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

SINGAPORE – Giant illuminated creatures will roam the streets, mythical beasts will appear to break free from century-old objects, and historic buildings will become canvases for stories of land, sea and legend.

For two weeks, the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct will be transformed into a landscape where old myths meet contemporary art, as artists reinterpret Singapore’s folklore and maritime heritage through light, projection and performance.

The works form part of the 17th edition of the Singapore Night Festival (SNF), which runs from Aug 21 to Sept 5. In 2026, the festival features 94 programmes, with most free for the public.

The festival’s theme, Myths and Legends, brings together artists from Singapore and across South-east Asia to give familiar stories new forms, turning folklore into moving creatures, immersive installations and large-scale projection works.

“I was first inspired while walking around Fort Canning,” said 37-year-old festival director Qazim Karim. “I realised this place was once called Bukit Larangan, and I started wondering why. There are so many layers of history to unpack, which inspired me to explore the stories behind its different myths and legends.”

In the hands of the artists, these stories leave the page and enter the streets.

Dutch street theatre company Close-Act Theatre’s Birdmen features giant, illuminated flying creatures operated by puppeteers. The mysterious, pterodactyl-like figures, perched on stilts and glowing against the night, will roam alongside festival-goers through the precinct. 

They will make two appearances each evening, beginning at the National Museum of Singapore before passing through Waterloo Street, Armenian Street, The Cathay, the School of the Arts and Queen Street, before ending at the Singapore Management University campus.

Elsewhere, the festival turns to objects that already carry their own stories. At the Peranakan Museum, The Great Mythical Stampede by Singapore creative studio CHUNKIE Filmhouse imagines mythical creatures breaking free from the objects in which they are depicted. Winged horses soar from carved wood, lion-dogs leap from porcelain and phoenixes burst from embroidered silk.

Traditional motifs from Peranakan decorative arts are reimagined as living creatures, bringing the museum’s heritage into the realm of fantasy.

From these creatures of folklore, the festival moves further back into Singapore’s maritime past. Nearby, The Dragon’s Tooth: A Legend Of Becoming Light by Starlight Alchemy draws on the legend of Long Ya Men, or Dragon’s Teeth Gate, an ancient maritime landmark.

A luminous bamboo sanctuary surrounds a fictionalised relic said to hold the memories of early seafaring protectors, while fields of light and shadow invite visitors to move through a story rooted in Singapore’s coastal history.

That maritime world is brought into even sharper relief at Bugis Street Art Lane, where Stormy Straits by Melting Po(r)t Collective evokes the treacherous waters once navigated by Bugis seafarers.

Illuminated cloud-like structures and moving shadows recreate the force of a monsoon storm, while glowing lighthouses offer points of refuge amid the imagined tempest.

Through light and sculpture, the installation brings the journeys of the sailors who helped shape the region’s trading networks into the contemporary streetscape.

The stories eventually leave the physical installations altogether, spilling onto the walls of one of the precinct’s most recognisable landmarks. 

At the National Museum, Indonesian multimedia artist team The Fox, The Folks and Singapore creative music collective Artusik present Tales Of Earth And Sea, which reinterprets local folklore through an interplay of land and water. The museum facade becomes a moving canvas where myth and history intersect, accompanied by an original soundtrack produced by Artusik in collaboration with Malaysia’s Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).

For Fadjar Kurnia, 30, creative director and founder of The Fox, The Folks, the creative process was also about collaboration, bringing together stories passed down through generations with contemporary visual ideas. Working closely with the festival’s partners in Singapore and UiTM, the team developed the work through an exchange of ideas and creative approaches.

“The creative process has been really fun. They came to Bandung to meet us and discuss our ideas and how we could create the project together,” he said. “We went back and forth, and they added their own signature to the work, making it a really meaningful collaboration. It became a three-country collaboration, which I think is a wonderful spirit to bring to the festival.”

The collaboration also reflects the way stories and cultural traditions have historically travelled across borders in South-east Asia, with Indonesian and Singaporean artists bringing different perspectives to the same regional landscape.

The inaugural MALAM Projection Mapping Competition extends this regional exchange, featuring finalists from across South-east Asia and highlighting the region’s growing interest in digital artistry and visual storytelling.

Across the precinct, the works demonstrate that folklore does not have to remain frozen in the past.

A mythical creature can walk through a modern street. A maritime legend can take the form of light and shadow. A museum object can become a living fantasy, while an old story can be projected onto a historic facade.

For the duration of SNF, Bras Basah.Bugis becomes a stage where myths are not simply preserved, but reimagined, allowing stories from Singapore and the region to take on new forms for contemporary audiences.

For a complete list of programmes, go to heritage.sg/sgnightfest