We have lift-off, NASA – A Human Adventure opens today

Space exploration, fuelled by the cold war rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, made significant progress in the 1950s and 1960s. As a child of the 1960s, I was caught up in its excitement of it and especially of its most significant outcome – the landing of the first man on the moon in July 1969. The space programmes that led to the landing had itself generated huge interest during the decade. It was a space exploration flavoured decade in many ways and I took great satisfaction in rocket shaped ice-lollies, ice-cream packed in a Mercury spacecraft inspired container and on getting my hands on moon-landing inspired action transfer sets. For a child it seemed a most exciting of times; times that certainly came back to me visiting a preview of NASA – A Human Adventure, which opens today (19 November 2016) at the ArtScience Museum.

A Mercury Spacecraft, the first US manned spacecraft.

The exhibition, which is arranged around five galleries, takes visitors into a fascinating journey through space exploration and starts with the dreams humankind had long had of venturing into the unknown. There is an amazing collection of over 200 artefacts on display, several of which have flown in space, connected with both the Soviet and the NASA efforts. There also is get a chance to get up close to several training modules and full or large scale reconstructions of space craft including one of the Space Shuttle’s front section in which the flight deck and the mid-deck – where the crew eats, sleeps and works, complete with a vacuum toilet.

The first gallery – which tells us all about the Dreamers.

A re-creation of the Space Shuttle’s Flight Deck.

The Space Race, prompted by the Cold War rivalry between the Soviet Union and the US, is well documented in the second gallery, Go Fever. The intense rivalry provided much impetus for the rapid progress made by both countries in  space exploration and resulted in the first manned flights and the eventual moon landing. A model of Sputnik, the first satellite, which started the Space Race in earnest is on display. The early lead that the Soviets took is also seen in several rarely seen Soviet space artefacts and in a remembrance of the first human in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

A model of Sputnik – the very first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union. The reflection on it is that of Go Fever, the second gallery.

The Soviet Space programme put the first man in Space – Yuri Gagarin, who is remembered in Go Fever.

Soviet space programme artefacts – including a briefcase carried by Yuri Gagarin into space.

The exhibition has three other galleries, Pioneers, Endurance and Innovation – tracing the evolution of rocket technology, how the challenges of space travel were overcome and how ground breaking technologies have been created through the programme. There is also a rather interesting art installation, The Indonesia Space Science Society by Indonesian artist, Venzha Christ that includes a 3 metre sculpture and invites visitors to listen to space.

A scale-model of the very long Saturn V rocket.

The Jupiter nose cone – launched into space and recovered from the sea – the experimental nose cone was a crucial step in development of re-entry vehicles – necessary for manned space flights.

Titan I LR-87 rocket engine.

The installation by Venzha Christ.

A highlight of the exhibition is the G-Force Astronaut Trainer ride, which simulates the flight of the 1961 Liberty Bell 7 with forces of up to 2G. The ride takes up to four and costs $6 on weekdays (Mondays to Thursdays) and $9 during the weekends.

The G-Force Astronaut Trainer Ride.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the ArtScience Museum is also running the Art and Science of Space season. Several programmes are lined up including an Insights Tour during the opening weekend, given by Jukka Nurminen – an avid aeronautics enthusiast and the producer and curator of the exhibition. Two sessions will be held at 11.30am  lasting an hour on 19 and 20 Nov, which will be complimentary to ticket holders but limited to 25 per session (stickers will be given out 5 minutes before the tour begins). There are also public guided tours on 25 Nov at 3-4pm and on 27 Nov at 11.30am-12.30pm. A series of workshops will also be held. The exhibition runs until 19 March 2017 and more information on it, its programmes and ticketing can be found at the exhibition’s website.

Jukka Nurminen, Producer and Curator of the exhibition.

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More exhibits:

Spacesuits.

A Soviet lunar vehicle.

Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle.

Moon rock collection case, bags, a glove and a boot.

An Apollo survival kit.

Command compartment of a Gemini Spacecraft.

A command module.

Apollo Command Module.

Space Shuttle front section.

An actual unused leg for the Apollo lunar landing module

Film shot by Apollo astronauts.

A Hasselblad camera of the type used for lunar operations.

TV camera of type used for lunar operations.

Lithium hydroxide canister for removing carbon dioxide. This featured in the Apollo 13 near tragedy that left the Command Module with limited electricity supply. To save power in the Command Module that was crucial for reentry, the Lunar Module was kept attached as a “lifeboat”. The Lunar Module did not have sufficient LiOH canisters and ground engineers very quickly found a way make join the rectangular canisters from the Command Module to the cylindrical canisters of the Lunar Module.

An flight computer – which weighed about 100 kg.

A photograph of the Apollo Lunar Module.

A replica of the module with the triangular window seen in the photograph above.

An actual Command Module parachute for descent back to earth – notice the burns from reentry on it.

A heavily built Command Module front hatch.

Models of Hubble and the ISS.

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Cate Blanchett visits a gem of an exhibition in Singapore

A gem of an exhibition – literally, Van Cleef & Arpels: The Art and Science of Gems, opens at the ArtScience Museum today.  Brought in by the famed Parisian house of high jewellery, with the participation of the French National Museum of Natural History, the drool-worthy exhibition see over 400 of Van Cleef & Arpels’ exquisite works of love as well as 250 minerals from the Natural History Museum’s extensive collection.

Model of the Varuna Yacht, c. 1907.

Founded in 1906, the Maison’s beginnings is in itself a work of love, following on the 1895 marriage of Estelle Arpels – the daughter of a dealer in precious stones to Alfred Van Cleef, the son of a lapidary and diamond broker. Together with Estelle’s brothers, they opened their first boutique at 22 Place Vendôme – an address that the house maintains to this day in serving a clientele that has over the years included the likes of Maharajahs, Queens, Princes and Princesses.

A replica of the crown created by the Maison for the coronation of Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran.

The house’s rich history is one of the main themes of the exhibition, an introduction to which is given to visitors as they enter. The entrance is also where one of the Maison’s iconic pieces and one of my favourite pieces at the exhibition, a pendant with a flying bird carrying a huge 96.62 carat yellow diamond once owned by Polish opera singer and socialite, Gianna Walska, is showcased. The piece, commissioned by the then new owner of the diamond in 1971 to celebrate the birth of her son, adorned the cover of the Van Cleef & Arpels catalogue in 1972, where it was seen flying over the Place Vendôme. The piece is also transformable – a feature in many of the house’s pieces with the bird becoming a pair of winged earrings and the diamond worn as a pendant.

An iconic masterpiece, Van Cleef and Arpels’ Bird Clip and Pendant, which features a 96.62 carat yellow diamond once owned by Polish opera singer Gianna Walska, greets visitors to the exhibition.

Beyond the bird that flew over the Place Vendôme, the exhibition proper is arranged across eight galleries, which are all full of delight and discovery, seven of which have displays of Van Cleef and Arpels’ creations arranged according to seven themes: Couture, Abstractions, Influences, Precious Objects, Nature, Ballerinas and Fairies and Icons.   Each gallery also contains a parallel exhibition relating to the science of precious stones and feature gems and minerals from the French National Museum of Natural History’s renowned collection. These are arranged according to eight themes, representing the Earth and the seven major principles critical to the formation of precious stones: Pressure, Temperature, Transport, Water, Oxygen, Life and Metamorphism.

A 21,560 carat blue topaz crystal from the French National Museum of Natural History’s collection.

Also from the French National Museum of Natural History’s collection – one of the largest uncut black diamonds to be found.

A diamond encrusted in a stone.

Amongst the seven galleries, one that I found particularly interesting was Influences in which the fascination Europe had with the orient that started in the 1920s, is seen in the pieces on display – some of which are very recent creations.

Griffon Clip, 1971 with amethysts, coral, emeralds, diamonds on gold.

Dragon vanity case, 1923.

Dragon mystérieux clip, 2013 featuring garnets, emeralds, Mystery set rubies, sapphires and diamonds on gold.

Carpe Koi bracelet watch, 2014.

Table Clock, 1957.

Egyptian Inspiration Bracelet, 1924, which features sapphires, rubies, emeralds, onyx and diamonds on platinum.

An especially delightful gallery is Ballerinas and Fairies, featuring ballerina clips that were born out of Louis Arpels’ passion for dance dating back to the early 1940s. The dainty and exquisitely crafted clips feature gemstone laden tutus  – which have grown shorter with time. The clips also have very fine details in the rose-cut diamond faces crowned with headrests of precious stones and gemstone dancing shoes.

The dainty Ballerinas and Fairies clips will delight any visitor.

Another area worth dwelling (not that the others aren’t) has to be the last gallery, Icons. Here is where several the icons  of the twentieth century ranging from royalty and to stars of the silver screen, have icons of the Maison created for them, displayed. This part of the collection includes several pieces made for the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Faiza of Egypt and starlet turned princess, Grace Kelly of Monaco.

A 1929 collaret created for Princess Faiza of Egypt – on display for the very first time.

There are also several programmes being held in conjunction with the exhibition to look forward to including a talk at 2pm today on gemology and artistry. Punlic guided tours are also available on 23, 24, 29, 30 April and 2, 6, 8 13, 15, 20 and 27 May, 3, 10 , 17 and 24 June. A workshop on gemstones is also being held. The exhibition runs until 14 August 2016. More information on the exhibition, as well as a downloadable audio app, can be found at: The Art and Science of Gems website.

A surprise visitor to the exhibition – the beautiful Cate Blanchett.

The wild rose minaudière, 1938, inspired by a cigarette box.

Beauty isn’t only skin deep

There is nothing like the sheer elegance of a well crafted article of leather, especially one that comes from a house that has a long tradition of fine craftsmanship in skins. The house, Hermès, which had its beginnings as a master harness-maker and later as saddlemakers, has just that. Founded in Paris in 1837 by Thierry Hermès, the house has come a long way in the business of creating and crafting fine objects of desire from some of the most beautiful skins in the world.

Inside Hermès’ wonderful Little Room of Wanders at Empress Place – a rare show of objects from Emile Hermès’ collection which is now a source of inspiration for the house’s designers.

As a treat specially crafted for this jubilee year, the house gives us in Singapore an opportunity to step into the world of fine leather craftsmanship in a exhibition Leather Forever that runs from 25 October to 13 December at the ArtScience Museum. The exhibition, which also includes a prelude to it at the Little Room of Wanders at Empress Place, takes visitors through some of the inspirations behind its creations, to the art and craft of leather working and to the house’s intriguing range of products that include some rather quirky looking items from its Special Orders  Workshop.

A side facing saddle designed to seat a woman in the Little Room of Wanders.

Equestrian objects such as spurs feature in the collection.

A intricately decorated trunk from Spain.

The Little Room of Wanders offers a rare peek into Emile Hermès’ collection.

Especially fascinating is Hermès’ Little Room of Wanders which contains a rare public display of a selection of objects from the incredible collection of Emile Hermès, the grandson of the founder. Emile Hermès, who took over the business in the early 1900s, had spent a lifetime assembling some a 15,000 item collection. Now housed in the private by-appointment-only Emile Hermès Museum, the collection of  objects of art, equestrian objects, ingenious mechanisms, books and the most unusual of knick-knacks has since become a source of inspiration for Hermès’ designers.

A camera shaped flask in the collection.

A close-up of a saddle from China.

A travel case in the collection.

The exhibition proper, Leather Forever, at the ArtScience Musuem is also well worth a look at. This starts with visitors having a look at some of the background work in Hermès’ creations in its leather reserve seen in the Savoire Faire section. Here an introduction is give to the classification, cutting and assembly of skins. What must certainly be a treat will be a chance to see artisans, flown specially in from the house’s Parisian workshops, at work in recreating some of the house’s iconic leather bags.

An artisan from Hermès’ Paris workshop at work at the ArtScience Museum.

Part of Hermès’ Leather Reserve.

A demo of how the leather is prepared for cutting.

Finished objects of desire.

Speaking of icons, a selection of the house’s range of its legendary Kellys and Birkins, are also conspicuously on show along with variations as well as other leather crafted objects that the house’s icons have inspired. Among the variations of the Kelly, which was re-christened after Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco used it famously to conceal her pregnancy from the paparazzi, or as the house puts it, as a bodyguard for the future Princess Caroline, are five Kellydoll bags on display designed to each represent each decade of Singapore’s independence.

Variations on the legendary Kelly.

Horsing around with a rocking Kelly.

One of the five Kellydoll bags designed to each represent a decade of Singapore’s independence.

The exhibitions are opened from 10am to 7pm from Saturday to Thursday and from 10am to 9pm on Friday and admission is free. More information on them can be found at http://lfe.hermes.com/sg/en.

The first ever bag with a zipper, aka the “Hermès Fastener,” fitted to it. Emile Hermès held a patent for the zipper which was fitted to a bag designed to be quickly secured for the age of the automobile.

A saddle leather bustier designed Jean Paul Gaultier for Hermès (notice the Kelly inspired straps).

A baseball glove out of the Special Orders Workshop.

An apple carrier (complete with knife and holder) on loan from its owner who commissioned it to allow him to carry his apple a day.

A gift commissioned in 1947 by the Duke of Windsor for Wallis Simpson, a leather wheelbarrow, inspired by the Duke’s observation that the duchess already had “wheelbarrows” of fragrances and gloves.

A winged saddle made at Hermès Sellerie workshop.

Zouzou, a ostrich skin rhino created by Leïla Menchari for the windows of the 24 Faubourg Saint Honoré store in 1978 at the entrance to the exhibition.

The exhibition gives visitors a chance to horse around.

A case of miniatures.

A door bolt inspired fastener.

A flight of fancy on a motorcycle.

Travel cases from the days when the romance of travel was at its height.

A travel wardrobe.

A dance inspired leather bag.

The art and science of bringing an ogre to life

Animation has allowed many a tale to be spun in which the unlikeliest of heroes take centre-stage. This is especially so in the last two decades with the availability of the computing power required to allow CGI animation to give scenes and characters a much greater degree of realism. We now have a chance in Singapore to see what how DreamWorks Animation, one of the studios at the forefront of animation, in bringing endearing characters such as a love struck ogre and a round kung-fu kicking panda to life, at Dreamworks Animation: The Exhibition. The exhibition, which opened at the ArtScience Museum over the weekend, will be a treat not just for animation fans, but also anyone and everyone who has watched any of DreamWorks’ wonderful creations.

Mr Chris Harris of ACMI, the ArtScience Museum’s Ms Honor Harger and Mr Doug Cooper of DreamWorks Animation.

Curated by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), the exhibition, which is divided into three main galleries, also offers the visitor lots of opportunities to have a feel for some of the processes involved in animation for themselves, through its interactive components. One that will certainly be a hit would be the Face Poser interactive station. Here, visitors can play around at manipulating facial features such as furrowing a brow or raising an eyebrow of a character to give different facial expressions and show different emotions.

The Face Poser.

There also is an opportunity to have a feel of the software used by DreamWorks’ animators at another interactive station in the Drawing Room. This will allow visitors to create a short 2D animation sequence with the aid of a tutorial.

Mr Doug Cooper at the Drawing Room.

The exhibition proper, which is on its first stop of an intended five-year international tour, takes visitors through the process of how characters are developed and how they evolve from 2D sketches to what we see on the screen in the Character gallery, how the story is developed and sold in the Story gallery, and finally how the magical worlds – the wonderful scenes that give a flavour to the films are woven around the characters and the story, in the World gallery.

A recreation of a DreamWorks Animation studio real-life workspace.

In the Character, we are also introduced to how the development of characters have evolved with the advances in computing, with the display of sketches, the marquettes that were used to develop 3D images prior to this being done completely on the computer screen, as well as in-depth interviews that are screened.

The Character gallery with its display of marquettes and sketches that depict the evolution of some of the popular characters.

A recreation of another DreamWorks Animation studio real-life workspace.

The Story gallery is where one finds what I thought was one of the more interesting exhibits – a digital storyboard at which visitors can catch a very animated Conrad Vernon, doing a pitch for the “Interrogating Gingy” scene in Shrek. The filmmaker was apparently so convincing that DreamWorks had him lend voice the gingerbread man his voice.

Catch Conrad Vernon doing his pitch for Interrogating Gingy.

The World gallery, the largest section, is where the work of directors, designers and concept artists converge and where we have a look at some of the thoughts that go into the scenes. It is also where another of the exhibition’s must-dos, Dragon Flight: A Dragon’s-Eye view of Berk, a panoramic ride on the back of Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon over Berk across a 40-foot 180 degree projection, specially made for the exhibition, can be viewed.

Dragon Flight (photo: Marina Bay Sands / Mark Ashkanasy).

There will be lots of other programmes and activities during the exhibition period, including screenings of some of our favourite DreamWorks’ films. More information on the exhibition, including a full list of programmes and on ticketing can be found at the exhibition page on the ArtScience Museum’s website.

For the kids – an activity that introduces the basics of animation.

What lurks in the depths of the oceans

Yet another great exhibition, The Deep, has opened at the ArtScience Museum. Running from over the last weekend, the exhibition takes us on an exploration of a part of the world to which few have ventured, the darkest depths of inner space. Inhabited by creatures whose appearances might suggest they are the products of an overactive imagination, the deepest depths is where fewer men have found themselves in as compared to outer space.

A Giant Isopod specimen.

Coming face to face with a Murray’s abyssal anglerfish specimen.

Curated by Claire Nouvian of BLOOM Association, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to have a glimpse into the abyssal world in which light, as we see it, cannot exist. There is an attempt to recreate the darkness through the pitch black setting visitors are placed into immediately after stepping into the exhibition.

A glowing sucker octopus.

Another anglerfish specimen.

Before taking the gradual plunge into the depths through the different exhibition zones, the visitor is first provided with an introduction to the world below us through Hidden/Depths. An interactive art installation, the artist Lynette Wallworth, incorporates specimens of some never before seen deep-sea creatures into 18 luminescent glass sculptures. An introduction is also provided to bio-luminescence, light produced by some 90% of the creatures of the deep as a means to communicate and to lure prey.

Claire Nouvian of BLOOM Association speaking at the media preview.

Lynette Wallworth.

An interactive introduction to bio-luminescence.

The exhibition proper starts has visitors descend to zone between 150 and 600 metres (in Zone A) in which less than 1% of the light of day filters through to. This is an area where life is in abundance and yet is also an area dangerous to life. Then comes a descent into total darkness, first into the red zone between 600 and 1000 metres (in Zone B), where one finds animals in many shades of red. The red colour, interestingly, gives these creatures the ability to cloak the blue-green bio-luminescent emissions of the prey being consumed.

A pair of radiolarians – skeletons formed by a colony of unicellular organisms in Zone A.

Lobster Larvae.

An introduction to the red sea creatures of the zone between 600 and 1000 metres deep.

One of which is the shrouded vampire squid.

Next up is the very cold waters beneath in the zone beneath 1000 metres (Zone C). At a kilometre down, the water temperature does not go beyond 4 degrees Celsius. Sources of food here are scarce, and literally are the crumbs that fall off from the tables of the higher ups – leftovers of the frenzy of feeding on the way down to the sea floor. Only 10 submersibles in the world are able to reach such depths.

An anglerfish larvae in an oil filled bubble that allows it to ascend to a shallower food rich waters before descending into the deep as they mature.

The bottom of the sea (in Zone D: Bottom of the ocean) is next up. Here a layer of mud – thought to be hundreds of metres thick, covers the sea floor above which a diversity of creatures exceeding that of the Amazon and the Great Barrier Reef put together, is suspected to roam.

Taxidermist, Allan Gottini.

The last two zones are where we are introduced to biodiversity and also the toxic oases built around parts of the seabed where hydrothermal vents form. This is where chemosynthesis (as opposed to photosynthesis) allows life to thrive in environments in a mineral rich environment in which gases such as methane and and toxic hydrogen sulfide can be transformed into organic matter by bacteria.

A look at life in the toxic oases.

The scale of hydrothermal formations can be seen against a silhouette of a submersible in one of the photographs.

One of the highlight of the exhibition is probably the Krøyer’s deep-sea anglerfish specimen. The specimen is evidence of a world in which the male loses its heart and senses, literally, to the female as it becomes a sex-slave of sorts once it has found a mate. On the specimen, visitors will do well to spot the male, a fraction of the size of the dominant female. While the female can reach more than a metre in length, the male (seen attached to the bottom of the specimen) can be 60 times smaller and once attached, becomes a parasite to to the female, losing its ability to feed, as well as it brain, heart and eyes and is effectively reduced to a pair  of gonads.

The female Krøyer’s deep-sea anglerfish specimen with the male (the protrusion at the bottom of its belly) attached.

Visitors to the exhibition can also look forward to several programmes including guided tours (in English at 3.30 pm on Fridays, 11.30 am on Saturdays and 5 pm on Sundays and in Mandarin on Saturdays and Sundays and on 17 July at 4pm). Activities also include  Making Space in which recycled materials are used to make an anglerfish (which can glow for $4 through the use of a battery operated UV LED) and a Cyanotype Creatures Workshop to create artwork using the cyanotype photographic technique at the cost of $5. The exhibition is scheduled to run until November 2015. More information on the exhibition and programmes associated with it can be found at the ArtScience Musuem’s The Deep.

When the lights go out

Last evening wasn’t what I would call a typical Monday evening. In some rather untypical company, after the lights went off, I stood waiting for a box containing a 15th century lady to be opened, showing little of the trepidation my irrational fears of the dark would typically have invoked; the promise the evening held was an unveiling of the lady’s exquisite beauty for her debut in Singapore.

A Portrait of a Lady, attributed to Ambrogio de Predis, an associate of Leonardo da Vinci.

Delicate but yet well preserved, the beauty of the lady of nobility, is one that is beautifully captured by an associate of Leonardo da Vinci,  Ambrogio de Predis. The portrait, one of several masterpieces from the da Vinci school that is making an appearance in Marina Bay Sands’ ArtScience Museum, as part of the Da Vinci: Shaping the Future exhibition that runs until May 2015. While the highlight of the exhibition is perhaps the pages out of da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus from Milan’s Biblioteca Ambrosiana’s collection, the masterpieces the Ambrosiana has brought over, also deserve much attention.

Unscrewing the lid on the outer box in which the painting is packed for shipment. Paintings are packed into two boxes.

The rather uninspiringly named “Portrait of a Lady” that had until the 19th century been attributed to da Vinci himself, goes on display for the first time from today. It is part of a changeover of inspiring art work and pages of the Codex at the midway point of the exhibition, made necessary by a three-month limit on exposing the original works, following which they have to be returned to the dark.

Lifting the lid on the inner box.

For a opportunity to celebrate beauty as expressed  in oil and to be awed by the genius of da Vinci contained in the pages of the Codex Atlanticus, do visit this wonderful look at what the museum refers to as history’s foremost ArtScientist, Leonardo da Vinci. The exhibition interestingly, also sees models of da Vinci’s innovative ideas on display.  The exhibition ends in May 2015. For more information and ticketing details, do visit the ArtScience Museum’s website.

Removing the artwork, which is wrapped in acid-free paper.

Unwrapping the painting.

The painting is examined for damage after being unpacked by an expert from Biblioteca Ambrosiana. A report of an examination prior to packing is used as reference.

Examining the details.

Once the expert is satisfied, the art work can be displayed.

The painting, seen with one of the paintings that has been taken down for storage, Saiai’s St. John the Baptist.

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More on the changeover (Art Science Museum Press Release):

Singapore (11 February 2015) – ArtScience Museum today unveiled its eagerly-anticipated renewal of the original masterpieces showcased at Da Vinci: Shaping the Future, as the exhibition approaches the second half of its run. The refreshed displays include a new collection of 13 original pages of the Codex Atlanticus, da Vinci’s largest notebook, and three new paintings from the School of da Vinci.

As part of the renewed collection, visitors will have the rare opportunity to view a neverbefore-seen original Codex Atlanticus page, Drawings of Two Compasses. This folio features two drawings of intricately decorated compasses, which were important tools employed by da Vinci to determine the proportions of his machines and to mark designs on paper before he applied ink to his drawings.

Another beautifully illustrated page in the renewed collection is the Giant Crossbow, one of da Vinci’s most striking and celebrated folios from the Codex Atlanticus. Drawn with elaborate details and technical skill, the folio includes precise measurements of the machine’s components and a figure atop the machine to provide an indication of the scale.

The Giant Crossbow is a prime example of how da Vinci used his artistic skills to illustrate complex technical concepts.

“More than any other figure in history, Leonardo da Vinci represents the unity of art and science. Therefore, it is a great privilege to be able to bring a new collection of da Vinci’s masterpieces to ArtScience Museum, as part of this groundbreaking exhibition. What is particularly exciting for us is that one of the pages from the Codex Atlanticus, which arrived from Italy this week, is being shown in public for the very first time. We are grateful to have been able to work so closely with Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana to realise an exhibition that vividly illustrates how da Vinci’s genius, creativity, and systems thinking continue to inspire and shape the world we live in now,” said Ms. Honor Harger, executive director of ArtScience Museum.

Dr Irene Lee, co-curator, ArtCORP Pte Ltd, adds, “It has been an honour to be a part of this project and to bring the original works by da Vinci from Milan to Singapore. Singapore, like da Vinci, is very forward-thinking, and it is only fitting to have these masterpieces displayed in this innovative city.”

One of the new original paintings that will be on display is the visually arresting Portrait of a Lady. Donated to the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana in 1618, the painting was attributed to da Vinci until the 19th century. While the references to da Vinci are evident, such as the knotted golden braid on the lady’s garment, the mesmeric painting remains elusive as both its subject and author have yet to be confirmed despite generations of study by critics and scholars. While some leading scholars firmly attribute the painting to da Vinci and others favour a more prudent attribution, these controversies have never debased the work’s appeal, only increasing its mystery.

Other new paintings from the School of da Vinci that will be showcased are Christ Child with the Lamb by Bernardino Luini, the most famous Milanese painter in the early 16th century, and Adoration of the Child with Saint Roch by Giampietrino.

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An Ocean of Possibilities

In An Ocean of Possibilities, we may find a sea of change. A photography exhibition brought to Singapore through a collaboration between Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF) and Noorderlicht International Photo Festival in Groningen, An Ocean of Possibilities features the thought provoking works of 34 internationally acclaimed photographers who find unlikely forces for change in the midst of  the trials and tribulations of tragedy, conflict and upheaval.

Hands-on in finding out how a camera obscura works in An Ocean of Possibilities.

It is a theme that SIPF Festival Director, Gwen Lee, says that Singapore is no stranger to, having overcome many obstacles in charting its course through to an improved future. To Ms Lee,  the ocean “signifies a test of our courage, imagination and capabilities to take the path less trodden”, a path that is taken by the subject in the works.

The exhibition at the ArtScience Museum, which opened on 31 October 2014 and will run until 28 December, sees over 200 works – photographs and videos, on display. Among the photographs are the works of two Singaporeans, Zhao Renhui and Lim Weixiang in the 34 that have been selected from over 1000 submissions.

The works that I thought were especially provoking are those of Alex Masi, Ana Galan, Matthew O’Brien and Loulou d’Aki. Masi’s Bhopal Second Disaster is particularly so in examining the continuing fallout of the Bhopal disaster, 30 years on, through a series of haunting images. In all this, Masi finds hope in adversity, a hope that a population abandoned by those who should be making wrongs right, have found from within.

Photographs from Alex Masi’s Bhopal Second Disaster.

d’Aki also finds hope in the future – through the faces of the youth of the Middle East and in their dreams and ambitions in Make A Wish, while O’Brien finds beauty in the common folk of Colombia in lives where the threat of violence and misery is ever present through a series of Polaroids in No Dar Papaya. In Galan’s In a Quest for Utopia, we are made to take a look at a Myanmar, which in spite of democratic reforms, continues to be dominated by the politics of the past half a century. Galan’s work sees a homage paid to activists who in continuing a fight for freedom put their lives and their own personal freedom at risk.

Ana Galan’s portrait of Nay Yee Ba Swe with the words of Article 37 of the Burmese Constitution superimposed.

Polaroids from Matthew O’Brien’s No Dar Papaya.

Loulou d’Aki’s Make A Wish – hope for the future seen in the faces of the youth of the post Arab Spring Middle East.

A quite enjoyable part of the exhibition are the interactive activities that Hands On Lenses, curated by artscientist Isabella Desjeux, that visitors can participate in. Participants will be able to make their own magnifier, understand how a camera obscura works and use their smart phones to take photos of magnified objects. Hands On Lenses workshops will be conducted by Isabella Desjuex on 8 and 9 and 22 November, 13 and 20 December. In addition to this, Marina Bay Sands’ resident photographers will be conducting two courses, Photographing Stories on 23 and 30 November and Shooting Travel Photos like a Pro on 13 December.

Hands on Lenses.

In addition to this, ArtScience Museum will also be organising a free symposium on 8 November, Digital Frontiers: Exploring the context of Digital Imaging. This will see academic experts in the art and science field, Dr Vasillios Vonikakis from Advanced Digital Sciences Center and Associate Prof Oh Soon-Hwa from Nanyang Technological University exploring how digital photography has changed our perception of images today. The session will also include a discussion on how technological advances have spurred greater progress in key areas within the artistic and scientific domains.

More information on the exhibition and workshops can be found at the ArtScience Museum’s site and also the SIPF website. A exhibition guide can be downloaded here.

Annie Leibovitz at the ArtScience Museum

On now at the ArtScience Museum is Annie Leibovitz – A Photographer’s Life, 1990 – 2005, a retrospective showcase featuring some 200 works of celebrated photographer Annie Leibovitz. The exhibition, which made its debut in Brooklyn in 2006, offers visitors a glimpse not just at works that will instantly be recognisable, but also right into the personal side of Ms. Leibovitz’s life with many portraits of the people who she had been close to.

Annie Leibovitz, through the crowd of reporters and photographers at the ArtScience Museum.

It is the people who are close to you – staying close to home, that Ms Leibovitz advises photographers to do. It was one of several insights provided by her as she brought guests on a preview of her exhibition earlier this week, during which she spoke not only about some of the famous images such as that of the pregnant Demi Moore, but also about what is found in some of her more personal work. It is from this personal side that we were to discover her favourite is from – a photograph she took of her mother, an unsmiling portrait of which her father was initially rather critical of.

Annie Leibovitz on her favourite photograph – an unsmiling portrait that she took of her mother.

A rather interesting story that Ms Leibovitz did share was of  infamous portraits that she took of Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 – a commission she got some 5 years after she had first written to the British monarch’s press secretary for an unrelated shoot. The press secretary had remembered the letter when on the look out for an American photographer to take portraits of the Queen in the lead up to an intended visit to the US – which Ms. Leibovitz does say can be a lesson in perseverance. The shoot during which the Queen wasn’t apparently in the best of moods, did in the eyes of Ms Leibovitz, show the sense of duty that the Queen did have.

Annie Leibovitz on her portrait of the Queen.

Annie Leibovitz – A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005, which has toured the US, Europe, Sydney, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sydney and Seoul, will be on at the ArtScience Museum from 18 April until 19 October 2014. More information on the exhibition and on ticketing can be found at the ArtScience Museum’s site.

Many instantly recognisable works of Ms. Leibovitz are on display.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the ArtScience Museum will be running a series of Portraiture Photography courses starting in June 2014. The courses aim to offer enthusiasts with a keen interest in portraiture photography a better understanding of the techniques and approaches to capturing the portraits. The courses, over seven weekends from June to October 2014, will be conducted by Steven Yee, a trainer with Knowledge Bowl Training and Consultancy and are priced at S$200 per course, booking for which can be made from 23 April 2014 through all Marina Bay Sands ticketing channels:

• Course 1: Portrait photography using available lighting and artificial lighting [14 and 15 June; 13 and 14 September]
• Course 2: Candid and formal portrait photography [28 and 29 June; 27 and 28 September]
• Course 3: On location styling (lighting, make-up, styling, posing) [16 and 17 August]
• Course 4: Documentary portraiture (informal photography in settings) [12 and 13 July; 18 and 19 October]

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Annie Leibovitz at the ArtScience Museum

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A walk 600 million years back in time

What promises to be huge not just from a perspective of the size of its exhibits, the Dinosaurs: Dawn to Extinction exhibition will open this Saturday 25 January 2014 at the ArtScience Museum. The museum at Marina Bay Sands has once again outdone itself in bringing to Singapore an impressively well curated exhibition that provides not just a visual feast, but also one that provides an immersive and stimulating experience.

Along the walkway.

From a media preview of the exhibition yesterday I was privileged to have been invited to, I was transported back not just to the age of the dinosaurs that the exhibition aims to take the visitor to, but also to my days of fascination as a child with the huge creatures that once dominated the earth. With some than 400 fossils and models, the scale of the exhibition is particularly impressive as is the content it provides the visitor.

Exhibits include coprolites – fossilised ‘droppings’ that provide insights into diets.

Coprolites exhibited strategically outside the washrooms.

Curated by world renowned paleontologist, Dr. Patricia Vickers-Rich, who did admit to not having that childhood fascination with dinosaurs at yesterday’s preview that most would have assumed she would have had, the ArtScience Museum’s exhibition does actually bring together exhibits from the collections of four different exhibitions. The four collections are from the American Museum of Natural History, San Juan National Science Museum, SCI! Expo at Monash University and artist Peter Trusler.

Dr. Patricia Vickers-Rich at the media preview.

The exhibition is spread out over eight galleries in the museum’s basement, occupying a floor area of over 3,700 square metres is the largest exhibition there to date. It takes the visitor back not just to the age of the dinosaurs, but also to the dawn of life some 600 million years ago in the Precambrian age. This however is not before the visitor is first given an impression of the scale of the dinosaurs along the walkway to the exhibition’s entrance and being welcomed, by sound and then sight to dinner – as food for a herd of or rather four of their fossils,  upon entry.

Visitors can appreciate the scale of the larger dinosaurs along the walkway to the entrance.

One from herd of Herrerasaurus that greets visitors at the exhibition’s entrance.

The Precambrian gallery.

Beside the many imposing recreations of dinosaurs and their skeletons spanning the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, the highlight for me was being able to go up close to real fossils – one of which is a newly discovered fossil of an, uncovered in Argentina as recently as in September 2013. Dr Vickers-Rich was keen to also stress that it is rare that a newly discovered fossil such as this, is allowed to be moved out of its country, and visitors to the exhibition will have the privilege of seeing this (as well several other never exhibited fossils) on display for the first time.

The recently dsicovered fossil of the Adeopapposaurs.

Beside the many imposing recreations of dinosaurs and their skeletons spanning the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, the highlight for me was being able to go up close to real fossils – one of which is a newly discovered fossil of an Adeopapposaurs, uncovered in Argentina as recently as in September 2013. Dr Vickers-Rich was keen to also stress that it is rare that a newly discovered fossil such as this, is allowed to be moved out of its country, and visitors to the exhibition will have the privilege of seeing this (as well several other never exhibited fossils) on display for the first time. Visually, I also enjoyed a diorama in the Chapter 5 gallery, Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, of the American Museum of Natural History section – a recreation of the Liaoning forest, which also provides an insight to the various extinction theories.

The Liaoning forest diorama.

Visitors can also look forward to a host of programmes and activities being held in conjunction with the exhibition including the opportunity to meet and hear from Dr. Patricia Vickers-Rich and other experts over the opening weekend (25-26 January 2014) – see below.

Very small dinosaurs such as this model of the skeleton of a foot long Chaliminia can also be seen.

Those intending to visit the exhibition can also download a free mobile application designed by the museum to  deepen the engagement and enhance visitor experience. The ‘Dawn2Extinction’ app is available in English and Simplified Chinese and features augmented reality experiences, animation and interactive games. The app is available for download now on iPhone 4 and 5, iPod touch, and Android phones.

The exhibition runs from  25 January to 27 July 2014. More information and ticketing details can be found at the ArtScience Museum’s website.

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Opening weekend activities:

Special Guided Tours

(25 and 26 January 2014; 12:30pm, 1.30pm and 4:30pm; beginning at the first gallery of Dinosaurs: Dawn to Extinction)

Embark on a guided tour to explore the living habits of dinosaurs and be introduced to the extraordinary creatures that roamed the earth. Gain insight into how the paintings of dinosaurs and their surroundings displayed at the exhibition were reconstructed through leveraging scientific evidence.

Exhibition Talk – The Paleontological Camera

(25 January 2014; 2.30pm to 4pm; held at Expression Gallery, Level 4 of ArtScience Museum)

Curator Dr. Patricia Vickers-Rich and artist Peter Trusler talk about their collaboration to bring to life visuals from as far back as 600 million years ago through their “paleontological camera”.

Exhibition Talk – The Origins of Dinosaurs

(25 January 2014; 5.30pm to 6.30pm; held at Expression Gallery, Level 4 of ArtScience Museum)

Learn about the fascinating origins of dinosaurs through an illustrated talk presented by Dr. Oscar Alcober, Director of San

Programmes/Workshops:

Shadow Puppets Alive!

Visitors can try their hands at creating their own Bullockornis or Megalania shadow puppet to bring home.

A day in the life of a Paleontologist

Visitors who aspire to be or wish to understand the work of a paleontologist can take part in a hands-on demonstration. During the demonstration, members of the audience will have numerous opportunities to participate, including handling tools and specimens, cleaning fossils, identifying bones and making a plaster cast from a dinosaur’s footprint

Stop Motion Dinosaur Wipe-out!

Film and dinosaur enthusiasts can create their own stop motion animation based on one of the main theories of mass dinosaur extinction: asteroid impact, climate change or volcanic eruptions.

Dinosaur Tale

Presented by local puppet theatre company, Paper Monkey Theatre, visitors will be taken on a journey of how animal life adapted over 600 million years, presented through magical puppetry.

Sketch-a-fossil

A drawing workshop conducted by Isabelle Desjeux, a scientist turned artist, who brings fossils to life by having visitors draw them in detail and placing the art piece in a pre-historic landscape.

Sculpture Fun

Visitors can try their hands at carving their own sculpted fossil, be it a shell or bone, out of soap to bring home.

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Free admission to Essential Eames at the ArtScience Museum this weekend!

Marina Bay Sands celebrates National Day weekend with free admission to Essential Eames

More on the exhibition, Essential Eames: A Herman Miller Exhibition  – Essentially Eames

Fabrics designed by the Eames.

Marina Bay Sands will commemorate Singapore’s 48th birthday by offering free admission to its newest exhibition at ArtScience Museum from Friday, 9 August till Sunday, 11 August.  Over this National Day weekend, the admission price for Essential Eames: A Herman Miller Exhibition, will be waived for all visitors.  The daily operating hours for ArtScience Museum are 10am-10pm.

 “We’re pleased to extend this special offer to ring in National Day,” said ArtScience Museum Associate Director Ross Leo.  “Whether it’s the first time visiting our latest exhibition or a return trip to see it again, this is an experience not to be missed – and an opportunity we’re excited to make available.  We look forward to welcoming all visitors to ArtScience Museum this National Day weekend.”

The Essential Eames exhibition brings to life the story of design duo Charles and Ray Eames through over 100 of their works and images culled from the collections of the Eames family, Eames Office, and Herman Miller.  The exhibition showcases a number of rare and never-before-seen works and images. Highlights include a special chair designed for Pope John Paul II; the fun and educational toy House of Cards and groundbreaking films including ‘Glimpses of the USA’ and ‘Powers of Ten’.

Over the long National Day weekend, visitors to Marina Bay Sands can also look forward to an array of entertainment, leisure and dining options on property. All 300 boutiques and restaurants at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands will also be operating from 10am until midnight from 7-10 August – perfect for late-night shoppers and party-goers.

The iconic property also offers many great vantage points to view all the action from the National Day Parade on 9 August.

 The Sands SkyPark Observation Deck, located on the 57th storey of the hotel, offers an exceptional view for the public who wish to catch the fighter jets and state flag fly past, complete with fireworks display. One can also simply soak up the festivities at the outdoor Event Plaza, which offers another vantage point to view the fireworks up close while dining along the waterfront promenade.

Essentially Eames

A rather compelling exhibition currently running at the ArtScience Museum which I was able to visit at the kind invitation of the museum is one which takes an in-depth look into the creative geniuses that are Charles and Ray Eames, long considered to be the first couple of design. The exhibition, Essential Eames: A Herman Miller Exhibition, which runs from 29 June 2013 to 5 January 2014 and is co-presented by renowned furniture maker Herman Miller and the ArtScience Museum in collaboration with the Eames Office, is one curated by the couple’s grandson Eames Demetrios based on a book he wrote, An Eames Primer.

From the Eames collection – the Eames were known to be collectors of many objects.

The Eameses are well known for their furniture design.

The exhibition, which  is certainly a must visit for anyone with a keen interest in the art of creative design, and for anyone else who takes delight in seeing and gaining insights into well-designed everyday objects and design concepts, includes a showcase of very recognisable furniture pieces designed by the couple – one which also provides an appreciation of the couple’s keen sense in the exploitation of the properties of different materials for use in their designs. The materials used range from fabrics, metals to moulded plywood – a technique Charles Eames himself developed and perfected in making moulded plywood splints in 1942 for the U.S. Navy during World War II. The technique was employed in the making of the iconic Lounge Chair Wood originally designed in 1945 for the Barclays Hotel in New York.

Moulded stackable plywood splints made for the U.S. Navy.

The iconic moulded plywood Lounge Chair Wood.

One moulded wood piece which did also catch my eye was a moulded plywood glider seat – designed in 1943 for the U.S. Navy, which was also to help the Eameses master the moulding of plywood. The seat on display we were told is currently valued at US $1 million.

The moulded plywood glider seat.

Besides the moulded plywood chairs – of which I am a huge fan of for the eye-catching and clean forms, there are also furniture made of other materials including metals  such as the wire-chair, designed to be lightweight and for outdoor use.

A mock-up of an advertising window with the Eames Wire Chair and bird sculpture.

Interestingly, there also are several timeless furniture pieces from the Herman Miller furniture collection including the Nelson Marshmallow Sofa which was designed in 1956 by George Nelson and Irving Harper, using injection plastic discs which an inventor thought could be produced inexpensively and was durable. Nelson, who  was the Director of Design at Herman Miller under whose supervision Charles and Ray Eames was to come under,arranged 18 of the discs on a steel frame to create the Marshmallow sofa which Herman Miller was to manufacture.

The Nelson Marshmallow Sofa.

Beyond furniture, there is also much to discover at the exhibition’s other galleries about the range of the creative genius of the couple – who met while Charles was teaching at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and Ray was a student, inlcuding what they applied in architecture, exhibition design, toy making, photography, film and philosophy.  In architecture, we are able to have a look at the “Eames House” or “Case Study House No. 8” – designed by the couple as part of the Case Study House programme for John Entenza’s Arts & Architecture magazine. The couple was, in 1949, to build the house they designed – for use as their home and studio – designed “for a married couple working in design and graphic arts, whose children were no longer living at home” which “would serve as a background for life in work and with nature as a shock absorber.”

The Eames House or Case Study House No. 8.

A peek into the Eames House.

The range of toys the Eames produced include the well-known House of Cards for which visitors can try their hands at. Other interactive activities at the exhibition include Essential Play where visitors can create their own small scale furniture, a Materials Trail, and a animal mask making activity for the young.

House of Cards.

An interactive activity for the young.

More from the Eames collection.

One exhibit which will certainly catch the attention of the visitor is at the Mathematica gallery where based on the original 1961 exhibit at the California Museum of Science and Industry where it remained on continuous display for 37 years are exhibits which explains complex mathematical concepts through simple forms. Here the visitor will find the mathematical concept of the Moebius band – a one-sided surface with only one side.

The Moebius Band.

The Eames design philosophy.

Vitra dolls designed by a close associate of Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard.

Fabrics designed by the Eameses.

Of the exhibits which I must say shows the range that the creative genius of the couple extended to, my personal favourite was the photographic work of Charles Eames. He certainly is one with a keen eye for photography and in the gallery – we see the clean and uncluttered images which is of great appeal to me. More information on the exhibition can be found at the ArtScience Museum’s website.

Photographs by Charles Eames.

Besides the visit to Essential Eames, the programme also included a visit to another must-see exhibition Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb, for which I already had the pleasure of seeing. Details of my previous visit to that exhibition can be found in a previous post. Another part of the programme I should not forget to mention was lunch – which was most kindly provided by SweetSpot Deli, which serves New York style deli sandwiches generously packed with fillings. My favourite was the corned beef. SweetSpot Deli opens from 8 am to 11 pm Sundays to Thursdays, and 8 am to 12 am Fridays, Saturdays and on the eve of public holidays and is located the Bay Level #01-30 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.

The mummy of Nesperennub at Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb.

Finding out mummy’s little secrets

From Saturday 27 April 2013, visitors to Marina Bay Sands’ ArtScience Museum will get to step some three thousand years back in time into the fascinating journey which is somehow filled with much intrigue and mystery that is taken by the ancient Egyptians into the netherworld.

A funerary stela at Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb. The exhibition provides visitors with a journey into the Ancient Egyptian netherworld.

The exhibition, for which the ArtScience Museum has partnered with the British Museum which has a long association with the study of Ancient Egypt and the world’s largest collection of objects from the period, is one that not only brings artefacts such as mummies, mummy cases, and funerary objects into a museum setting, but also peels away at the veneers which reveal the many secrets associated with the Egyptian view of the afterlife. A huge bonus is the opportunity the exhibition provides to look right inside a 3,000 year old mummy, that of a high priest of the Temple of Karnak, Nesperennub, through a 21 minute 3D movie which made its debut at a media conference held at the musuem yesterday, to discover the secrets that the well preserved mummy, still tightly wrapped in its elaborately made and decorate cartonnage cage, holds.

Step into the world of Ancient Egypt at the ArtScience Museum’s exhibition Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb.

The film which I thought is the highlight of the exhibition, is one that could only be made through state-of-the-art CT scanning technology. This allows a non-intrusive “unwrapping” of the mummy to be made without any damage to the cartonnage or the delicate tissues of the mummy itself and provides a better understanding of the priests life and death. The resulting 6,500 images that were produced during the extensive scanning was combined with computer visualisation techniques and made into the very insightful 3D film narrated by acclaimed actor Patrick Stewart. The film is included with the admission into the exhibition.

The mummy of Nesperennub – the subject of the 3D movie.

Mr Neal Spencer, Keeper of the British Museum; Mr Ross Leo Associate Director of the ArtScience Museum; and Dr John Taylor, Assistant Keeper of the British Museum at the media conference.

With more than 100 artefacts which includes 6 mummies on display, the exhibition is in itself one that will surely captivate. The printed backdrops at the first two of the five galleries, Ancient Egypt and Life in Ancient Egypt, takes the visitor into the world where the journey into the netherworld begins – the world of the living or at least the one which is visible to the living. The artefacts in these two galleries include replicas of the famous Rosetta Stone and the head of a statue of King Amenhotep III, as well as mummies of a cat, an ibis several figurines and a water receptacle and ladle that would have been used for purification rituals by a priest like Nesperennub

The Life in Ancient Egypt Gallery takes you into the world where the journey into the netherworld begins – in the land of the living.

Another view of the Life in Ancient Egypt Gallery – with its huge backdrops which take you right into Ancient Egypt.

A replica of the British Museum’s Head of Amenhotep III at Ancient Egypt.

A water receptacle.

The mummy of a cat.

And that of an ibis.

The key of life – an ankh.

A stela with the depiction of the god Amun-Ra.

The gallery which I found most intriguing is the Living Forever gallery – which looks at how the Egyptians send off the dead into the afterlife, what they provided for, and the beliefs and practices involved through the many interesting artefacts that are on display. One that was very interesting is a papyrus which is a page containing the judgement scene from the Book of the Dead – on which the concept of Judgement (a recurring theme in many religions) is seen from the Ancient Egyptian perspective where the heart which was thought to weigh as much as a person’s wrong doings upon death is balanced with a feather of truth.

A papyrus with the Judgement Scene from the Book of the Dead.

That concept also reveals a little more about some of the objects that would be placed in the mummy such as amulets meant to protect the spirit in afterlife. Mummification which involves the removal of the dead person’s organs and the preservation of them in jars or in the time of Nesperennub, wrapped in linen and placed back in the body cavity, would have left the heart preserved in place –  the heart was thought to be the most important organ (the brain was thought to be insignificant and was drained away). Among the amulets on display are several scarab beetle shaped ones representing the heart which are placed next to the organ, including one inscribed with a verse. These are designed to protect the heart at Judgement – so that it doesn’t reveal the misdeeds of the person.

Heart amulets (in the shape of the scarab beetle – thought to represent the heart) to protect the person during Judgement.

Another important item found in the tomb of those of higher status is that of the Shabti – small figurines which are servants bestowed on the dead person for his afterlife – so that work on the fields could be carried out by them and a coffin in which the figurines are placed in. Interestingly we find out, a total of 401 Shabti would accompany a person into afterlife – one for each day of the year plus additional ones required by the complex system of supervisors the Ancient Egyptians had in place to manage their servants.

Shabti on display.

A close-up of the Shabti.

Also on display in Living Forever, are several Stelae, as well as a few mummies including that of the linen wrapped mummy of Shepenmehyt, the mummy of Tjayasetimu in its cartonnage case, the mummy of Padiamenet, and a model of a funerary boat – used to carry the dead of high status down the Nile. An interesting thing I learnt in hearing about the boat was the practice of burying the dead on the western side as the sun sets in the west and it was the belief that it makes a journey through the netherworld

Round-topped funerary stela of a descendant of Takelot III.

Mummy of Padiamenet showing an undecorated extension at the foot of the cartonnage.

The inner coffin of Seni. At the time of Seni, the more well to do would have had their inner coffins encased in a stone outer coffin.

The mummy of Tjayasetimu in a cartonnage case, with the mummy of Shepenmehyt next to it.

The mummy of Shepenmehyt.

The model of a funerary boat with a spell translated from the Book of the Dead.

End of a wooden coffin.

It is in one or the two remaining galleries where an interactive area – the Embalmer’s Workshop can be found. That is where exhibition-related workshops included in the price of admission, are conducted. One of the workshops, The Secrets of Embalming, provides visitors with a demonstration of the very embalming and preservation process – which together with the very elaborate mummification process can take as long as 70 days to complete.

The Secrets if Embalming Workshop.

Showing how the brain is drained through the nasal passage using a brass hook like implement.

The other workshop, Amulets for the Afterlife, is one that would interest many. The hands-on workshop provides an opportunity to make clay-baked amulets – similar to the ones placed in the mummy or in the linen of the mummy as it is wrapped to protect it in its afterlife. The younger visitors might also be interested to know of the Activity Quest – which provides children of three different age ranges with the chance to take a journey through Ancient Egypt through a series of challenges in each of the galleries, armed with quest bags filled with tools for the mission – which families or school-groups can loan during the visit. The bags are aimed at children of three different age groups: those of ages between 3 and 6, primary school children of ages 7 to 12 and secondary school going children of ages 13 to 16.

A peek into the contents of the activity filled quest bag.

The last gallery, the Mummy of Nesperennub is where the story of his journey into the afterlife comes to its conclusion and where we find his mummy in a beautifully decorated cartonnage case, the coffin in which the mummy was placed in, as well as a reconstructed head of Nesperennub … a head you will find out why from the 3D movie, on which a clay bowl was attached to.

The coffin of Nesperennub.

Detail on the painted cartonnage case of the mummy of Nesperennub.

A reconstruction of the head of Nesperennub.

Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb exhibition is scheduled to run from 27 April to 4 November 2013 at the ArtScience Museum. For information on the exhibition and admission charges to the exhibition, do visit the ArtScience Museum’s website.  To mark the opening weekend of Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb, the British Museum’s Dr. John Taylor will conduct four guided tours and two lectures on ancient Egypt at ArtScience Museum, all of which is complimentary to exhibition ticket-holders. Through the guided tours, Dr. Taylor will provide exhibition insight and details regarding ancient Egyptians’ beliefs, customs and how they worshipped.  His lectures will include a look into the evolution of modern mummy research and an in-depth presentation on ancient Egyptian rituals.

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Opening Weekend Programme:

Saturday, 27 April 2013

Curator’s Guided Tour

(11:30am and 5:30pm; beginning at the first gallery of Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb)

Join Dr. John Taylor from the British Museum as he leads you through the exhibition, revealing fascinating facts about the life and beliefs of ancient Egyptians.

Curator’s Talk

(2:30pm – 3:30pm; held on Level 4 of ArtScience Museum)

Investigating Egyptian Mummies Through Virtual Unwrapping

Dr. John Taylor from the British Museum will trace the development of mummy investigation from its early days to the non-invasive methods of today.

Sunday, 28 April 2013

Curator’s Guided Tour

(11:30am and 5:30pm; beginning at the first gallery of Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb)

Join Dr. John Taylor from the British Museum as he leads you through the exhibition, revealing fascinating facts about the life and beliefs of ancient Egyptians.

Curator’s Talk

(2:30pm – 3:30pm; held on Level 4 of ArtScience Museum)

The Horizon of Eternity: Living and Dying in Ancient Egypt

Dr. John Taylor from the British Museum will describe in detail the importance of rituals and the relationship between men and gods in ancient Egypt.

For a complete listing of dates and times with all ArtScience Museum programming, please visit: www.marinabaysands.com/ArtScienceMuseum.

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A world I would love to be trapped in

One current exhibition that is certainly well worth a visit to is one that is devoted entirely to building bricks most of us would have been familiar with from our childhoods. ‘The Art of The Brick’ at the ArtScience Museum which opened on 17 November 2012 and will run until 14 April 2013, takes visitors into the world of 39 year old Nathan Sawaya, whose life-long obsession with Lego building bricks has seen him abandon his job as an attorney to devote himself to the ‘art of the brick’.

Trapped, one of the brick pieces that offers a look into the world of Nathan Sawaya at the ArtScience Museum. Trapped is inspired by the artist’s feelings of being trapped. Speaking of being trapped – Sawaya’s world is one I certainly wouldn’t mind being trapped in.

I was provided with the opportunity to visit the exhibition recently by good people of the ArtScience Museum. The visit provided me not only with the opportunity to see the artist’s work, but also step into the artist’s own world seen through some of his work which includes both representative brick sculptures as well as one which explore surrealist themes in what is some of the more fascinating pieces. Sawaya’s obsession with what is indeed a very popular and timeless toy we were told began at the age of five. Not being able to get that pet dog he had wanted, Sawaya did the next best thing – he dismantled his Lego city brick set and built a dog with it which he named Boxer.

The entrance to the exhibition. The exhitbition runs until 14 April 2013.

Sawaya decided to turn what had in his working years become a means to blow off steam. It was when he realised that his sharing of his hobby on his website brickartist.com was receiving quite a fair bit of attention that he decided to dedicate his life to being a ‘brick artist’ first joining Lego before setting up his own art gallery in New York City.

A giant FaceMask.

The 52 large-scale brick pieces at the exhibition are displayed across eight galleries. In the first gallery, we are introduced to the artist himself, with several pieces through which Sawaya reveals some of his personal take on himself. The gallery includes several ‘iconic’ pieces including ‘Yellow’ and ‘Swimmer’. My personal favourite among the works in the gallery is Yellow which depicts a human torso tearing its chest open. Thousands of toy bricks can be seen to spill out from the gap. The work represents the artist’s personal metamorphosis and transitions and is said to capture his emotional journey in which the artist opened himself up to the world.

Yellow – which represents Sawaya’s personal metamorphosis and transitions, and captures his emotional journey.

Another piece in the Introduction Gallery – ‘Hands’ which depicts a dream Sawaya had in which he loses his hands.

The seven other galleries are no less interesting. The next one we come to is the Catwalk Gallery where works are displayed on a runway like platform. Works here that caught my eye were Circle, Triangle, Square and Everlasting. Another interesting gallery is the Portrait Gallery, where there are some familiar faces in 2D – all made again from Lego bricks which I thought was rather amazing. Among the portraits are those of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Janis Joplin. What is interesting to learn about is the approach that the artist takes when creating a 2D portrait is that he starts off with the eyes – after which he says everything falls into place. The choice of colour is also important we are told. Sawaya, despite his talent in creating 2D likenesses of famous personalities with Lego bricks, we are also told, does not like to take on commercial commissions for 2D portraits for fear that he may offend clients should the work not come out right.

Circle, Trangle, Square in the Catwalk Gallery.

Everlasting.

Close-up of a portrait of Janis Joplin.

Close-up of a portrait of Bob Dylan.

And one of Jimi Hendrix.

Our very able guide Dina, speaking on Courtney Yellow – a portrait of Sawaya’s then girlfriend (and now wife) Courtney Simmons.

Another gallery which I did take my time to look at was The Emotion Box which has pieces all of which seemed to have a deeper meaning in them. Stepping into the gallery one encounters works that are mesmerisingly fascinating such as Mask, Ascension, Grasp and Trapped. There certainly are deeper meanings that one will discover in the works. Ascension depicts the artists desire to ascend to a higher place without experiencing death, whereas, Grasp refers to the many people telling the artist ‘no’ – people he would like to rid his life of.

Mask.

Ascension.

Grasp.

One work that will certainly impress is a six metre long one – a T-Rex skeleton at the Art of Play. The last gallery is where you will find a brick sculpture of a familiar sight – that of the ArtScience Museum itself. The piece was specially commissioned by the ArtScience Museum and was created without the artist having actually visited the museum, and purely from 2D images.

The six metre long T-Rex skeleton.

One of the ArtScience Museum.

Peace.

The exhibition also has several areas which allow visitor interaction, including light and sound displays, a photobooth, a Play and Build area and an area where visitors can attempt to recreate Sawaya’s rain. The exhibtion is open from 10 am to 10 pm daily (last entry is at 9 pm). More information on the exhibition and ticket prices can be found at the ArtScience Museum’s website.

Writer in The Drawing Board gallery.

Interacting with light.

Photobooth.

Marina Bay in the pink

Three landmarks, the ArtScience Museum, the Helix Bridge, and Marina Bay Sands Hotel, in the Marina Bay area, turned bright pink on Friday evening, coloured in a global effort that has seen some 200 well-known landmarks and monuments across the world such as the Taj Mahal, the Empire State Building and Harrods take on the same pink glow. All this is part of an initiative by Estée Lauder, the Breast Cancer Awareness (BCA) Campaign, intended to promote breast health and early detection in an effort to defeat breast cancer through education and medical research.

The ArtScience Museum awash in pink for the Global Illumination Initiative.

In its 20th year, the BCA Campaign was initiated by the late Mrs. Evelyn H. Lauder of The Estée Lauder Companies in 1992. It aims at creating a global impact to motivate women all around the world to see doctors regularly, perform monthly breast self examinations, and get an annual mammogram if they’re over the age of 40. Together with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) as the official venue partner, the landmarks were illuminated at a ceremony at the ArtScience Museum which was graced by Guest-of-Honour Dr. Amy Khor, Minister of State for Ministry of Health and Manpower, Ms Grace Ban, Managing Director of The Estée Lauder Companies, and Mrs. Noor Quek, President of the Breast Cancer Foundation (Singapore).

The ever lovely Sharon Au was the host for the evening.

Ms Grace Ban, Dr Amy Khor, Mrs Noor Quek with host Sharon Au, launching the illumination.

Watching the illumination of the Helix Bridge.

A toast to the campaign.

Host Sharon Au was her usual animated self.

The ceremony with the ever beautiful Sharon Au as host had guests turning the area under the fingers of the ArtScience Museum into a sea of pink, and saw a fashion show segment in which ten breast cancer survivors including Singapore Woman of the Year 2012, Ms Theresa Tan, take to the catwalk. Also on hand was Japanese artist, Takeshi Sato, wowing the crowd by painting a likeness of Mrs. Evelyn H. Lauder on stage whilst moving in sync to music that was being played, as a tribute to her.

Takeshi Sato at work.

Ms Theresa Tan and daughter down the catwalk.

This year’s message, is Courage, Believe in a world without breast cancer. Know we’re here until its true. It highlights The Estée Lauder Companies’ 20-Year commitment to defeating breast cancer through education and medical research and celebrates the life and legacy of BCA Campaign Founder and Pink Ribbon co-creator, Mrs Evelyn H. Lauder.

The Helix Bridge lit up in pink.

The campaign this year also sees for the very first time, an online charity auction, which was launched on 26 September to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation, Singapore. For the auction, many local celebrities have donated personal items. One is Michelle Chong, who donated a dress her character wore in Already Famous. The items also includes those donated by Andrea de Cruz, socialite Leonika Kei, model Serena Adsit and popular mandarin radio DJ Lim Peifen. Bids for the items can be placed online via The Estēe Lauder Companies’ microsite at www.bca2012auction.com. Bidding will close on 31st October 2012. Apart from celebrity donated items, the auction will also feature various luxury items and services donated to raise more money for the charity.

Step into a world of wizards, spells and strange creatures

Knowing how fanatical fans of Harry Potter can be, many would have looked forward to yesterday’s opening of Harry Potter: The Exhibition at the ArtScience Museum. The exhibition, making its debut in Asia, is one that gives visitors not just a firsthand look at hundreds of costumes and props that were actually used on set for the series of Harry Potter films, but an experience of Harry Potter’s world – the exhibits are placed in immersive themed settings inspired by Hogwarts locations that transports the visitor right into them. I had a glance at all this – even though I would not say I am a fan, on Friday – before the exhibition actually opened … I was among a group, who were provided with an exclusive tour of it organised by the kind folks of the ArtScience Museum for a select group that included a group of fans and several lifestyle bloggers. That not only allowed me to see the exhibition before the crowds descended on it, I also had the privilege of hearing all about the exhibition straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak – the exhibition’s creator, Mr Eddie Newquist, led the tour – with the enthusiasm of an excited child showing off a prized toy I must say. Accompanying Mr Newquist was the ArtScience Museum’s Executive Director, Mr Nick Dixon.

My introduction to the world of Harry Potter at the ArtScience Museum.

The tour was preceded by a briefing and Q&A session during which we were introduced to Mr Newquist and Mr Dixon. There was also a surprise in store especially for the fans present – two very popular members of the cast, identical twins James and Oliver Phelps, who played the Weasley Twins – Fred and George, made an appearance and were kind enough not only to take questions, but also pose for photographs with the lucky fans present.

The identical twin pair of James and Oliver Phelps who played the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter films are in town for the opening of Harry Potter: The Exhibition at the ArtScience Museum.

Mr Dixon (extreme left) with the Phelps twins and Mr Newquist.

Wizard wannabe, host Dominic Lau, waving an imaginary wand ….

The tour soon followed. We headed down to the B2 level of the museum where the entire floor has been devoted to the exhibition. Stepping through into the exhibition, it is the Sorting Hat that the visitor encounters – that put the few who volunteered in their places (the hat places entrants to Hogwarts – the school of wizardry in which Harry is enrolled in and where his adventures centre around, in one of the school’s four houses). We next walked into a mist. And, as a figure with a lamp beckoned us through, the shape of a locomotive becomes visible – that of the Hogwarts Express. That, signalled the commencement of the journey into a magical fantasy world of wizards, spells and strange creatures … a world that until now, only existed to me on the movie screens.

Harry, Ron and Hermione beckoning the visitor into the passageway that leads to the entrance …

I soon found myself totally absorbed in Harry’s world, surrounded by not just its paraphernalia, but also by the places we would have found them in: the Gryffindor common room, Hogwarts classrooms, the Forbidden Forest and the Great Hall … It would certainly be a thrill for many to get up close to many familiar items which include in the Gryffindor Boys’ Dormitory, Harry Porter’s and Ron Weasley’s bunk beds, their trunks, costumes, wands … Harry’s ‘personal’ items here include his acceptance letter into Hogwarts, the Marauder’s Map and the pair of glasses that he wore …

Harry Potter™ and Ron Weasley™ costumes and artifacts that appeared throughout the Harry Potter films © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Harry Potter’s eyeglasses, Hogwarts™ acceptance letter, the Marauder’s Map and his wand © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

There are many opportunities along the way for interaction with some of the exhibits – pull a Mandrake from its pot in the Herbology vignette, toss a Quaffle in the Quidditch area, and tour Hagrid’s hut – where one can have a feel of sitting in Hagrid’s armchair. I found Hagrid’s hut particularly enchanting, and in it was easy to imagine that I was in the fantasy world expecting Hagrid to walk through at any moment.

Recreation of Hagrid’s hut © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Costumes worn during a Quidditch™ match © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Pull your own Mandrake in the Herbology vignette © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

There is also an opportunity to come face-to-face with many of the magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest like Buckbeak the Hippogriff, a Hungarian Horntail dragon, centaurs, and a giant Acromantula. The Buckbeak prop we were told was a study model that could nod to allow the cast to get acquainted with the creature – most of the footage involving Buckbeak used was generated through computer animation. The study model we were also informed has tens of thousands of feathers that were actually put in by hand.

Buckbeak™ the Hippogriff as seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™ © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

A trip to Harry Potter’s world would of course not be complete without a walk on the dark side in the Dark Forces gallery … where Voldemort and his death eaters await … Six of Voldermort’s Horcruxes – including, for the first time in the exhibition, Nagini, his serpent and Tom Riddle’s diary can also be found here. There is also that chance for the visitor to hear Voldemort’s spine-chilling voice calling out to them, if they find themselves in the right spot when in the dark side …

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Harry Potter: The Exhibition, is created by Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES) in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, will be displayed at ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands from 2 June 2012 through 30 September 2012. For tickets and more information, visit www.marinabaysands.com/artsciencemuseum. Exhibition specific information can be found at ArtScience Museum’s Harry Potter: The Exhibition webpage.

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The Weasley Twins are in town!

The highly anticipated Harry Potter exhibition will open at the ArtScience Museum today. In town for the opening are James and Oliver Phelps, identical twin actors who played the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter series of films, props from which will be on display at the exhibition. More soon to follow …

The identical twin pair of James and Oliver Phelps who played the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter films are in town for the opening of Harry Potter: The Exhibition at the ArtScience Museum.

Soup, Luncheon Meat, Lychees and a Last Supper at the ArtScience Museum

Love them or hate them, the works of Andy Warhol are without a doubt some of the most recognisable art pieces produced in second half of the 20th Century. There is also little doubt of the impact that the enigmatic Warhol has had during his lifetime on the visual arts scene. However, beyond the iconic imagery that he is synonymous with, particularly of cans of Campbell’s Soup – there is very little that I myself have of the artist and I took the opportunity to learn more of the artist who would otherwise remain a mystery to me at the Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal exhibition now on at the ArtScience Museum, to which the good folks at the museum were kind enough to extend an invitation to me.

The Andy Warhol 15 Minutes Eternal exhibition is on until 12 Aug 2012. © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and Marina Bay Sands.

Warhol, I was to learn from the expert guide who took the group of us through the exhibition, did have that air of mystery about him – not by accident but by design. Visitors learn of this soon after stepping through the very pink entrance where on a TV screen, a video of an interview Warhol did in his early years is shown. The artist does not say much in his responses – his attempt, I found out, to remain mysterious as a means to achieve fame, having been driven by an obsession Warhol had with the pursuit of fame and fortune.

It is in stepping into the exhibition proper from this first introduction to Warhol that I was to understand more about the man behind the mask Warhol had on, as the visitor is able to walk through the various stages of his life and get to know and understand the artist better through the works that he produced at each stage in Warhol’s career as an artist. The exhibition, held in the year which marks the 25th anniversary of Warhol’s death in 1987, ends on 12 Aug 2012 and has brought in over 260 paintings, drawings, sculptures, film, and video of Warhol’s works – the first time, such an extensive collection of his works is seen in Singapore. The exhibition, the title of which is in fact derived from Warhol’s famous “15 minutes of fame” quote – in which he said “In the future, everybody will be world-famous for fifteen minutes”, is sponsored by BNY Mellon and organized by The Andy Warhol Museum in Warhol’s home town of Pittsburgh.

Gold Leaf Shoe - inspired by gold leaf used in the creation of religious icons of the Byzantine Catholic faith that Warhol's parents practiced. © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and Marina Bay Sands.

The first gallery “Early Years” – 1940s to 1950s looks at the early potential that Warhol exhibited as a child and the influences on his artistic development as well as the early years of his career. It is here that I learnt more of Warhol’s background … that the bright pink of the exhibition’s entrance was no accident. The son of working class Slovak immigrants, Warhol born Andrew Warhola, spent long periods of his school-going years at home. He had been afflicted with St. Vitus Dance – a disease that attacks the nervous system, which left large pink blotches on Warhol’s skin fuelling his infatuation with the colour pink.

Although lacking at first in style, Warhol did show enough promise however to prompt his family to support him through the School of Fine Arts at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, following which he was to taste early success as a commercial illustrator. Attracted by his endeavour, a quality he learnt from his hardworking immigrant parents, as well as by the whimsical nature of his work which challenged the norm, Warhol had by the time he was 27 been engaged by several famous brands including Vogue magazine. His endeavour also rewarded him with a job with I. Miller to create advertisements and shop displays for their famous collection of shoes. That earned Warhol the reputation of ‘Shoe Man’. Beyond illustrations, Warhol experimented with print techniques – something which he would later exploit for commercial gain, developing his own blotted line print technique.

Campbell's Soup. © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and Marina Bay Sands.

Images of celebrities. © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and Marina Bay Sands.

Silver Factory. © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and Marina Bay Sands.

The next gallery, “The Factory Years” – 1960s, examines Warhol’s transition from commercial art to business art. It was during the decade that Warhol moved into Pop-Art – an art form in which imagery associated with popular culture such as advertising, comic books, and brand products is reproduced. Here his early pieces – a wallpaper of cows set against a bright yellow background and ‘cardboard’ boxes made from wood stacked to create a scene inside a warehouse are seen which initially received a poor reaction. It was the iconic Campbell’s Soup cans that were to bring Warhol success – an idea that apparently wasn’t Warhol’s but of a female friend who suggested that Warhol, then short of inspiration, should produce images of something he saw everyday which would be recognisable to everyone – “like a can of Campbell’s Soup”.

It was during this time, that Warhol employed the silkscreen printing – a technique he picked up at the start of the 1960s – as a means similar to the blotted line technique that he could use to mass produce images for commercial gain. This also allowed Warhol to extensively use assistants to do the work – freeing him to pursue what was to become an unfulfilled desire to become famous as a fine art artist. Warhol would also extend the use of silkscreen printing to reproductions of photographs – mainly of celebrities with whom he had a fascination for, including Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor.

The gallery is where visitors are introduced to the Silver Factory a reproduction of Warhol’s New York studio in the 1960’s – covered entirely with foil. The Silver factory allows visitors to dress up and be “a star for 15 minutes” with a photo booth to capture the experience. From a reproduction of the couch from the Silver Factory, visitors would be able to watch avant-garde films produced by Warhol.

Time Capsule. © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and Marina Bay Sands.

The next gallery, “Exposures” – 1970s takes the visitor through the decade during which Warhol worked extensively on commissioned portraits using Polaroids to photograph celebrities, to fund an interest in experimental film. It is also interesting to learn that Warhol, although not a hoarder, collected various items that represented various periods of his life in the 1970s. Warhol started creating “time-capsules” with the items – creating a total of some 612 capsules which he housed in brown cartons – one of which visitors would be treated to a view of.

The Last Supper. © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and Marina Bay Sands.

We move into the final years of Warhol’s life next in “The Last Supper” – 1980s. Having achieved great success, Warhol next ventured into television media as well as dabbled with a diverse range of art. One work which caught my eye was The Last Supper – not that I could comprehend the depiction of religious imagery with symbols of consumerism. The piece, one of his last before an untimely passing from complications after a routine gall bladder operation, was considered to be have made a monumental impact in the industry.

The visit to the exhibition does not end with the last of the artist’s works. There is a little more to be discovered – not of Warhol’s works, but of works in which Warhol might have had an influence on a quarter of a century after his passing. What certainly will catch the attention of the visitor are the series of Ma-Ling Luncheon Meat and Lychee cans, very much in the fashion of the Campbell Soup cans that Warhol popularised – with a little twist. The Pork Luncheon and Lychee series are the works of one of three South East Asian artists, Jahan Loh from Singapore, being featured in a specially curated segment. This segment aims to highlight the influence of Andy Warhol on Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art in the display of over 16 selected works that draw on common themes and techniques made famous by the iconic Pop Artist. The two other artists whose works are featured are Ibrahim Hussein (Malaysia; 1936-2009) and Jirapat Tatsanasomboon (Thailand).

SEA Art Work inspired by Warhol - from Jahan Loh's Pork Luncheon and Lychee series. © MAD, Museum of Art & Design.

As an added treat, visitors to the exhibition can also participate in a Silkscreen Printing Workshop (information is available the tha ArtScience Museum’s website. A session at the workshop was specially arranged for the group I was in as well at which I was able to get to try my hand at the technique that Warhol so successfully employed. With the apron that was definitely a necessity for me, and with a squeegee in hand – I managed to produce a print of a portrait of Warhol, at the same time learning more about the technique – something that definitely completes the experience that the must-see exhibition provides of Andy Warhol and his work.

Visitors can try their hand at silkscreen printing.

The silkscreen.

The finished print.

Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal will run from 17 March 2012 until 12 August 2012. This exhibition is part of the Asian tour that will travel to five cities over 27 months starting in Singapore. It will then move on to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and finally Tokyo in 2014. Tickets for the exhibition can be purchased on the ArtScience Museum website and all Marina Bay Sands box offices.

Step on board the Titanic in Singapore

For those, like me, who’ve wondered what it would have been like to be on board the RMS Titanic as she set sail on her ill-fated maiden voyage across the Atlantic, there is now a chance in Singapore to step right on board – at the TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT EXHIBITION which is currently on at the ArtScience Museum. I did just that over the weekend, having received an invitation from the kind folks of the museum for a guided tour, one which despite just arriving back jet-lagged from a trip to Europe, I couldn’t pass up on.

Visitors to the TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT EXHIBITION at the ArtScience Musuem get to step on board and have a feel of what it was like on the ill-fated RMS Titanic (photographs taken with the kind permission of the ArtScience Museum).

Stepping through the entrance to the exhibition at the B2 level of the museum, visitors are each provided with a boarding pass, each with the name of an actual passenger, personal information, as well as the class in which the passenger was travelling on. It is through the entrance that the visitor is greeted by the glorious bow of the ship which provides the backdrop for a photograph opportunity with ‘Captain Smith’. It is through the next part of the exhibition that I took not just a step into the world that might have existed on board what was, a century ago, the world’s largest passenger liner, but also on board for a voyage of discovery which included a step into the drawing office, shopfloors and slipway of the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast at which the mammoth liner was conceived, designed and built.

Visitors are also given a 'boarding pass' on which with the name and personal information of a passenger and can find out at the end of the exhibition about the fate of the particular passenger.

Visitors to the exhibition also have a chance to be greeted by 'Capt. Smith' and have a photograph taken with him.

One of the wonderful touches that the exhibition provides is an insight into the people behind the building of the Titanic, as well as some of the principal characters on board the vessel during the voyage. At the Construction Gallery, we learn of the conditions that existed that motivated the design of such a huge passenger liner – designed so as to compete against rival Cunard Line’s superliners Lusitania and Mauretania. The Titanic was the second of three in its class, which included the Olympic and Britannic (the Britannic was converted into a Hospital Ship by the Royal Navy and never saw service in its intended role). We are introduced to Lord Pirrie, Chairman of Harland and Wolff and Bruce Ismay, the Chairman of White Star Line, as well as to the Head Designer and General Manager, Alexander Carlisle, who led the design team, whom we were to learn had his heart broken by the tragedy – something that I could identify with having spent most of my own career in the drawing office of a shipyard.

The Drawing Office of Harland and Wolff at the time of the design of the Titanic.

On the building berth, the difficult working environment and conditions that the shipyard workers endured are brought to light – we learn of the four-men teams responsible for driving the 3 million rivets – the glue that holds the steel plates together in days that preceded the advent of welding as a means to connect steel, who worked from the break of day to late in the evening with only half an hour’s break for lunch.

We learn of the hardship endured by the four men riveting teams who put long hours in to drive the 3 million rivets that held the Titanic together.

The Titanic after her launch.

The next section of the exhibition is where one steps on board, through doors and a passageway that the first class passenger would have passed through – all recreated to allow a feel of life onboard from the luxury and opulence that the well-heeled enjoyed to the conditions faced by the thrid class passengers made up mainly of immigrants seeking a passage to the New World, as well as that in the bolier room. The highlight of the recreated spaces would be the Verandah Café and perhaps the Promenade where one could lean over the bulwark and stare into the night sky, as well as the Grand Staircase.

A lighted panel that resembles a door panel that may have been fitted in the first class public areas of the Titanic.

A first class cabin recreated for the exhibition.

A recreated passageway through the first class area.

A replica of the Grand Staircase in the first class area which is 27 feet high.

The boiler room is also recreated.

A spanner in the works - an artifact from the wreck.

Another artifact brought up from the wreck - a wash basin.

A photograph of the Titanic's boilers lying in the workshop prior to installation.

Next, in the Iceberg Gallery, visitors can interact with an Iceberg Wall which allows visitors to experience the freezing temperatures on that passengers would have encountered on the frigid night in the North Atlantic when the Titanic sank, by putting their palms on the frozen wall.

Visitors can put their hands on an 'iceberg' to have a feel of how it felt on the night of the tragedy.

A palm print left on the 'iceberg'

The main draw of the exhibition, which has been visited by more than 25 million people over 15 years worldwide, is of course the artifacts recovered from the wreck site. A total of 275 are on display, including 14 that have not previously been exhibited, from the 5,550 objects that have so far been recovered from the wreck. What perhaps catches the attention and provokes a deep sense of tragedy are personal objects that have been recovered which are the only living memories of lives that may have been lost on the fateful night. These include the marbles of a child and a pair of spectacles.

Child's marbles.

A pair of spectacles.

The deadlight of a porthole.

A baggage tag - not wanted tags were for pieces of baggage not required by the passenger during the voyage.

At the end of the exhibition, a Memorial Wall confronts the visitor. Lists of names or survivors and those who sadly perished – passengers categorised by the class they travelled in, as well as that of the crew are displayed and it is here where one can match the names on the boarding passes given at the entrance to the names on the wall to discover the fate of their passenger. Sadly the name of the passenger that was on the pass that I was holding was on the list of those who died. There is also uniquely at this edition of the exhibition, a Singapore 1912 gallery which showcases how news of the tragedy reached Singapore and with photographs of what Singapore would have been like at the time of the sinking.

The writing on the wall - name lists on the Memorial Wall provide information on the fate of the passengers and crew. Visitors are able to establish if the passenger who's name appears on the boarding passes they are given at the entrance to the exhibition survived.

Visitors checking the list of names on the Memorial Wall.

There was also a treat that awaited the participants of the guided visit in the form of a meet-up with ‘Captain Smith’, who shared not just his experiences playing the role for RMS Titanic Inc for the exhibition, but also of the opportunity he had going on a dive in the confines of a submersible, two and a half miles underwater to wreck site. One of the things that he shared that caught my eye was the effect the pressure at that depth had on a styrofoam cup – out of ‘Captain Smith’s’ pocket came a tiny cup with the silhouette of the Titanic drawn on it which had as he put it, ‘had its air sucked out of it’ – reduced to a small fraction of its original size, that was carried on the pressure side of the submersible. Amazing – as was the overall experience of the exhibition which is well worth visiting. The exhibition will be held at the ArtScience Musuem until the 29th of April and will mark the 100th Anniversry of the tragedy in April 2012.

Comparison of a styrofoam cup carried on the pressure side of the submersible which had 'its air sucked out of it' compared to one in its original condition.

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Information on the TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT EXHIBITION including ticket prices and opening hours can be found at http://titanic.sg/.

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A tweetup to explore the mind of the genius that is Salvador Dalí

If you have ever wondered how a mind of a artistic genius works, you would be able to take a walk through the mind of one, in the form of the Dalí: Mind of a Genius – The Exhibition, now running at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. The exhibition which opened on 14 May, will run up until 30 October 2011, and transports the visitor into the world of Salvador Dalí, the world as he saw it that is manifested in the somewhat bizarre surrealist expressions of his inner workings that he has made his mark on the world with.

Step right into the inner workings of the great surrealist artist Salvador Dalí's mind at the ArtScience Musuem in Marina Bay Sands.

I have long had my own fascination with the artist, drawn to his work after stumbling on a striking and haunting expression of a religious zeal he had at the point of the painting rediscovered when wandering around Glasgow’s west end almost a quarter of a century ago. That painting, Christ of St. John of the Cross, still captivates me to this day. It is however, the depictions of melting time, a reoccurring theme on many of his artworks that has been the greater source of fascination. Having had an opportunity to visit the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the following summer, I was able to understand a little more of the background and interpretation of Dalí’s own fascination with the depiction of time in a fluid and non-linear state, not the hard deterministic version of time that most of us would have.

Dalí is known for his bizarre interpretation of the world around him which is expressed by depictions of everyday objects in a ways that seem beyond human comprehension.

I had the opportunity at a tweetup organised by the good people of the ArtScience Museum on Saturday to reacquaint myself with the works of Dalí, and to explore the inner workings of his mind. It is in the latter, that the curators of the exhibition have done an excellent job in bringing out the influences, inspirations and the perspective that Dalí had in giving us his wonderful works. In walking through the themed areas of the exhibition Femininity and Sensuality; Religion and Mythology; and Dreams and Fantasy, we are transported into what some would see as an insane mind that sees the world in the way he did. It is in this that we understand the artist’s mind further and see the genius of it. Dalí as with Oscar Levant who is attributed with the well used quote “there’s a fine line between genius and insanity”, is one who seems to have erased the line where genius starts and insanity ends.

The exhibition explores several themes in Dalí's work including Dreams and Fantasy.

Throughout the guided exploration of Dalí’s mind, we are constantly reminded of the background to the influences on his thoughts – a repressed sexuality stemming from an upbringing largely influenced by his strict widower father an atheist, who in stark contrast to Dalí’s staunchly Catholic mother – suppressed all form of expression in Dalí. It was through Gala, Dalí’s would be wife that freed him from the repressed sexuality and besides depicting her, his ideal of womanhood, in many works, he sought to express his view of femininity and sexuality in many ways. Amongst the influences Dalí had were some of the thinkers of the time, Einstein for one, the Theory of Relativity being a source of inspiration for the stretching of time and Sigmund Freud, who provided a basis for the understanding of symbols in dreams as symbols of a repressed sexuality that Dalí seemed to be obsessed with.

Dalí's exploration of sensuality and femininity includes Woman Aflame which includes plenty of the symbolism that is found in his work which includes drawers signifying secrets, revealed by them being opened, and the use of clutches to represent death and resurrection.

Space Venus - also contains much symbolism: a melted clock which tells us that beauty is finite, the body split at the midriff representing death and the egg, the symbol of life representing renewal in death.

Anthropomorphic Cabinet with drawers again ... this time on a female form that perhaps deceives us into seeing a masculine one who appears almost as if she is writhing in pain.

Dalí who returned to Catholicism later in life, becoming a staunch follower of the faith, also shows religious influences in his works and this can be explored in the Religion and Mythology themed area. Both mythical figures and religious symbols can be found in sculptures such as Adam and Eve, St. George and the Dragon, Unicorn and Vision of the Angel. The last of the three themed areas, Dreams and Fantasy, which features works such as furniture in the form of Mae West Lips Sofa, Glasswork, and Sculptures such as Alice in Wonderland, was perhaps my favourite. It is in some of the works here that the quirkiness of Dalí comes to the fore. This is perhaps summed up by at quote we see at the exit of the exhibition “I do not understand why, when I ask for a grilled lobster, I am never served a cooked telephone”.

St. George and the Dragon again explores sexuality in a depiction of the legendary slaying of the dragon by St. George. The stallion - a symbol of power and masculinity mounts a dragon whose wings as seen through the fore legs of the stallion resemble flames - the flames of passion.

Unicorn has some sexual connotations. Possibly influenced by Sigmund Freud's interpretation of images in dreams and their hidden sexual meanings.

Lady Godiva with Butterflies - butterflies symbolise the soul.

Vision of the Angel explores the role that religion plays in society.

Mae West Lips.

Alice in Wonderland.

I was enthralled enough to return once more to the ten galleries which feature in total over 250 of Dalí works which come from a collection of the Stratton Foundation, the most striking of which are the sculptures which, full of symbolism which the exhibition does attempt to explain in detail, providing a perspective on Dalí and the thoughts behind his lifetime of work that would be otherwise be hard to fully appreciate. It is for this that the exhibition is well worth a visit, giving us not just an opportunity to look at an amazing collection of Dalí works, but also a rare opportunity to appreciate the mind of one that was certainly a creative genius.

A nice touch added by the curators - a reflection of clocks distorted by their reflection on convex and concave mirrors at the exit from the exhibition.