SINGAPORE: A new permanent exhibition at the ArtScience Museum has helped drive a surge in visitors at the attraction, which is part of the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino resort.
According to quarterly results from MBS announced on Tuesday (Jul 26), the number of visitors to the ArtScience Museum has increased 83 per cent. It said the appeal of the new permanent exhibition, Future World: Where Art Meets Science, is the key reason for the rise in visitors.
Executive Director of ArtScience Museum Honor Harger told Channel NewsAsia that the launch of Future World was “a major step forward” for the museum.
“Our dream was to create a destination for having fun and playing, but also a place where we can reflect on the natural world, other people, and our place within the universe,” she said. “We are thrilled to see that visitors have responded to this vision in such extraordinary numbers, right from the first day Future World opened.”
The exhibition is a collaboration with teamLab, an award-winning Tokyo-based digital art collective of "ultra-technologists" that includes artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, architects and designers. Spread over more than 1500 square metres, the immersive digital playground of 16 installations is designed to be fully interactive.
So why has this exhibition struck a chord with visitors?
According to Harger, it is “the fluid combination of artistic expression, technological ingenuity, scientific enquiry and the interactive and immersive nature of the exhibition”.
It is also about audiences co-creating the artworks, which differs from more traditional exhibitions: “It is their actions that make the artworks so engaging. This is particularly evident in the projects teamLab have designed for children,” she said, citing the Sketch Aquarium and Light Ball Orchestra, which are amongst the most popular parts of the exhibition.
At the Sketch Aquarium, people can colour in a drawing of a sea creature. Once completed, the piece of paper is scanned, and the image is projected onto a giant virtual aquarium.
Another big factor, Harger said, is that there is something for audiences of all ages within the exhibition.
“It is a realisation of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous maxim, 'everything connects',” she said. “The show has become a popular location for young people to date, or meet their friends, especially on the evenings we are open till 10pm, for our monthly ArtScience Late programmes."
With such strong visitor numbers, the museum is determined to not rest on its laurels.
“As the only ArtScience Museum in the world, we set ourselves the challenge of continually breaking new ground, telling compelling stories about the interrelationship between art and science, and giving our audiences a glimpse of what the future may hold,” shared Harger. “ArtScience Museum will continue to appeal to visitors by constantly innovating, bringing in new programmes, exhibitions, and attractions which surprise and delight our audiences. ArtScience Museum is a cultural icon and has become part of the visual identity of Singapore.”
And the museum takes pride in ensuring that the offerings constantly fresh, even when there is a permanent exhibition.
“Together with teamLab, ArtScience Museum set out to make something that was more than an exhibition. We wanted to create a new universe. A world that would change and transform over time, that would respond to each and every visitor, and that would draw people to visit again and again,” said Harger.
All the endeavours of the ArtScience Museum have not only paid off, but have also not gone unnoticed. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) told Channel NewsAsia that it is “pleased to note that their efforts have drawn significant interest and visitation.”
Said Chew Tiong Heng, Executive Director, Infrastructure Planning & Management, STB: “ The Integrated Resorts (IRs) are part of our overall tourism strategy, which includes a strong portfolio of world-class attractions and events to enhance our tourism appeal as a vibrant global city. MBS' launch of the new permanent exhibition Future World: Where Art Meets Science is an example of the IRs' continued commitment to refresh their products…STB continues to work with the two IRs to ensure that their offerings remain internationally competitive and contribute to Singapore’s tourism appeal.”