Quick wrap from impromptu dash to Singapore between Christmas and new year's:
At the Art Science Museum, "Collider: The World's Greatest Experiment" & "The Nobel Prize: Ideas Changing the World". Both a bit heavy on the 'facts' side for me, though both made noble (ha ha) attempts to present their content interestingly and interactively. The highlight for me was really an add-on to the 'Collider' exhibition (which is about the Large Hadron Collider underground at the Swiss-French border, with a history of particle physics thrown in), a piece called "The Gift of Mass", described thus: "This immersive audio-visual installation invites the visitors to live the impossible experience of acquiring their own mass. The visitors go virtually from a Universe in which particules having no mass move without distinguishing themselves, to a Universe where mass is formed through an invisible sea, the Higgs Field" - as you walk towards the screen, your body acquires mass and form via coloured projection.
At a small gallery called Deck, "To Measure the Depth of the Ocean", showcasing the work of five important modern Singapore photographers. My favourite was Foo Tee Jun.
Across the several exhibitions at the Singapore Art Museum, a contemporary art gallery (works from across south-east Asia but a focus on Singapore), a few that stood out were Ho Tzu Nyen's "No Man", an video installation with projections of fantastically costumed figures on both of a pair of mirrored walls facing each other in a darkened room, Matthew Ngui's "Every Point of View", a forest of pipes exploring ideas of democracy, Heman Chong's "Calendars (2020-2096)", Sarah Choo Jing's "The Hidden Dimension II" (detail still below and video here) and Loo Zihan's installation "Of Public Interest: The Singapore Art Museum Resource Room", particularly for the reasons given by previous visitors for withdrawing particular books from circulation.
Also, in a slightly different vein, the soundtrack to The Virgin Suicides completely hitting the spot as I sat outside by myself in the heat one evening after a dusk-ish ride on the Singapore Flyer (I'm drawn to ferris wheels, I don't know why).
At the Art Science Museum, "Collider: The World's Greatest Experiment" & "The Nobel Prize: Ideas Changing the World". Both a bit heavy on the 'facts' side for me, though both made noble (ha ha) attempts to present their content interestingly and interactively. The highlight for me was really an add-on to the 'Collider' exhibition (which is about the Large Hadron Collider underground at the Swiss-French border, with a history of particle physics thrown in), a piece called "The Gift of Mass", described thus: "This immersive audio-visual installation invites the visitors to live the impossible experience of acquiring their own mass. The visitors go virtually from a Universe in which particules having no mass move without distinguishing themselves, to a Universe where mass is formed through an invisible sea, the Higgs Field" - as you walk towards the screen, your body acquires mass and form via coloured projection.
At a small gallery called Deck, "To Measure the Depth of the Ocean", showcasing the work of five important modern Singapore photographers. My favourite was Foo Tee Jun.
Across the several exhibitions at the Singapore Art Museum, a contemporary art gallery (works from across south-east Asia but a focus on Singapore), a few that stood out were Ho Tzu Nyen's "No Man", an video installation with projections of fantastically costumed figures on both of a pair of mirrored walls facing each other in a darkened room, Matthew Ngui's "Every Point of View", a forest of pipes exploring ideas of democracy, Heman Chong's "Calendars (2020-2096)", Sarah Choo Jing's "The Hidden Dimension II" (detail still below and video here) and Loo Zihan's installation "Of Public Interest: The Singapore Art Museum Resource Room", particularly for the reasons given by previous visitors for withdrawing particular books from circulation.
Also, in a slightly different vein, the soundtrack to The Virgin Suicides completely hitting the spot as I sat outside by myself in the heat one evening after a dusk-ish ride on the Singapore Flyer (I'm drawn to ferris wheels, I don't know why).
