museum of Singapore’s facade between shows, so you’ll know if there’s time to nip in for a peek at the galleries or a quick toilet break.
Speaking of the museum, it will also be hosting its own set of programmes for Singapore Night Festival 2025, ranging from spice-mixing workshops to shadow puppetry performances (find out more here).
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5. Kampong Chill: Take a chill pill in the shadow of the old Capitol Theatre
After all that standing and walking around, you’ll probably be looking for a spot to take a load off.
Cut through the Singapore Management University towards Stamford Road – you’ll know you’re headed in the right direction if you pass Armenian Street along the way and spot a field of luminous crabs (another potential photo op derived from Malay folklore).
After about seven minutes, you’ll reach Capitol Singapore and with it, Kampong Chill. The art installation, designed by interdisciplinary art duo Yok & Sheryo, doubles up as an actual resting spot complete with chairs, tornado fans, and an old CRT TV.
As you can guess, it’s all about forgoing our Singaporean kiasu instincts for islander chill – which is probably easier said than done, hence the satirical lepak spot.
Kampong Chill is free to enter, and will be open from 7:30pm till late daily.
6. CHIJMES: Four projection mapping shows in one
Now that we’re well-rested and recharged, we have a couple of options to pick from.
First, we can head along North Bridge Road to CHIJMES for a series of projection mapping light shows against the backdrop of the former restored church, each spotlighting one of four local artists and their expression of Singapore’s maritime heritage.
This option is especially enticing due to the selection of bars and restaurants facing the building, meaning you can grab a beer and a basket of fries before heading onward.
You could also skip the light shows altogether and mosey on down to Bras Basah Complex, where there will be a community singalong of Xinyao (an era of Mandarin songs by Singaporeans in the ’70s and ’80s) and folk music.
This concert of sorts, however, will only be happening on 5 & 6 September, 7pm to 9:30pm, so we’d make a special date of it if you’re interested.
We’d recommend heading down early if you’re interested, as last year’s edition was said to be packed to the gills.
7. The Garden of Stories: Stamford Arts Centre
For a final stop before ending the night, we’ll round back to Bugis with The Garden of Stories outside the Stamford Arts Centre.
You can’t miss it – just look for a gathering of household items like red wooden clogs, weighing scales and rubber charms that eerily spring to life as you get close.
The clanging and banging of the objects spotlighted in the gloom aren’t meant to be creepy of course – think of it as a sensorial experience designed by homegrown artist Yang Jie to evoke memories of kampung life through immersive sights and sounds.
At this point, you could head into the arts centre for your last toilet break before heading home.
Just note that its annual A Date with Tradition arts programme will also be running concurrently with the Singapore Night Festival 2025, though you’d probably want to save its arsenal of culturally themed performances and workshops for another night.
Singapore Night Festival 2025
When: 22 August 2025 to 6 September 2025
Website: https://www.heritage.sg/sgnightfest
