"It is a contemporary way to celebrate this traditional festival by entering the heart of a lantern."
The work is also conducive as a platform for collaboration. It can be used to screen films and projections and artists all over the world have used it to stage theatrical and music performances as well.
The Singapore edition features a new collaboration in the form of home-grown multimedia artist Brian Gothong Tan's new work, Tropical Traumas: A Series Of Cinematographic Choreographies, which will take place from Sept 2 to 4.
The 70-minute work combines animation, multimedia projections and a live performance, focusing on the experiences of Sophia Hull, the second wife of the founder of modern Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, re-enacting their travels in the tropics.
Actors Karen Tan, Koh Boon Pin, Felipe Cervera and Edith Podesta will perform in the piece, each taking up multiple roles that range from Raffles and Hull to orang utans and birds.
The projections and animations include elements of archive materials from the era, such as 19th-century engravings, paintings, natural history drawings and photographs.
However, Tan, 36, says his goal is not strictly to stage something true to that era, but to re-imagine it in the modern context.
"We will be breaking some rules and the tone is tongue-in-cheek," he says. "For example, we'll have our actors talking to statues and there'll be some intended anachronisms, such as using a microphone in a scene. It is a contemporary piece."
The setting in the Gardens is also apt as it mirrors how Raffles first proposed that Singapore have its own botanical garden.
He also references the work of Alfred Russel Wallace, a British naturalist who collected plant and animal specimens from Singapore in the 19th century, as part of his travels in the Malay archipelago.
Tan, who knows of Arad from his design work, says he is "honoured" to be collaborating with him.
He says: "To have my name side by side with Ron Arad, that is an impossible dream."
Tan is a familiar name in the theatre scene, having collaborated with companies such as Cake Theatrical Productions, The Necessary Stage and Wild Rice.
Ong says: "He is often invisible in these shows, yet so much of the final product is from his signature talent. He is deserving to be finally commissioned for his own performance and not just as a collaborator."
Tan would also be happy to know that Arad insists that he does not mind "if audiences forget Ron Arad", while encountering the installation through the works of other artists.
Besides Tan's multimedia projections and performance, the Singapore edition will also screen films from artists such as British visual artist David Shrigley and Cypriot-British fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, alongside Arad's projections.
Set outdoors, Arad's installation also interacts with nature. Initially, he did not know how a work that was "born in a round place, indoors" would behave outdoors.
For example, with an outdoor work, the projections cannot be shown during the daytime.
He adds: "I was worried about the wind, but it was beautiful. The wind added some element to it. It gives it another dimension."
He says in London, audiences sat on the floor, looking at the projections, while in Jerusalem, people enjoyed it from a distance, as they could also take in the night-time cityscape.
His advice to Singapore audiences?
"Take your time, see it from the inside, from the outside. You can lie down and look up. There are no prescriptions. I'm expecting to be surprised in Singapore."
•Organisers of the arts festival say tickets to shows are selling well, with some shows selling faster than others. They declined to give details and urge audiences to book tickets soon. The festival runs from Aug 11 to Sept 17 and tickets are available from Sistic (go to www.sistic.com.sg or call 6348-5555). Those who have bought passes to its pre-festival, The O.P.E.N., enjoy a 25-per-cent discount on tickets.