SANTAI Series: Batu Ghaib (The Unseen Stone)

SANTAI Series: Batu Ghaib (The Unseen Stone)

• When:

  9–31 Jan 2026
• Time:

  10am–Midnight
• Where:

  Esplanade Park, Opposite Lim Bo Seng Memorial

Inspired by the cultural and spiritual belief within Malay culture that lingering spirits of our ancestors often inhabit spaces around us in the form of rocks, Batu Ghaib (The Unseen Stone) aims to reveal the parallel notions that exist between our relationship with mysticism and the environment.

Drawing influence from the discovery of the Singapore Stone and its creation, the artwork features a boulder that has been split in half, with the words timbul tenggelam (meaning “to appear or rise” and “to sink or disappear” in Malay) repeated over and over like an incantation. The work encourages us to look at natural elements as objects with spirits and voices of their own.

About SANTAI

SANTAI is a new series commissioned specially for the tenth edition of Light to Night Singapore. In response to the theme of "The Power in Us" and drawing from the Malay word "santai" (to relax), the series features artworks that invite audiences to the act of gathering for a collective artistic experience.

Located at five key gathering points within the Civic District (the Padang, Empress Lawn, Front Lawn at The Arts House, ACM Green and Esplanade Park) these artworks explore themes such as the impact of language, the call to reimagine our histories and the power of collaboration through immersive, participatory and co-creative ways of experiencing art.