ArtScience Museum – Mind and Body season exhibitions
Locals and tourists alike most likely know ArtScience Museum as the home of the uber-aesthetic and highly Instagrammable exhibitions. Beyond next-level visuals, we mustn’t forget that the museum – as its name aptly suggests – is the site where art and science converge.
There’s no better instance of this amalgamation than ArtScience Museum’s current Mind and Body season. Instead of cheem and admittedly boring showcases about the human brain and anatomy, you can look forward to 2 exhibitions that are both equal parts inspiring, educational, and just a blast to journey through: Mirror Mirror: Journey Into the Mind and Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses.
Mirror Mirror: Journey Into The Mind
Interactive multi-room adventure centred around the human mind
A museum exhibition about the human mind might sound like cheemology 101, but Mirror Mirror: Journey Into The Mind is so decked out with fun and creative interactive elements that you won’t even realise how much you’re actually learning along the way. In this 8-room, choose-your-own-adventure course created by Moment Factory and presented by ArtScience Museum, you’ll be unravelling the mysteries of the mind by exploring concepts such as consciousness, memory, identity, and perception.
Kickstart your journey by picking 1 of 3 doors. Don’t worry, you’ll get to experience the entire exhibition no matter which starting point you go with.
Sounds a bit abstract, we know. But you won’t have to worry about intimidating barrages of information because each room comes with its own activity for you to get hands-on, along with that signature ArtScience Museum level of stunning visuals.
For instance, the room Brainstorm invites you to hurl colourful foam balls at a projection of zany graphics. Your throws, combined with that of your companions or fellow museum-goers, will result in vibrant and even explosive effects, thereby signifying the boundless possibilities that can come from group brainstorming efforts.
Over in Mirrors of Tomorrow, you’ll get to receive a fortune of sorts after striking a pose for the “magic mirrors”, AKA interactive projections that respond to your movement and actions. This is a whimsical activity touching on the concept of visual memories shaping mental models of the world around us.
Other activities you can have a whirl at include whipping up a one-of-a-kind AI poem and artwork. In Open Window, you’ll get to submit a memory-based prompt through a web app. This info is spun into lovely prose, and will be cast for all to admire alongside Mirror Mirror’s network of other prompts and AI-generated imagery.
Of course, it wouldn’t be an ArtScience Museum exhibition without gloriously IG-worthy installations. We give you:
Memory Storage: a cyberpunk-esque room characterised by scaffolding sculptures and LED banners flashing keywords meant to trigger your innermost memories.
Forest of Echoes: a trippy landscape of lasers and haze. Zone in on the mirrored pillars to find your bearings, a representation of how we find clarity in perception and awareness amidst a fog of unknowns.
Moodscape: a dreamlike exploration of how our minds respond to something as simple as colours. With a rotation of vibrant light projections flooding the vast and open room, you’ll gain a demonstration of how different hues can affect our emotions.
As fun and eye-opening as Mirror Mirror may be, prepare to leave the exhibition knowing a lot more about the brain than you did before.
The Grey Matter room, in particular, is jointly developed with scientists from the Society For Neuroscience Singapore Chapter, a local non-profit organisation. It also features a new piece of artwork by acclaimed Singaporean artist, Genevieve Chua, that explores how neurons transmit signals within the brain through a wall-based sculpture that comprises a cluster of screens, simulating the firing action of neurons.
Go through the various displays and video clips to load your own brain up with impressive tidbits of info that are sure to impress.
Exhibition dates: Now till 6th July 2025
Location: Basement 2
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses
Awe-inspiring display of fashion meets science
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a fashionista by any means, so an exhibition by a fashion designer seemed like it would either be too hoity-toity or just plain esoteric. But after journeying through the Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses exhibition myself, I’d staunchly recommend it to museum-goers of any age and gender, regardless of whether you’re a style guru or Team Shorts And Slippers.
An introduction to Iris van Herpen: she’s a Dutch fashion designer with 18 years of experience under her belt. She’s most known for employing innovative techniques and imaginative mish-mashes of materials to sculpt haute couture pieces – think 3D printing tech and fabric blends from steel-lined silk to resin-infused iron filings.
Not to flex, but some famous clientele who have donned Iris van Herpen’s works include Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Katy Perry, and Ariana Grande. And yes, you can see the very dresses that have been worn by these celebs right at ArtScience Museum – very up close.
The exhibition gives us an exclusive glimpse into more than 140 of her magnificent creations, with a strong emphasis on Mother Nature’s inspiration. Some themes you’ll be able to spot include sea life, skeletons, organic growth from mushrooms to roots, and the cosmic universe itself. Heck, Iris van Herpen can even take something as abstract as the solid, liquid, and gaseous states of water and weave sartorial magic out of it.
You can even interact with some of Iris van Herpen’s real-life inspo by checking out the microscope stations! Zoom in on unexpected materials like abalone shells and opal to see the splendid possibilities that lie within.
The fashion showcase is complemented by artefacts, natural history specimens, and contemporary artwork that have been carefully curated by ArtScience Museum. This synergy paints a more complete picture of how Iris van Herpen’s fabulous brain works, as well as the links between fashion, art, design, science, and technology.
Exhibition dates: Now till 10th August 2025
Location: Level 3
Visit ArtScience Museum to see the new Mind and Body exhibitions
As with ArtScience Museum’s other exhibitions, the Mind and Body season’s offerings prove that you don’t need to be an art connoisseur to appreciate the showcases. Be it studies of the human mind or world-renowned couture creations, these exhibitions make them accessible and enlightening for anyone at all.
Make the most of your visit by getting The Museum Ticket: Mind & Body Package, which grants admission to both Mirror Mirror: Journey Into the Mind and Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses.
Other programmes to look out for during the Mind and Body season include the month-long Curious Worlds micro festival. Taking place from 25th April to 25th May 2025, it will feature a range of exhibits, talks, pop-up activities, and workshops exploring our unique brain and its intricate connection with the body, and how we relate to nature with the body and mind.
There is also a lineup of ArtScience Cinema film screenings throughout April, where you can marvel at the works of Sundance-, Berlinale-, and SIFA-selected local directors including Ash Goh Hua, Giselle Lin, and Natalie Soh.
Now all there’s left to do is to jio museum buddies across your various social circles for repeat visits to ArtScience Museum.
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This post was brought to you by ArtScience Museum.
Photography by Cassia Leong.