Future World at ArtScience Museum, Digital Light Canvas at The Shoppes undergo revamp, sees 4 new installations

ArtScience Museum’s permanent exhibit, Future World: Where Art Meets Science, and Digital Light Canvas by teamLab at The Shoppes have undergone major transformations and will reopen to visitors from Saturday (Nov 26).

The revamp comes as part of the international Tokyo-based art collective, teamLab’s expanded collaboration with Marina Bay Sands.

At Future World: Where Art Meets Science, three new interactive artworks will form a new gallery titled Exploring New Frontiers. 

Visitors can take a multi-sensory journey to the skies above in exploration of flight, continuing the exhibition’s story of the harmonious coexistence between people and nature.

The first of the three is Autonomous Abstraction, Continuous Phenomena from the Universe to the Self.

Similar to the artworks at Transcending Boundaries in City in A Garden, the new installation responds to the presence of visitors. The direction of the particles changes with the slightest touch of the hand.

The second installation is Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds, which explores the aerial dance of swooping, intricately coordinated patterns in the sky, a phenomenon known as murmuration.

Created from horizontal bars of varying colours, projection, coloured light and sound, visitors can step on the bars that are suspended mid-air and carefully navigate their way through the artwork as flocks of coloured birds “fly past” them.

As the bars are linked, every movement will affect the rest of the bars and the other visitors who are standing on them. Everyone’s experience will differ depending on the route chosen and how many other people are climbing at the same time.

Another interesting point would be the different sounds made upon stepping on the various bars. With every step one takes, a different musical track is played. Likewise, depending on the colour of the bar, the colours of the flock of birds on the screen will change.

The final artwork, Sketch Flight, is the most family-friendly of the three.

It invites visitors to take a seat and unleash their inner artist as they colour aeroplanes, hawks or butterflies, before seeing their creations take flight in the digital world.

Using the tablet given, you can control the flight of your aeroplane, butterfly, or hawk. You can also get a “bird’s-eye view” – or hawk’s-eye view – of the digital world through the tablet screen!

Besides the ArtScience Museum, there’s also the Digital Light Canvas by teamLab located in The Shoppes, at B2.

Boasting a patented 4D vision display, dynamic LED floor and a 14-metre tall light sculpture that suspends from the ceiling, Digital Light Canvas by teamLab is majestic at first glance.

As part of its transformation, the installation has evolved further into a new nature-based adventure, Graffiti Nature – Red List, where visitors are able to explore an ecosystem of flora and fauna.

Various creatures will be brought to life by visitors’ imaginations as they traverse their surroundings.

To convey a stronger message around sustainability and the environment, each of the flowers, reptiles, insects, and amphibians found in the installation are endangered species from the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

These animals include the Siamese Crocodile, Cave Racer Snake, Southern Torrent Frog, Borneo Birdwing Butterfly and the Calypso Orchid.

Another unique element of Graffiti Nature – Red List is that it mimics the realities of an ecosystem. As flowers bloom at your feet, butterflies will swarm over. Soon enough, the butterflies will be devoured by the frogs which will be then preyed on by the lizards.

“It’s kind of cruel. But it’s the ecosystem,” says Founder of teamLab, Mr Toshiyuki Inoko.

Besides having your artwork being projected on the LED floor, you can also make your own merchandise. Options include a badge ($3), a tote bag ($20) and a t-shirt ($25).

The exhibition has captivated close to three million visitors over the past six years who have experienced its ever-changing galleries of artworks exploring the intersection of art, science, technology and the natural world.

Currently, two zones, Sanctuary and Park, are temporarily closed for renovations, but visitors can continue to explore other areas of the exhibition – City in a Garden and Space – at a revised ticket price.

Tickets for the transformed Future World: Where Art Meets Science and Digital Light Canvas by teamLab are now available for advance purchase at all Marina Bay Sands box offices and website. Due to limited capacity, guests are strongly encouraged to pre-purchase tickets online prior to their visit.