HeritageSG presents the 17th edition of Singapore’s largest nocturnal experience in Bras Basah.Bugis, uncovering the stories of myths and legends associated with Singapore and the wider Southeast Asian region.
Singapore Night Festival (SNF) 2026 returns with the theme Myths and Legends, inviting audiences to rediscover the stories, folklore and traditions that have shaped communities in Singapore and across Southeast Asia. Presented by HeritageSG (HSG), the 17th edition of Singapore’s largest nocturnal experience will unfold across the Bras Basah.Bugis (BBB) precinct, bringing storytelling to the fore through immersive artworks, projections and experiences.
Running from 21 August to 5 September 2026, SNF 2026 introduces a new Museum Zone as its key festival hub in addition to Zones 1 to 3.
- Museum Zone: Centred around the National Museum of Singapore, the Children’s Museum Singapore and surrounding heritage spaces, the hub will bring the theme to life through experiences and programmes inspired by the precinct’s heritage.
- Zone 1: Stretching from Funan to CHIJMES, this zone invites visitors to discover unique experiences ranging from a creative craft market at Capitol Singapore to interactive programmes and installations within the historic grounds of CHIJMES.
- Zone 2: Spanning Cathay Green to Waterloo Centre, this zone celebrates the creativity and vibrancy of the precinct’s arts groups and educational institutions through performances, exhibitions and participatory experiences.
- Zone 3: Anchored by partners at Bras Basah Complex and Stamford Arts Centre, this zone showcases a diverse range of cultural experiences, from xinyao performances and traditional arts to community-led activations celebrating Singapore’s living heritage.
Across three weekends, audiences can explore the wider Bras Basah.Bugis precinct through a robust line-up of projection mapping, artworks, experiential programmes, performances and festival villages with food and retail offerings, with each zone offering a distinct perspective on the stories of BBB.
Celebrating Culture and Creativity
Reflecting HSG’s commitment to enriching Singapore’s creative industries and communities, SNF 2026 presents the inaugural MALAM Projection Mapping Competition, which invites Southeast Asian artists, students and collectives to showcase their work, providing a platform for emerging regional talent to experiment and express their artistry. The competition, which is supported by Epson, has drawn strong regional interest, receiving close to 50 submissions from artists and collectives across Southeast Asia. Festivalgoers can enjoy a mesmerising display of the top 20 entries on the façade of The Cathay during the first week of SNF 2026. The top 5 submissions will be selected and remain as staple projections on The Cathay throughout the festival. Through these efforts, HSG reaffirms SNF’s crucial role as a leader in night-time cultural storytelling and knowledge exchange.
SNF 2026 will also present ALIGHT 2.0, its thought leadership platform for projection mapping and light-based art. Targeting 100 participants this year, the conference will bring together leading artists and creative practitioners from across the region to explore the evolving intersection of art, technology and public space through keynote presentations, panel discussions and networking opportunities. Notable names include Michiyuki Ishita, Founder and General Producer of the internationally recognised 1minute Projection Mapping Competition and Representative Director of the Projection Mapping Association of Japan; Malaysian new media artist Abdul Shakir; and Indonesian multimedia artist team The Fox, The Folks, offering audiences and industry professionals fresh insights into the creative minds shaping the future of light art in Southeast Asia.
Qazim Karim, Festival Director of SNF 2026, HSG, said: “Singapore Night Festival has always been more than light installations. It is about creating shared experiences that bring people together after dark, while showcasing the best of creative talent from Singapore and Southeast Asia. This is reflected in the strong response to our inaugural MALAM Projection Mapping Competition, which signals a clear appetite among regional creatives to be part of Singapore’s premier night festival. With this year’s theme, Myths and Legends, we invite audiences to journey through Bras Basah.Bugis and uncover the many stories that continue to shape Singapore and the region. Through these, we hope SNF 2026 will spark curiosity and connection among communities, while strengthening its place as a must-see festival in Singapore and Southeast Asia.”
Festival Highlights | Immersive encounters that transform familiar spaces
Birdmen. Image courtesy of Close-Act.
Festival-goers can look forward to three signature festival highlights that take inspiration from the myths, legends and stories around us: Tales of Earth and Sea, The Lost Legacy of Fort Canning: The Forbidden Hill, and the MALAM Projection Mapping Competition.
Participate in an immersive experience that merges projection mapping with street theatre at the National Museum of Singapore during the launch weekend. Tales of Earth and Sea is a striking facade projection by The Fox, The Folks, an internationally acclaimed multimedia artist team based in Bandung, Indonesia. It reinterprets local folklore, set to an original cross-border soundtrack by Singapore’s multi-ethnic music collective Artusik and UiTM Malaysia, further enhancing the work’s cross-border exchange. Sharing the spotlight for the festival’s opening week is the Southeast Asian debut of Birdmen by the renowned Dutch group Close-Act Theatre. Audiences can get up close with these mysterious, luminous stilt walkers dressed as fantastical, pterodactyl-like creatures as they roam alongside the stunning visuals, creating an unforgettable, multi-sensory experience.
Audiences can also embark on The Lost Legacy of Fort Canning: The Forbidden Hill, a captivating 70-minute nocturnal walking trail through Fort Canning Park that uncovers the ancient secrets and myths of Bukit Larangan. Featuring atmospheric soundscapes and live traditional Malay dance, the immersive journey transports visitors to the 14th-century world of early Singapura.
The MALAM Projection Mapping Competition is the third festival highlight. It brings together emerging artists across Southeast Asia to showcase their works, with the top 20 entries projected onto Cathay Building during the first week of the festival.
Landmarks Reimagined | Historic spaces become stages for creativity and storytelling
Artist impression of ‘The Dragon’s Tooth – A Legend of Becoming Light’. Image courtesy of Starlight Alchemy.
Over at the Armenian Street Lawn, local creative studio TELL YOUR CHILDREN presents a nautical installation rooted in the myths and legends of the La Galigo and Vikings of the Tropics, the work brings attention to the sea trade history of Bugis and Buginese maritime traders who used Singapore as a port hub.
Over at the Capitol Singapore Outdoor Plaza, visitors can encounter Once Upon A Time, a community installation co-created by weaver and upcycling artist Natalia Tan alongside students from local schools, supported by Official Sustainability Partner Cora Environment and Official Partner Perennial Holdings. The installation features 30 unique animal sculptures meticulously crafted from textile waste, retired uniforms, and everyday discarded fabrics. Drawing inspiration from traditional regional folktales such as Sang Kancil and Sang Buaya and the historic William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings, these sculptures form a dramatic 3D hourglass shape suspended from an overhead truss to symbolize the urgent timing of biodiversity conservation. The installation also invites hands-on public participation, allowing visitors to add their own stitches, paillettes, and buttons to the ground-based artworks in a collective expression of ecological care.
Several works will also be sited at Singapore Management University Campus Green. These include The Dragon’s Tooth: A Legend of Becoming Light by Starlight Alchemy, which combines bamboo structures, refracted light, participatory elements and performance to reimagine monuments as sites of remembrance; You and I, Believing… by the Yellow Ribbon Community Arts Festival Committee 2026, a site-specific installation inspired by the Bras Basah convict jail in the 19th century; and Traces by Filipino artist Isaiah Cacnio, which explores the legend behind the inscriptions upon the Singapore Stone.
Unexpected Encounters | Discovering myths and legends in everyday spaces
Along the skirts of the BBB precinct, audiences can also explore works located at nearby CapitaLand shopping malls including Bugis Street, Funan, Plaza Singapura and Raffles City Singapore.
Local artist Ching Kai presents the work Inter-Light at Raffles City Singapore, a participatory installation inspired by Singapore’s multicultural landscape and traditions of street performance through shifting light, shadow, sound and projection. At Funan, Singapore-based SERIAL CO_ will explore the legend of the iconic Sister Islands through Rising of Sister Islands, further examining how myths and legends are passed down through oral storytelling across generations.
Audiences can also discover THE BLOOMING HEARTS FORTUNE MERLION at Plaza Singapura, presented by UNIPLAY. The work raises awareness about plastic recycling while debunking common myths about recycling practices through a vibrant sculpture inspired by the Merlion, made from fiberglass and recycled plastic bottle flakes as well as a bottle-collection machine that turns clean bottles into recyclable PET flakes.
Over at the Bugis Street Art Lane, the Melting Po(r)t Collective – comprising Matlr Creative, StrawberryWasabi and LiteWerkz – transforms the alleyways into a voyage of Singapore’s seafaring era. Titled Stormy Straits, visitors are invited to brave the monsoon storms of the archipelago and seek refuge at glowing lighthouses to uncover the long-forgotten tales of the sea, as they sail through this installation and chart their own voyage.
Festivalgoers can also look forward to a whimsical, large-scale art installation celebrating the long tradition of local myths shaped by animals and native plants. Created by ART-ZOO in collaboration with the National Library Board, Lovebug reimagines the endangered Raffles’ Banded Langur and the saga seed as nostalgic symbols of love in Singaporean stories.
BBB Stakeholder and Partner Programmes | Driving opportunities for collaboration and exchange
Artist impression of Arup’s Plant chilli then no rain!, as part of Light Together Bras Basah.Bugis 2026. Image courtesy of Arup.
Beyond the festival’s spectacular night lights, projection mappings, programmes and workshops, festivalgoers can also look forward to four more installations, presented as part of the inaugural edition of Light Together Bras Basah.Bugis (LTB), in conjunction with SNF 2026 and in celebration of National Day. Also guided by the theme Myths and Legends, LTB 2026 shines a light on colloquial myths and superstitions, creating tongue-in-cheek artworks that resonate with local communities.
Singapore Night Festival 2026 will run across three weekends, from 21 August to 5 September 2026, with free admission for most of the programmes. Powered by Official Sponsors Accenture and Adobe to deliver an enhanced digital experience, the official website will feature an interactive map of the different zones and personalised trails that will go live during festival period.
September School Holiday 2026
It is the one-week September school break. Do check out our compilation of exciting September School Holidays Activities 2026 in Singapore.
Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 25 September this year. Remember to check out our list of Best Mooncakes and Best Bak Kwa in Singapore 2026.
Looking for what to do during the Mid-Autumn Festival? Read Mid Autumn Festival 2026 Events in Singapore.
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