By Jessica Ye (Jessica Yap)
For one night, it’s perfectly normal to follow a glowing bird through the streets.
That sentence sounds ridiculous almost anywhere else. At Singapore Night Festival 2026, it’s simply part of the itinerary.
Returning from 21 August to 5 September, the festival once again transforms the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct after sunset. This year’s edition, themed Myths and Legends, looks beyond dazzling light projections and Instagram-worthy moments to revisit the stories that have travelled through Singapore and Southeast Asia for generations. Instead of leaving them inside history books, artists, designers and performers are giving them a new stage across the city.
If previous editions encouraged visitors to look up, this one also asks them to look back.
One of the festival’s biggest draws is Tales of Earth and Sea, which turns the façade of the National Museum of Singapore into a living canvas (featured image). Created by Indonesian multimedia collective The Fox, The Folks, the projection mapping work draws from regional folklore, accompanied by an original soundtrack created by Singapore’s Artusik alongside Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia. It’s the kind of installation that makes you stop walking, if only to watch familiar walls disappear beneath waves of colour and movement.
Sharing the spotlight during the opening weekend is the Southeast Asian debut of Birdmen by Dutch theatre company Close-Act Theatre.
Towering above the crowd on stilts, these luminous creatures wander through the festival as though they’ve escaped from another world. Part bird, part prehistoric fantasy, they’re impossible to ignore. Children will probably stare in amazement, while adults will be reaching for their phones before they’ve even realised it.
Not every story unfolds against a museum wall.
At Fort Canning Park, The Lost Legacy of Fort Canning: The Forbidden Hill invites visitors on a 70-minute night walk inspired by the legends surrounding Bukit Larangan. Guided by atmospheric soundscapes and live traditional Malay dance, the experience peels back layers of one of Singapore’s most familiar landmarks, reminding visitors that long before it became a popular picnic spot, it was a place wrapped in mystery.
Elsewhere, folklore appears in forms you might not expect.
At Capitol Singapore, Once Upon A Time transforms discarded textiles, retired uniforms and fabric offcuts into 30 handcrafted animal sculptures inspired by tales such as Sang Kancil and Sang Buaya. Created by weaver and upcycling artist Natalia Tan together with students from local schools, the installation doesn’t just encourage visitors to look. They’re invited to add stitches, buttons and embellishments of their own, gradually becoming part of the artwork itself.
Around the wider precinct, myths continue to surface in unexpected corners.
Local creative studio TELL YOUR CHILDREN explores Bugis maritime history through Vikings of the Tropics, while Stormy Straits transforms Bugis Street Art Lane into a voyage through Singapore’s seafaring past.
At Plaza Singapura, THE BLOOMING HEARTS FORTUNE MERLION gives the nation’s iconic symbol a colourful makeover using recycled plastic, while Lovebug, created by ART-ZOO in collaboration with the National Library Board, reimagines the endangered Raffles’ Banded Langur and the humble saga seed as symbols of love drawn from local stories.
The festival is also looking ahead, even while celebrating the past.
This year introduces the inaugural MALAM Projection Mapping Competition, giving emerging artists from across Southeast Asia the opportunity to showcase their work on the façade of The Cathay. The festival’s thought leadership platform, ALIGHT 2.0, also returns with artists and creative practitioners gathering to discuss the future of projection mapping, light art and public spaces.
Still, the best part of Singapore Night Festival has never been trying to tick every installation off a list.
It’s taking a wrong turn and stumbling across something you weren’t expecting. A glowing creature wandering through the crowd. An old legend you vaguely remember from primary school. A quiet corner transformed by light, music or a story you’ve never heard before.
That’s what keeps people coming back year after year.
This year’s theme may be rooted in myths and legends, but the experience itself feels wonderfully real. For three weekends, the stories that helped shape this region step out from the pages of old books and into the streets, reminding us that folklore doesn’t disappear.
Sometimes, it just waits until nightfall.
Featured Image: Artist Impression of ‘Tales of Earth and Sea.’ | Image: Courtesy of The Fox, The Folks
