The Universe and Art is an artistic voyage through space, exploring where we came from and where we are going.
It weaves a rich constellation of Eastern and Western philosophies, ancient and contemporary art, and science and religion, to explore how humanity has constantly contemplated its presence in the universe.
Long the subject of dreams, mythologies and artistic visions, the universe has been studied by people from around the world for millennia. Featuring over 120 original artworks, scientific artifacts and manuscripts, this exhibition presents visions of the universe from across the globe and through the centuries.
It begins with sacred religious artifacts linked to Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. It continues with masterworks by the most renowned Renaissance astronomers, Galileo, Kepler, Newton and Copernicus, which are on show in Singapore for the first time. New thinking on the universe is explored in contemporary artworks by Bjorn Dahlem, Mariko Mori, Pierre Huyghe, Andreas Gursky, Wolfgang Tillmans, Hiroshi Sugimoto and more. The exhibition concludes with artwork devised specifically for space, providing unique insights in how art and culture have influenced how we explore the universe.
At its heart, the exhibition celebrates humanity's age-old fascination for the universe and its mysteries. It shows how the universe has been an object of religious worship, a source of artistic and literary inspiration, and the basis of some of the most revolutionary scientific discoveries of all time.
The exhibition narrative unfolds through four main themes:
Taketori Monogatari ("The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter")
17th Century
Hand Scroll
Collection of Kokugakuin University Library, Japan
Black Hole (M-Spheres)
Björn Dahlem | 2016
Wood, steel, fluorescents, light bulbs, stain
Courtesy: Guido W. Baudach Gallery, Berlin and Hiromi Yoshii Gallery, Tokyo
Installation view at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2016
Photography: Kioku Keizo
Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum
Robotic Jellyfish Drone (Cyanea Machina)
Vincent Fournier | 2013
Collection of the artist
‘moon’ score: ISS Commander - Listening to it on Mars, now.
Hitoshi Nomura | 2009 (photograph), 2013 (score), 2009–2013 (CD)
Photograph, score, CD
Collection of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Courtesy: JAXA Space Environment Utilization Center
Photo: Toyonaga Seiji
Photo courtesy: ARTCOURT Gallery, Japan
PROGRAMMES
Public Guided Tour
Sunday 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 Jul | 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Family Fridays 14 & 28 Jul | 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Mandarin Guided Tours
Saturday 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29 Jul | 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Venue: Exhibition Entrance, Level 3
Who are we? What is our place in the universe? How do cultures, art and technology play a part in understanding the cosmos? Join us in this enlightening tour as we journey through time and space to ponder some of the universe’s deepest mysteries.
Complimentary to ticket-holders of The Universe and Art.
Up to 25 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration stickers will be given out five minutes before tour begins at exhibition entrance.
Make Your Own Cyanotype Universe
Family Fridays 14 & 28 Jul | 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Rainbow Room, Basement 2
Join us in Cyanotype Universe where we use one of the oldest printing techniques to create beautiful photographic blueprints of space.
SGD 8 per participant. Up to 20 participants on a first-come, first-served basis.
Space Quest Workshop
Family Fridays 7 & 21 Jul | 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Rainbow Room, Basement 2
Get ready for your mission to outer space by completing a series of exciting and hands-on activities in this one hour workshop. Race against time and find out if your space agency has what it takes to launch a space mission.
SGD 8 per participant. Up to 20 participants on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Power of The Stars: A Highlights Tour with Professor Bryan Penprase (CONCLUDED)
Saturday 17 Jun | 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Join us for an in-gallery highlights tour of The Universe & Art with Professor Bryan Penprase to discover some of the fascinating connections that bind us to the stars and how these connections have been established. In dialogue with ArtScience Museum’s Education team, he will pick out personal highlights and share insights on how cultures all around the world and throughout time contemplated their presence in the universe through poetry, mythology and rituals.
Professor Penprase will be signing his book The Power of the Stars – How Celestial Observations Have Shaped Civilisation after the tour. Copies of the book are available for purchase at the museum retail stores.
Click here for the author’s biography.
* Complimentary to ticket-holders of The Universe and Art.
ABOUT THE PARTNERS
Mori Art Museum
Mori Art Museum, located on the top floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower skyscraper, a noted landmark of Tokyo, is a pivotal and pioneering contemporary art museum that has been introducing diverse artistic practices from around the world. The Museum since its establishment in October 2003 has developed its own distinctive approach to art - by embracing the concepts of “contemporary” and “international” - and is committed to making contemporary art more accessible to all people by presenting a wide range of exhibitions and learning programs that feature cutting-edge visual arts, architecture and design in a global perspective. Its continuing “Art + Life” principle is to realize an enriched society where art relates to all aspect of life.
For more information, visit: www.mori.art.museum/eng
Asian Civilisations Museum
The Asian Civilisations Museum is the only museum in the region devoted to exploring the artistic heritage of Asia, especially the ancestral cultures of Singaporeans. The museum has launched two new wings with new galleries in late 2015 and early 2016. Founded in 1993, and in its present building by the Singapore River since 2003, the museum’s collection grew out of the 19th-century Raffles Museum. The ACM spotlights the long historical connections between the cultures of Asia, and between Asia and the world.
Objects on display tell stories of the trade and the exchange of ideas that were the result of international commerce, as well as the flow of religions and faith through Asia. Singapore’s history as a port city that brought people together from all over the world is used as a means of examining the history of Asia. Special exhibitions bring magnificent objects from around the world to our Singapore audience. Programmes like the annual River Nights encourage visitors to connect more closely with culture and the arts.
For more information, visit: www.acm.org.sg