ArtScience Museum has enhanced Singapore’s digital art space with its first purpose-built screening room. ArtScience Cinema opened doors on 28 May, alongside its latest virtual reality installation We Live in an Ocean of Air.
Transforming the museum experience through the exploration of various digital mediums, Art, science, and technology has come together in a holistic experience to enable visitors to immerse themselves. The rolling programmes of innovative virtual reality artworks and films will be curated year-round to complement ArtScience Museum’s ongoing seasons and exhibitions.
Speaking at the launch, Adrian George, Director: Programmes, Exhibitions and Museum Services, ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands shared that “ArtScience Museum’s Level 4 spaces have been converted into a place where visitors can enjoy cutting-edge digital art and film, as well as immersive virtual reality experiences that take visitors on journeys of the imagination far beyond the Museum’s walls. ArtScience Cinema will be a place to experience innovation and creativity in film, featuring a dynamic and changing programme of acclaimed art house movies through to mainstream, and family-friendly films that will appeal to a variety of audiences.”
“Since the launch of our VR Gallery last year, we have presented two exciting programmes of virtual reality artworks, and now we present one of our most ambitious interactive works to date – We Live in an Ocean of Air by London-based art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast – that brings humanity’s relationship with nature to life in a multi-sensory, multi-dimensional way. As the Museum launches the new cinema and We Live in an Ocean of Air side by side we continue to highlight some of the most urgent challenges our planet faces in the 21st century through thought- provoking art-science experiences that delight and engage,” he said.
The multi-sensory art installation created by Marshmallow Laser Feast, one of the world’s leading experiential art collectives, illuminates the symbiotic relationship between animals, plants, and humans. It breaks down the boundaries between installation, live performance, and virtual reality to celebrate the relationship humanity has with nature, as well as to confront our responsibility in protecting our ecosystems and all life on earth.
The installation is not just delightful, it is also thought provoking with aspects that allow viewers to feel the flow of life, spaces and nutrients within nature. The viewer upon donning the VR set is transported to a fascinating new avatar.
Visitors can also enjoy an array of complementary programmes surrounding the opening of We Live in an Ocean of Air, such as a mini symposium that delves into the art and science of trees.
Running from 28 May to 2 October 2022, We Live in an Ocean of Air is the latest project to be presented at ArtScience Museum’s VR Gallery – a permanent space launched in 2021 which pays tribute to curiosity, innovation, and experimentation of virtual reality artworks.
