Experience Immersive Experiences At The Gallery Children's Biennale | National Gallery Singapore

National Gallery Singapore invites families to explore immersive installations and maker spaces, play arcade machines, and attend storytelling sessions and workshops. 

Venue: National Gallery Singapore
Date: 6 Nov - Dec 2022
Admission: Free

National Gallery Singapore invites children to embark on an inspiring multi-sensory experience as they explore 9 on-site installations of the Gallery Children’s Biennale. The on-site installation is to complement the digital format of Gallery Children’s Biennale launched in May 2021. Both experiences of the artwork invite children to participate and co-create with international artists, with the on-site installations presenting immersive tactile experiences that are distinct from one’s experience with the online artworks.

The artworks are guided by the inquiry, “Why Art Matters” and explore themes of Home, Diversity, Environment and Time, bringing to the fore relevant issues of today in an easy-to-understand manner for children.

A Giant Cardboard City - Head/Home

At Head/Home, families are invited to walk through the impressive larger-than-life on-site installation, as if walking through a city. The installation was created using ready-made collection of houses and cardboard sculptures. Encouraging co-creation with the artists, the installation also features a makerspace for children to build their very own cardboard homes.

The cardboard are collected from different migrant communities around the world as well as community groups in Singapore – tying together the movement of these migrant communities and the different notions of home and community with the symbolism of the material.

Imagine Yourself As A Bee - BEHOME

BEHOME is a sculpture comprising three hexagonal structures that emulate
the artists’ own rendition of overlapping beehives and houses playful holograms and immersive infinity mirrors. There are also two arcade machines where visitors can play two of the interactive games from the artists’ digital work. 

Co-Create Art - Illuminated

Illuminated features four life-sized landscape backgrounds which transport children into another world. Children will find an array of intriguing x-rayed bones, shells and fossils as magnets that they can use to create their own sceneries of imagination. Simply by placing the magnets on the backgrounds, children can creatively express themselves and reflect their unique perspective. 

They may also view and add on to the creations by other children, co-creating artworks with them in real time, thus reflecting a diverse collection of stories as told by the artworks on the walls.

Save The Dying Forest - Calling For Rain

Calling for Rain welcomes visitors to enter an immersive viewing experience of the short film inspired by Reamker, the Cambodian version of the epic poem of Ramayana. The film takes us on a journey through the landscapes of Cambodia as it follows Kiri the Monkey on his quest to save the dying forest and its surrounding environment from the irresponsible behaviour of Aki the Fire Dragon.

Housed in a space that resembles a Cambodian performance room, the installation features actual masks and headdresses used to create the film. The picturesque shots of Cambodia’s landscape and compelling story of a forest in need of saving are meant to move children to care for and protect our environment.

Write A Diary Entry - A Day's Book

A Day's Book collects stories from children all over the world via a microsite, where the online repository of daily 24-hour diaries transforms into a book at the physical library at the Gallery.

At the onsite installation, children will be presented with a selection of secret doors, some opened and some locked. The opened doors reveal shelves of books containing the stories of each completed 24-hour diary, while the locked ones hold empty shelves which await future contributions from the online microsite.

Workstations with iPads will be available for children to contribute their stories to the online repository. As the number of stories grow, more doors will become unlock and filling the physical library with stories to be shared. 

Enlarged Children's Drawings - Superstar

Created in collaboration with his two sons, Singaporean artist Jeremy Sharma creates a clickable, speculative world through Superstar. 

In the physical space, the artist hopes to offer an immersive experience of this speculative world, with a display of dioramas and a motion triggered interactive video as part of this visual storytelling

Other installations that families can expect are

• Because It Makes Me Feel, a whimsical installation of homes and houses for families and children to imagine visiting different houses, to engage in ‘masak-masak’ and think about what home feels like.
• Conversations With An Octopus, the artworks depict different stories and scenarios in the conversations between the Octopus and the Girl in the Red Shorts as they embark on hours of fun activities together and discuss important topics regarding the environment such as climate change.
• Voices from The Centres, children will get to create their own video and be empowered to build their own stories and explore image-making
  practices. The artwork will also introduce children to 60 works from the National Collection in a fun and playful manner.

On-site Programmes

Families may also expect an array of complementary on-site children’s programmes by artists and partners, such as sessions by master storyteller Kamini Ramachandran, sonic exploration workshops by LittleCr3aturesTM and somatic movement workshops by movement artist and somatic therapist Vincent Yong.

Art packs are also available for purchase for $5 each and are designed to enhance the appreciation and understanding of the art on display in a fun manner.

Families may get more information and continue to access the digital experience at the Gallery Children’s Biennale microsite.