Olafur Eliasson: Your Curious Journey is a beautiful and mesmerising exhibition you'll want to catch while it is still at the Singapore Art Museum.
Here is a beautiful art exhibition you'll want to take your older kids to this school holiday - Olafur Eliasson: Your Curious Journey at the Singapore Art Museum. This is the first major solo exhibition in Southeast Asia dedicated to the work of Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson and is only in Singapore for a couple months.
The exhibition recently opened on 10 May. We visited it on Saturday and really enjoyed it. Eliasson's artworks are driven by the desire to make the ungraspable tangible, so you'll see the artist's use of ephemeral materials like light, wind, fog and water to conjure evanescent phenomena like shimmering rainbows and swirling mists. I don't profess to know a lot about art but I did find the artwork meaningful and enthralling.
There are currently opening festivities like complimentary ice-cream, airbrush tattoos and caricature drawings that are sure hits with kids and adults! Read on to find out more and 8 things to know if you're planning to take your kid to the exhibition!
1) What do you see at the exhibition?
There are 16 artworks at the exhibition and here are those we really liked.
i) Symbiotic seeing
This is definitely our favourite. See swirling ripples above you that come from the effects of coloured laser lights coalescing with periodically released fog. The lights in the photos look green but they are actually yellow. We stayed the longest in this room as the effects which resembled the three states of matter were really hypnotic.
ii) Beauty
In this artwork, the fine sheet of mist, reminiscent of a light drizzle, is illuminated by a spotlight in a darkened space. You can interact with the artwork by walking through the mist and observing from different angles so you get views of different rainbows.
iii) Yellow corridor
Located outside the galleries, this is another transfixing artwork whereby monofrequency yellow lights desaturates its surroundings into shades of grey. It's pretty cool to see everything around you in a different light (pun intended)!
iv) The cubic structural evolution project
This is a long table with heaps of white Lego bricks. The cubic structural evolution project encourages active participation, free play and creativity.
v) Object defined by activity (then)
This artwork consists of a water feature housed in a pitch-dark room, where its bursts of water are lit by a strobe light. Another hypnotising one to watch!
vi) Life is lived along lines
There are two sides to this artwork: the first you encounter is the rear face of a projection screen with the shadows cast upon it, hinting at what lies behind. Behind the screen are the three-dimensional forms that had been flattened into two-dimensional outlines on the screen. A very interesting concept!
vii) Double spiral
Double spiral is a motorised sculpture where half of the spiral inches upwards while the other half slowly descends. Despite the impression of movement, the sculpture’s actual
position does not shift. At eye level, the sculpture’s double-helix form is reminiscent of the organic structure of DNA. Its shadow, however, shows concentric circles that overlap one another like the moving cogs of a clock.
viii) The last seven days of glacial ice
This artwork emphasises the susceptibility of grandiose glaciers to climate fluctuations,
where a single ice block, originally found on Diamond Beach in the south of Iceland, was visualised in its various stages of melting. The last seven days of glacial ice prompts us to consider the steady process of degradation, and what is lost in the process.
ix) Moss wall
The Moss wall is an organic, vertical carpet comprising reindeer cup lichen (Cladonia rangiferina), colloquially known as “reindeer moss,” which is a symbiont of at least one fungus and one alga, that covers immense areas in northern tundra and taiga ecosystems.
2) Is it suitable for children?
This exhibition is probably not one for the younger kids as they are unlikely to appreciate it but I reckon upper primary school children and those older (10 years and older) can learn to appreciate the artworks. There are QR codes near the artworks which you can scan to learn more about them or you can also download the exhibition booklet ahead. Knowing what the artwork is about definitely helped with our enjoyment of the exhibition.
A few of the artworks can be pretty fun for kids like Multiple shadow house where rooms are lit in multiple shades of colours and you can try out various dramatic movements to produce a range of effects.
The cubic structural evolution project with the white Lego bricks is another exhibit I think children will like. My younger one said it reminded her of those days when she played with Lego, and I think she would have loved to sit around longer to build and play with the Lego if we had more time!
Symbiotic seeing is another one that I think will enthrall the young and the not-so-young. We spent some time sitting on the floor, admiring the surreal view above us.
Children might also like Beauty, where they can interact with the mist and observe the rainbows.
3) How much are tickets?
Adults tickets are at S$15 for Singapore citizens and PRs, and S$20 for tourists and foreign residents. For adults who are overseas students/teachers, seniors above 60 years old, fulltime national servicemen, tickets are at S$10 and $15 respectively.
The exhibition is free for children 6 years and below, local and locally-based students and teachers and persons with disabilities (PWD) and their accompanying caregiver. Valid proof of identity (e.g. Student Pass) at SAM's ticketing counter is required to enjoy free admission.
Given that it is free for students, I think it's really worthwhile taking your older kids there!
Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance through Ticketmaster online.
4) How much time to budget?
We spent around 1.5-2 hours there, including time taken to enjoy our complimentary ice-cream. If you want to get your caricature drawn, you might need to budget slightly more time (more on that below!).
5) Is it crowded?
It wasn't crowded when we were there on a Saturday afternoon. There was enough space to take photos and admire the artworks.
6) Any fringe activities?
There are opening festivities every Saturday & Sunday until 2 June, 12pm–5pm. There is complimentary ice-cream and the flavours we tried like Yubari Melon and Matcha are really nice!
However, do note that the ice-cream is while stocks last. They were all gone by the time we came out at 4-plus pm!
There is also complimentary airbrush tattoos and caricature drawings. The latter is there 2-5pm and there is a short queue for it when we were there.
There will also be a Samily Funday on 1 and 15 June (Sat), 1-5pm, where there will be programmes and activities held in conjunction with the Olafur Eliasson: Your Curious Journey exhibition. See SAM website for more details.
Also, the Epigram Coffee Bookshop is located at SAM. So, take the opportunity to enjoy a cuppa and browse and shop for Singapore literature at the bookshop!
My BFF Is an Alien by yours truly is there of course!
7) How to get there?
The Singapore Art Museum is located at 39 Keppel Rd, Unit 03-07 Tanjong Pagar Distripark. Parking is available there. Alternatively, you can take the free shuttle bus service which operates between Harbourfront MRT Station Exit D and SAM on weekends and public holidays. Here's the schedule.
8) Till when?
Olafur Eliasson: Your Curious Journey exhibition is at the Singapore Art Museum from 10 May 2024 till 22 September 2024 and is open 10am-7pm.
Here's a video of some of the artwork we enjoyed at Olafur Eliasson: Your Curious Journey exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum :
What activities have you planned for this June school holiday? Let us know in the comment box below!
Disclaimer: We paid for our tickets, and my opinions and reviews here are strictly my and my family’s own.
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.
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