Santai Series: Gathering on the Lawn

Santai Series: Gathering on the Lawn

• When:

  9 - 31 Jan 2026
• Time:

  10am-midnight
• Where:

  Padang

Gathering on the Lawn responds to the Padang’s long history as a civic ground for communal gathering. Featuring artist-designed paper lantern bags bearing batik-inspired motifs from Singapore’s visual and material heritage, the work is activated through performances and participatory experiences across four festival weekends. Visitors are invited to walk, create and gather, thus becoming active participants. By centering collective action and shared experience, the work reflects the festival theme, “The Power in Us,” affirming public space as a site of connection and cultural memory.

Motifs adapted from batik pieces by Little Nyonya Batik.

This artwork unfolds through live activation on Fridays and Saturdays during the festival—9–10, 16–17, 23–24 and 30–31 Jan 2026 from 7.30 to 10.30pm.

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.