Now Boarding: Experiencing Singapore through Travel, 1800s – 2000s by FARM
Location: Singapore
Status: Completed 2023

The exhibition Now Boarding, Experiencing Singapore through Travel, 1800s – 2000s explores Singapore’s evolving identity as a travel destination through the centuries. Through a careful selection of close to 600 objects and artefacts, it explores how Singapore has often presented itself – and been presented – to the rest of the world.

The experience begins at the entrance rotunda of the National Museum, where we installed the very iconic flight information display flipboard from Changi Airport. It’s a purposeful and playful contrast between the stately Neoclassical architecture of the museum and the all mechanical and electronic beauty of the 5.3 metal structure, with its constant rhythmic clacking sounds.

Image courtesy of Ong Chan Hao

Image courtesy of Ong Chan Hao

Image courtesy of Ong Chan Hao

Inside the main gallery, the design is inspired by a classic travel guidebook. The spaces are open, fluid and interconnected. There are no dividing walls, no fixed or controlled circulation. One can freely walk around and explore any chapters or stories that pique their interest – very much like how one would flip through a travel guidebook and how we generally explore a city as curious visitors, hopping randomly and at will from one location to another, where getting lost is also perhaps its joy.

The spaces are divided into four sections, titled ‘Chapters’, and each section is given a strong, defining colour that pops in space. Each of these chapters is also marked by a colourful 3D cutout standee that serves as a photo backdrop for visitors as well as the Introduction text for each section.

more. www.farm.sg