The ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands.
A bronze statue of the ruler, Genghis Khan.
A replica of a camel at the The Silk Road exhibition.All pictures were taken from my mother's blog at http://singtatter-corner.blogspot.com/
The ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands opened on the 17th of February this year, and features 21 gallery spaces with a total of 50,000 square feet. The ArtScience Museum was designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie and was inspired by a lotus flower. It has also been said to resemble the shape of a hand with ten fingers surrounding the building. The building is also relatively “green”, as each of its “ten fingers” have glass windows at the side of the galleries, allowing natural sunlight to light up the exhibitions. The curved roof of the structure channels rainwater through the central atrium of the building 35 meters down into a renewable water supply for the restrooms. The building is also surrounded by a 40000 square foot lily pond reflecting pool, and allows visitors to rest at its terraces, while admiring the magnificent scenes of Marina Bay.
There were four exhibitions in the museum, one permanent one (the ArtScience Galleries) and three temporary exhibits: Genghis Khan (The Exhibition), The Silk Road (Travelling Ancient Pathway to the Modern World), and the Shipwrecked (Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds).
The Genghis Khan exhibition showcases more than 200 artefacts from 13th century Mongolia, and includes silk robes, musical instruments, war weapons, gold and jewellery ornaments and the royal mummy of a Mongolian aristocrat who died in the 11th or 12th century. The galleries were organised in chronological order of Genghis Khan’s life and the brief history of Mongolia, from his birth, to his rising and success as ruler, to his death, and how his legacy lives on and influences our society today.
The exhibition had videos regarding this ruler which were screened in English, while information, quotes, and artefacts were labelled in both English and Chinese, and kiosks were set up in the exhibition which featured the fictional story of six characters who lived in Genghis’ reign, of which the words used were simple and easy to understand, and the plot effective in conveying the key messages we can learn from Genghis Khan. There was also an area for children to dig up “artefacts” buried under the sand. Hands-on like a scaled down version of the catapult allowed children to play with them These various initiatives reach out to audiences of different age groups, the old and young alike, and engage them in various aspects.
I have to admit that the artefacts on display were indeed an eye opener for me. The artefacts ranged from various categories including weaponry, jewellery, music, religion and culture. Instead of just learning about Genghis Khan from textbooks, we are able to see for ourselves and imagine the way of life in Mongolia in the past through these artefacts. By relating to these artefacts, we are able to travel back into the past and they leave a deeper impression in our mind. This is perhaps the most attractive part of exhibitions that makes me learn things outside the curriculum.
From this exhibition, other than the key information provided, I was able to relate the knowledge to our present society, which is not limited to history alone. For instance, my Chinese History teacher once asked the class why we, as Chinese, sit on chairs, while Japanese and Koreans sit on the floor, despite our same ancestors. She told us that it was because of the rule and spread of culture and tradition by Genghis Khan and his descendants that we do so. The Mongolians were used to riding on horses and felt uncomfortable sitting on the floor with their legs close to their body. Instead, they sat on chairs and this has been passed down ever since.
The Silk Road exhibition brings us back to between AD 600 and AD 1200, where four key cities along the Silk Road were introduced, Baghdad, Samarkand, Turfan and Xi’an. Before this exhibition, I did not know about the Silk Road at all. I have learned that the Silk Road refers to trade routes that spread across China, India, Persia, Egypt, Tibet and the Mediterranean countries, The Silk Road saw goods like, spices, silk, fabrics, perfumes and glassware which were traded across Asia. In addition to commercial trade, cultural trade and technological trade were also made along this route.
In the exhibition, there were many exhibits which aimed to reach out to our others senses other than sight. There were different types of perfumes which we could smell, videos of traditional folklore stories were played on a screen, admire various displays like a massive replica of a Tang-era silk making loom. There were also an interactive board for children to play with, while learning about the Silk Road the same time and an interactive quiz at the end with topics of today’s civilisations. These interactive displays brought the exhibition to a higher level by bringing in all the 5 senses except taste. Similar to the previous exhibition, different displays catered to different groups of audience.
The last exhibition was Shipwrecked, which displayed about 450 artefacts from a marine archaeological find of some 60000 objects of items traded along the Silk Road found at the bottom of the ocean near Indonesia’s Belitung Island in 1998, which were undisturbed for over 1000 years. There were Chinese blue-and-white dishes, cups, mirrors, gold pieces and numerous ceramics. Never before have I seen so many archaeological finds in the same gallery before. There were meters of ceramic plates which featured different designs of animals and plants. Two of the several artefacts which were highlights of the exhibition were a green-splashed ewell with a lozenge motif on its body and leafy fronds at the top of the ewell. The ewell has a gold handle and a dragon-head stopped made of bronze.
I do admit that this exhibition might be less suitable for children due to the highlights on the artefacts. However, there was a table at the end of the gallery for visitors to construct the paper models for the ewell and gold cup. Overall, I feel that this exhibition is more suitable for visitors who want to knoe more about the Silk Road from actual goods traded in the past.
From this visit to the ArtScience museum, I have explored a new type of exhibition which displays archaeological findings, which is related to history. In my Integrated Humanities lesson, I understand that Singapore has few archaeologists due to various reasons like long working hours and the low pay given to them. It is relieving to know that there are probably still many objects buried under the ground which sheds light on the history and heritage of Singapore. Through these artefacts, archaeologists and historians are able to recreate history and bring this information to the public. After this exhibition, I am impressed by how the organisers introduced different exhibits to attract and engage the audience. I would definitely visit more exhibitions in the future to further my learning horizons.
References:
ArtScience Museum. (2011). Museum Brochure 2011. [Brochure].
ArtScience Museum. (2011). Genghis Khan, The Exhibition exhibition guide. [Brochure].
ArtScience Museum. (2011). The Silk Road, Travelling the Ancient Pathway to the Modern World exhibition guide. [Brochure].
ArtScience Museum 2011. (2011). Shipwrecked, Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds exhibition guide. [Brochure].
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