Short History
Home of 21 gallery spaces, ArtScience Museum is one of the main attractions at Marina Bay Sands, an integrated resort in Singapore owned by the US Las Vegas Sands company. Opened on 17 February 2011 by Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, it is the world’s first ArtScience museum.
The Design
The museum’s building has unique design resembling a blooming lotus, a masterpiece of architect Moshe Safdie. Referred to as “The Welcoming Hand of Singapore”, the ArtScience Museum is anchored by a round base in the middle, with ten extensions referred to as “fingers”. The design concept for each finger denotes various gallery spaces sporting skylights at the “fingertips” which are included as sustainable illumination for the curved interior walls.
Not only it has distinctive stature, Artscience museum is also eco-friendly built. Rainwater is harvested and channelled down the center of the building, flowing through its bowl-shaped roof into a reflecting pond at the lowest level of the building. The rainwater is then recycled for use in the building’s restrooms.
The Exhibitions
There are several main exhibition held in Artscience museum, divided into three different sections: the Permanent Exhibition, the Touring Exhibition, and the Feature Exhibition.
1. Permanent Exhibition, ArtScience: A Journey Through Creativity, showcases the power of creativity as it is manifested in the world of ArtScience. By demonstrating how creative minds meld the disciplines of art and science to make objects that transform our world, it takes visitors on a journey inside the creative process across three unique spaces: Curiosity, Inspiration and Expression.
Curiosity is an arrival gallery that encourages guests to ponder the very nature of how we define art and science, what it means to us, and how it influences our world.
Inspiration is an interactive gallery that focuses on great ideas that are the products of the union of Art and Science. These manifestations serve as inspiration for us to create our own work of ArtScience.
Expression is a dynamic multi-media gallery providing an emotional, impassioned demonstration of the power of human beings to harness inspiration and realise ideas that change the way we experience the world.
2. Touring Exhibition is an exhibition held in Artscience museum and actually curated by other museums in irregular period of time. Some of the Touring Exhibition are: Dinosaurs: Dawn to Extinction (presented by American Museum of Natural History, PrimeSCI!, San Juan National Science Museum), 50 Greatest Photographs of National Geographic (presented by National Geographic Society), and many more.
3. Feature Exhibition of the The ArtScience Museum promises to feature 21 gallery spaces equating to 50,000 square feet (6,000 square meters) which will display exhibits from combined art/science, media/technology, as well as design/architecture motifs.
Permanent exhibits include objects indicative of the accomplishments of both the arts and the sciences through the ages, along the lines of Leonardo da Vinci’s Flying Machine, a Kongming Lantern, and a high-tech robotic fish. The museum opened with an exhibition of a collection of the Belitung shipwreck cargo, and Tang dynasty treasures that were discovered and carefully preserved by Tilman Walterfang of Seabed Explorations NZ Ltd.
Source: marinabaysands.com