Myths and legends come alive in the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct

This year's 17th edition of the Singapore Night Festival (SNF) transforms Bras Basah.Bugis into a canvas of myths and legends, blending traditional folklore with contemporary art forms. Featuring 94 programmes, most of which are free for the public, the festival runs from August 21 to September 5. The theme "Myths and Legends" unites artists from Singapore and across South-east Asia, breathing new life into familiar stories and turning folklore into living creatures, immersive installations, and large-scale projection works.

Influenced by his discovery of the legacy of Bukit Larangan during a walk around Fort Canning, festival director Qazim Karim envisioned giant illuminated creatures and mythical beasts roaming the streets. Dutch street theatre company Close-Act Theatre's Birdmen will bring these pterodactyl-like figures to life, soaring through the precinct on stilts and captivating festival-goers with their radiant glow.

The festival delves into objects carrying their own stories, such as The Great Mythical Stampede at the Peranakan Museum. This installation reimagines mythical creatures breaking free from carved wood, porcelain, and embroidered silk, turning traditional motifs into fantastical beasts. Moving further back in time, Starlight Alchemy's The Dragon's Tooth: A Legend Of Becoming Light explores Singapore's maritime heritage, centering around the ancient Dragon’s Teeth Gate.

Featuring luminous bamboo sanctuary and fields of light and shadow, this installation invites visitors to journey through Singapore's coastal history.

Stormy Straits by Melting Po(r)t Collective takes to Bugis Street Art Lane, recreating the force of a monsoon storm with illuminated cloud-like structures and moving shadows. Glowing lighthouses offer visitors a sense of refuge amidst the imagined tempest, mirroring the treacherous waters once navigated by Bugis seafarers.

The stories eventually permeate beyond the installations themselves, adorning the walls of one of the precinct's most iconic landmarks. At the National Museum, Indonesian multimedia artist team The Fox, The Folks collaborate with Singapore creative music collective Artusik and UiTM to reinterpret local folklore through land and water imagery. The museum facade becomes a moving canvas where myth and history intersect, accompanied by an original soundtrack produced by Artusik.

The 2026 edition of SNF also includes the inaugural MALAM Projection Mapping Competition, showcasing the region's growing interest in digital artistry and visual storytelling. These diverse works reveal that folklore need not be confined to the past. Myths can walk through modern streets, maritime legends can transform into light and shadow, museum objects can become living fantasies, and old stories can be projected onto historic facades.

For the duration of SNF, Bras Basah.Bugis becomes a stage where myths are not simply preserved but reimagined, inviting audiences to experience contemporary versions of these timeless tales.