Sentosa Sandsation 2017

See over 30 incredible sand sculptures at Sentosa Sandsation, Southeast Asia’s largest sand festival.

Celebrating Sentosa’s 45th Anniversary, The State of Fun is hosting Southeast Asia’s largest sand festival from 1 to 17 September 2017. This sandsational exhibition is held at Siloso Beach, between Siloso Point (the Cable Car station) and Beach Station. Just a short walk from either side. Alternatively, you can hop onto the Sentosa Beach Tram and drop off at the MegaAdventure stop.

Walk in, and you’ll first see gigantic sand sculptures in the Our Sandsational Singapore (Singapore, Ho Say!) zone. The sculptures here are inspired by local culture, quirks and Singlish. Have fun discovering the ‘hidden meanings’ behind these artworks!

“Gabra Zebra?”

“Eating Snake?”

“Wayang King?”

Also, listen closely at each sculpture for subtle thematic music and iconic songs from the past!

The entire exhibition takes place under a huge, ventilated tent, which makes it very enjoyable to walk through – no sand in your footwear!

During the preview event, I was lucky to meet JOOheng Tan (in blue T-shirt), the lead sculptor and creative director of Sentosa Sandsation. He has over two decades of experience working with sand, and this festival’s last zone, Shifting Sand 2, commemorates his 20th year of his career as an internationally-renown master sand sculptor.

JOOheng explained the challenges of working with sand. No special supports are used in the sculptures. It’s all sand and seawater. Starting off as blocky mounds before the carving process, the sand is very tightly compressed that neither rain nor wind can affect it. Over 1000 tonnes of sand are used at Sandsation 2017!

Sand sculpting is also an ephemeral art form. After the event, the sculptures will be torn down, and the sands will be recycled.

At the very end of the exhibition is an interactive sculpture, where visitors can be part of an interactive sand work. And this will be refreshed every week!

Joanne Peh enjoying the artwork.

The Sentosa International Sand Sculpting Championship was also held at Sandsation 2017. 14 sand masters who have worked on the massive artworks in the first zone competed to create a sculpture depicting ‘Imagination’.

Pedro Mira from Portugal emerged victorious with his intricate ‘Broken Heart’, clinching the Golden Shovel!

Is this exhibition worth the trip? If you’re already at Sentosa – definitely, yes! It’s easily accessible and the sculptures are amazingly crafted. There are also other programmes happening on the island at the same time, and they are all free to enjoy. Check them out the event lineup here, and also discover some Sandsational offers.

You can also choose to visit in the evening. The use of colourful lighting shine a new creative look on the sculptures.

To make things sweeter, Sentosa is offering free entry for Singapore residents from 4 to 10 September 2017 via Sentosa Express monorail and Sentosa Gateway (drive in).

Sentosa Sandsation

1 – 17 September 2017
10am – 9pm daily
Siloso Beach (near Siloso Point)

For more information visit Sentosa’s official event website.