EXHIBITION
Guests are encouraged to pre-purchase their tickets online prior to their visit, due to limits in venue capacity and timed entry to the exhibition. Each guest is limited to five tickets per purchase.
Due to Safe Management Measures required, there is limited capacity at two group interactive experiences, SYNESTHESIA and PLAY, in Virtual Realms. To enhance the visitor experience during peak periods – Fridays to Sundays and Public Holidays – visitors can purchase a one-time usage Fast Pass for the two experiences. The Fast Pass, which can be purchased onsite or pre-purchased online, enables visitors to skip the queue and minimise waiting time. The Fast Pass is only available for groups of up to four pax. Please refer to the Terms & Conditions.
With its global premiere at ArtScience Museum, Virtual Realms: Videogames Transformed pairs six of the world's most acclaimed videogame developers with six leading media design studios to create a series of large-scale, immersive installations. By moving videogames from the screen to the museum gallery, this exhibition presents 21st century game design as a unique form of contemporary art.
The game developers at the centre of the exhibition are KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (makers of the hit videogame DEATH STRANDING), Enhance (Tetsuya Mizuguchi and team behind Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect), thatgamecompany (authors of the meditative games Sky: Children of the Light and Journey), Tequila Works (the studio that made Deadlight and RiME), Media Molecule (makers of LittleBigPlanet and Dreams) and David OReilly (artist and creator of the games Everything and Mountain). Each developer has partnered with a different media artist or design studio including Rhizomatiks, FIELD.IO, The Mill, Marshmallow Laser Feast, onedotzero and The Workers to create six new commissions each driven by a distinctive theme: SYNESTHESIA, UNITY, CONNECTION, PLAY, NARRATIVE and EVERYTHING.
Virtual Realms: Videogames Transformed is curated and organised by the Barbican, London with the celebrated game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi as guest-curator.
The exhibition is a co-production with ArtScience Museum, Singapore and Melbourne Museum and is made possible with the support of HP Inc., Vicon, Epic MegaGrants and London Symphony Orchestra.
Ticketed Admission
Singapore Residents:
Adult: S$16, Child: S$12
Tourists:
Adult: S$19, Child: S$14
Additional ticket options available
*Additional one-time Fast Pass:
1 – 2 pax: S$8
3 – 4 pax: S$12
T&Cs apply
Due to Safe Management Measures required during Phase 3 (Heightened Alert), there is limited capacity at two group interactive experiences, SYNESTHESIA and PLAY, in Virtual Realms. To enhance the visitor experience during peak periods – Fridays to Sundays and public holidays – visitors can purchase a one-time usage Fast Pass for the two experiences. The Fast Pass, which can be purchased onsite or pre-purchased online, enables visitors to skip the queue and minimize waiting time. The Fast Pass is available for groups of 2. Please refer to the terms & conditions.
Imagine the future of play.
Media Molecule and Marshmallow Laser Feast experiment with the physical and virtual worlds in this giant play-space titled Dream Shaping. Equipped with tracking helmets and a selection of oversized soft geometric forms, visitors become part of an improvised performance or look on as curious spectators.
Media Molecule's latest game and toolset, Dreams, empowers players to build and share their creations whether games, music, art or animation. Based on Dreams, the installation invites you to work with others to create and manipulate your custom scene.
Commission Team: Media Molecule (game developer) with Marshmallow Laser Feast (media designer)
Immerse yourself in a 360-degree scenic projection of the beautiful Mediterranean island from RiME – a videogame developed by Tequila Works. Step into the spotlights on the floor to influence the scene around you and create your own narrative, triggering actions and solving puzzles in order to uncover the next chapter in the story.
Inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Sand, this commission explores the notion of an infinite story with neither ‘any beginning or end’. Depending on the choices made and the collaborations between players, each rendition of the story will differ, creating an infinite non-linear narrative.
Commission Team: Tequila Works (game developer) and The Workers (media designer)
Bask in the unique reactive environment of Eye, where visuals of different life forms self-organise into kaleidoscopic patterns that move to the musical scores of an orchestral soundtrack. A journey from the Big Bang through to the end of the universe, players can direct elements of the video using large interactive controllers or lounge on soft spongy seating and bathe in the psychedelic wonder of the immersive space.
Working with onedotzero, this commission emerged from David OReilly’s 2017 game Everything, a mediative and reflective world conveying the Buddhist concept of inter-connectednessthat invites players to explore and understand all aspects of sentient life.
Commission Team: David OReilly (game developer) and onedotzero (media designer)
Enter into the transcendental collective experience of thatgamecompany's Sky: Children of the Light in this immersive space filled with light and sound. Experience how videogames can be celebrated as sites of shared experiences and new communities.
Working with creative studio, FIELD.IO, thatgamecompany presents an all-encompassing generative instrument that encourages participation and collaboration from the audience. Use your presence to influence the composition of the space and go on a journey that will leave you with an overwhelming sense of togetherness.
Commission Team: thatgamecompany (game developer) and FIELD.IO (media designer)
Explore how videogames can help broaden our understanding of each other and bring us closer together.
The installation features an interactive 'wall' with two opposing sides to explore. Be transported into an unfamiliar environment where the wall is the only channel of connection and communication to other spaces and time. With a soundscape inspired by KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS' latest game, DEATH STRANDING, the wall appears to come alive with cells and particles that merge in mesmerising formations, reacting to touch and the proximity of those in the space. Over time, the visual record of this cosmic interplay, manifested on the wall, will slowly fade from view.
In this realm, KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS has collaborated with The Mill — a global production studio best known for their stunning digital effects, immersive and interactive experiences — to explore how videogames can help create connections in ways that were never previously possible.
Commission Team: KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (game developer) with The Mill (media designer)
Due to Safe Management Measures required during Phase 3 (Heightened Alert), there is limited capacity at two group interactive experiences, SYNESTHESIA and PLAY, in Virtual Realms. To enhance the visitor experience during peak periods – Fridays to Sundays and public holidays – visitors can purchase a one-time usage Fast Pass for the two experiences. The Fast Pass, which can be purchased onsite or pre-purchased online, enables visitors to skip the queue and minimize waiting time. The Fast Pass is available for groups of 2. Please refer to the terms & conditions.
Be mesmerised by a landscape of light and sound that blurs the senses!
The first realm of the exhibition looks at synesthesia — a neurological phenomenon in which the boundaries between the senses are blurred and sounds can be 'seen' and visuals can be 'heard' or 'felt'. Exhibition co-curator and lead game designer at Enhance, Tetsuya Mizuguchi has explored the potential of synesthesia since his 2001 game, Rez.
In the exhibition, Mizuguchi's experiments with synesthesia are expanded into a large-scale format, allowing visitors to take part in this unusual sensorial state as a shared experience. Using light, sound and haptic technology developed specifically for this installation, Enhance and Rhizomatiks have created an unexpected synesthetic encounter which will transport visitors to other worlds and dimensions.
Commission Team: Enhance (game developer) and Rhizomatiks (media designer)
Play at Virtual Realms with @ourlittleplaynest
Bond with the family in the realm of videogames this holiday! Discover how play can be both fun and enriching with @ourlittleplaynest, expert on positive parenting, as they explore and create as a family in the exhibition realms PLAY and EVERYTHING. Click on the image for the full video.
Play at Virtual Realms with @ourlittleplaynest
Bond with the family in the realm of videogames this holiday! Discover how play can be both fun and enriching with @ourlittleplaynest, expert on positive parenting, as they explore and create as a family in the exhibition realms PLAY and EVERYTHING.
Play at Virtual Realms with @victoriacheng
Watch @victoriacheng and her partner explore two fun and playful experiences, SYNESTHESIA and NARRATIVE as they step into the realm of videogames. Click on the image for the full video!
Play at Virtual Realms with @victoriacheng
Discover two fun and playful experiences, SYNESTHESIA and NARRATIVE with @victoriacheng and her partner as they step into the realm of videogames.
Play at Virtual Realms with @chrysanlee
Step into the realm of videogames with @chrysanlee and her best friend Alicia and discover two immersive and interactive exhibition realms, UNITY and CONNECTION!
Play at Virtual Realms with @chrysanlee
Step into the realm of videogames with @chrysanlee and her best friend Alicia and discover two immersive and interactive exhibition realms, UNITY and CONNECTION!
Play at Virtual Realms with @chrysanlee
Step into the realm of videogames with @chrysanlee and her best friend Alicia and discover two immersive and interactive exhibition realms, UNITY and CONNECTION!
Virtual Realms Exhibition Tour with Patrick Moran
Explore the exhibition virtually with Patrick Moran, the Co-curator and Acting Co-Head of Barbican International Enterprises.
Conceiving Virtual Realms
Discover how partnerships between game designers and media artists led to the creation of the interactive artworks within Virtual Realms: Videogames Transformed!
Virtual Tour: Virtual Realms
View the exhibition through the eyes of our Education Specialist, Radhiah, as she takes you through six immersive realms - each designed by leading game designers and media design studios.
Explore Virtual Realms: Videogames Transformed with Dina Abdul Razak (Assistant Manager, Programmes) who develops education programmes and interpretive activities at ArtScience Museum to create engaging, participatory experiences for visitors of all backgrounds and ages.
Dina will lead visitors on an experiential walkthrough of the exhibition that showcase the exciting collaborations between game developers and media design studios, and illustrate how the large-scale, immersive installations in the six thematic realms playfully transport videogames from the screen into the galleries.
$5 per participant, limited slots available. This tour ticket does not include exhibition entry. Same-day exhibition ticket to Virtual Realms has to be purchased separately and presented for this tour.
Please note that the tour will be conducted using transmitters. All devices will be sanitised before and after each tour.
30% off Adult and Concession Standard ticket for Single Exhibition only
Enjoy 30% off Adult Standard and Concession Standard ticket for Single Exhibition only with your Sands Rewards Lifestyle membership.
Family Fridays
Every Friday, up to four children (below 12 years old) enter for free with every adult ticket purchased
Located in the iconic Carlton Gardens and designed by Denton Corker Marshall, this iconic structure houses spaces such as Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Te Pasifika Gallery, the Forest Gallery, the Science and Life Gallery, the Melbourne Gallery and the Pauline Gandel Children’s Gallery.
Museums Victoria is the umbrella organisation for Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks, Immigration Museum and IMAX Melbourne, as well as Museums Victoria’s largest collection item, the iconic UNESCO World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building. Attracting in excess of 2 million visitors across all its venues, Museums Victoria is one of the most popular tourism attractions in Victoria.
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