Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 29, 2016.

 

THE 2016 term for Malaysian schools has come to a close and if you’re planning a trip to Singapore during the school holidays, you are just in time for the launch of its ArtScience Museum’s Art Science of Space season. It includes a series of unique workshops, screenings, performances and other programmes revolving around the theme and extending well into 2017.

 

Nasa — A Human Adventure

Embark on a once in a lifetime expedition when you visit Singapore’s largest space flight exhibition, Nasa — A Human Adventure and discover some of the most innovative developments by The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) over the past decades. A must-visit at the exhibition is the massive centrepiece that is a full scale construction of the front section of Nasa’s iconic Space Shuttle — the world’s first reusable spacecraft for transporting cargo to space and back.

 If you have ever wondered what space sounds like, stop by Venzha Christ’s newly commissioned work, a key component of the Art and Science of Space season, which is also part of the exhibition. The three-metre long sculpture and mixed media installation that enables visitors to see and hear radio waves from space is based on science of radio astronomy. It presents radio waves sent and collected through radio antennas made by Christ himself, which gather precise data from astronomical objects in space. Christ’s unique installation under the Indonesia Space Science Society — whilst lacking the means that large space agencies such as Nasa has — nevertheless provides visitors with a compelling encounter with space. Promising a delight to the senses, the artist invites visitors to listen to space via an audio-visual treat.

 Other key highlights of the exhibition which are bound to enthral any space aficionado include a simulated flight of the 1961 Mercury Liberty Bell 7 with astronaut and test pilot, Gus Grissom, a display of the Jupiter nose cone that was launched into space and later recovered from sea as well as film shot by Apollo astronauts on their Swedish-made Hasselblad cameras that were used for its lunar operations, including three films from Apollo 8, 12 and 17 programmes.

 

Journey to Infinity: Escher’s World of Wonder

The highly-anticipated exhibition features 150 works by one of the world’s most famous graphic artists, M C Escher, who will be making his Southeast Asian debut at the museum. Curated by Dr Federico Giudiceandrea, the Dutch artist’s masterpieces will be narrated through six zones.

 The retrospective of his enigmatic sketches and paradoxical designs will begin a display of his early prints and naturalistic drawings inspired by Italy’s landscape. The exhibition culminates with Escher Mania, a section that illustrates Escher’s widespread influence on pop culture in the 20th and 21st century, owing to his unique mathematical approach that inspired architects, fashion designers, singers and film-makers.

 Apart from the exhibition, there are also a number of interactive sessions such as the tessellation puzzle activity (where visitors are invited to explore the potentials of tessellation with a large-scale Escher-inspired puzzle and discover the four principles of tessellation), Escher’s Relativity Room (which plays with the room’s proportions to create a distorted illusion of size), The Mirror Room (a mirror lined room with infinite reflections). Other exciting offerings at the Escher exhibition include an array of fun and interactive Escher-themed programmes and workshops.


Visit www.marinabaysands.com/ArtScienceMuseum for the full schedule of events, opening hours, ticketing and more information.

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