Historical event · Singapore Chinatown 2014
Singapore Horse Year Lantern: Chinatown’s 2014 Celebration
The 2014 Singapore Horse Year Lantern display filled Chinatown with galloping horse forms, flowing ribbons and coin-shaped lanterns. This archive article uses contemporary accounts, photographs and video to look back at the street light-up.
The 2014 street light-up
Chinese New Year Lantern Displays Across Chinatown
The display combined illuminated horse sculptures, ribbon forms and suspended coin-shaped lanterns across the Chinatown streets. Together, these elements gave the route a consistent Year of the Horse identity after dark.
The 2014 street-light-up concept was developed by students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) with guidance from their design mentors. The concept linked the movement of galloping horses with flowing ribbons and coin-shaped lanterns overhead. Read SUTD’s project account.
Movement across the route
How the Horse Lanterns Shaped the Street Light-Up
Horse-shaped lanterns were arranged in varied poses to suggest a continuous galloping movement. Their illuminated outlines and placement along the streets connected the display from one section of the route to the next.
Contemporary coverage recorded 88 life-size horse lanterns along New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Street, with another 88 medium-size horse lanterns on South Bridge Road. The two groups formed a coordinated display of 176 horse lanterns.
Source: ACN Newswire, January 7, 2014.
- THEME
- Year of the Horse
- SETTING
- Chinatown streets, Singapore
- VISUAL LANGUAGE
- Galloping horses, ribbons and illuminated coins
The street light-up in motion
Watch the Singapore Horse Year Lantern Video
The event video shows the illuminated horses, overhead decorations and visitors moving through the streets after dark.
It also provides a clearer view of the scale and spacing of the display than still photographs alone.
Opening programme and public setting
A Celebration for the Community and Its Visitors
The January 2014 announcement named President Tony Tan Keng Yam as the scheduled guest of honour for the opening and light-up ceremony. It also described performances and family activities intended to bring residents and visitors together.
Historical programme details: 2014 Chinatown celebration announcement.
The lanterns formed one part of a wider programme that included performances and family activities. Their placement along the streets linked the route visually and gave residents and visitors repeated places to stop and view the display.
Planning a new display
Planning Custom Horse Lanterns or a Chinese New Year Display?
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