National Museum of Singapore Transforms Into A Kaleidoscope of Dreams

May 2011, Singapore – For the first time, the National Museum of Singapore, together with the National Heritage Board and more than 20 participants from the Museum Roundtable jointly present Children’s Season 2011. Spearheaded by the National Museum of Singapore, Children’s Season 2011 will see even more exciting and enriching programmes for children, providing yet another avenue for parents something for their young ones this school holidays!

A stalwart and pioneer of this iconic festival since 2008, the National Museum of Singapore will kick-start Children’s Season 2011 with the anchor event, The PlayDome, from 14 May to 26 June 2011. The National Museum of Singapore will be transformed into A Kaleidoscope of Dreams with engaging family activities and children-centric programmes. Titled The PlayDome – Kaleidoscope of Dreams, this year’s Children’s Season aims to extend the museum experience to inspire and educate the young. This includes learning to interpret and express feelings through visual, aural and scent experiences in the galleries with various themes that will tie in with the National Museum’s permanent galleries.

In keeping with its theme Kaleidoscope of Dreams, the National Museum will showcase a not-to-be-missed performance fittingly entitled Museum of Dreams which will make its international debut at Children’s Season. A visual adventure told entirely without words, Museum of Dreams is an enchanted place built specially for small people with big imaginations. Held from 19 to 22 May 2011, and created and directed by Gul Hollands and puppet-maker, Ailie Cohen, Museum of Dreams will transport the audience to a world of dreams through “live‟ physical performance, puppetry and projection.

And if the above showstopper whets your appetite for more excitement, there are other original interactive works, projects, workshops and discovery trails by over 10 local and international artists and creative professionals to be explored at The PlayDome. Young ones will be able to stretch their imagination through facial masks in the Wayang Play Stage, create their own dramatic costumes together with their families in Dress, or compose their own musical stories, inspired by the content of the National Museum, in Rhythm and Rhyme, Sing and it’s Mine!

These abovementioned activities all draw inspiration from the Museum‟s iconic Dome and collection in its permanent galleries and are designed to encourage children to express themselves and learn more about Singapore‟s rich history and heritage. The PlayDome is co-curated with international award-winning children‟s museum initiative Playeum, The Play Museum. Built on the concept of museums as a place of inspiration and learning, it serves as an extension of that unique museum experience by empowering young visitors to imagine a world beyond what it seems.

 

For more information, please log on to www.museums.com.sg and www.nationalmuseum.sg.

Museum of Dreams by Citizens Theatre (UK)
A TAG production
Thu 19 May & Fri 20 May 2011 | 10am, 2pm & 5pm
Sat 21 May & Sun 22 May 2011 | 11am, 2pm & 5pm
S$20 | Free Seating
Gallery Theatre, Basement | 45 mins | Best for children aged 5 to 9 years old
No admission for infant in arms

Synopsis
A snooze-worthy museum opens its dusty doors to visitors who are all set for a visual adventure. As the museum attendant ushers the children and their parents in, the audience enters into the magical space of Museum of Dreams and along comes the unexpected arrival of a new exhibit, a little pretty puppet girl. Will she be able to help the sad and grumpy museum attendant finally find the happiness he has longed for?

The Museum of Dreams is an enchanted place built specially for small people with big imaginations. Created and directed by Guy Hollands and puppet-maker Ailie Cohen, Museum of Dreams will transport the audience to a world of dreams through live physical performance, puppetry and projection.  This production is performed entirely without words.

 

Front Lawn and Garden @ The Playdome with Playeum
14 May – 26 June 2011
Free admission
Domescape by Butterpaper Designs, BusyBody and Lin Zihao (Singapore)

Description of Work

Domescape is an interactive contemporary art installation and the visual insignia of The PlayDome: Kaleidoscope of Dreams. It is also a landscape seen through the curious eyes of children, stretching their imagination beyond the visible in the environment. By using the viewing scope as an apparatus, the children are guided to see the Museum‟s Dome as more than a mere institutional symbol and are introduced to elements of endless possibilities.

Continuing from the Front Lawn, the Garden invites children and parents to become co-creators of various perspectives. The children create a composite image with their families on the lenses to juxtapose their interpretation of the Dome against traditional and institutional architecture. This work symbolises the new philosophy and direction of The PlayDome with Playeum as a space that welcomes children and families in an authentic experiential manner.

 

THE PLAYDOME WITH PLAYEUM @ LEVEL 3
i. Black Box (The Atelier)
The Atelier transforms into a Black Box where children can explore traditional practices in film and theatre, and give their own contemporary interpretations of the exhibition through performance play. The use of media, technology, physical props and fine art methods within this space presents multiple options for children and families to express themselves.

 

a. The Real Thing by Jordana Maisie, courtesy of Ipswich Art Gallery (Australia)
Sat 14 May – Sun 26 Jun | 10am – 6pm (Closed on Mondays)

Description of Work

The Real Thing is a literal yet contemporary, representation of this year’s theme of Kaleidoscope of Dreams, and is the artist’s conscious play with the viewer as witness, co-creator and interpreter of ‘truth’. In this exhibit, children can create one-of-a-kind magical visual patterns and images!

This is the international debut of The Real Thing outside of Australia, and is on loan courtesy of Ipswich Art Gallery.

b. Wayang Play Stage by Anita Nevens (Singapore, Belgium)
Sat 14 May – Sun 26 Jun | 10am – 6pm (Closed on Mondays)

Description of Work
An interactive installation, Wayang Play Stage inspired by the Fashion and Film & Wayang Galleries to investigate the seamless relationship between art and architecture through fabric and performance, welcomes children to play with face paints and perform their stories on a fabric-inspired modern dramatic set. The installation provides room for imagination and interaction with others through role-playing and experimenting with face paints.

 

c. Dress by Tay Bee Aye (Singapore)
Sat 14 May – Sun 5 June 2011 | 10am – 6pm (Closed on Mondays)

Description of Work
Drawing inspiration from the Fashion Gallery at the National Museum, this modern installation is an invitation to children and families to co-create dramatic costumes following the artist’s own practice of weaving and knotting to fabricate soft sculptures.

 

d. 2 and a half D Cinema by Isabelle Desjeux and Russell Morton (Singapore)
Mon 6 Jun – Sun 26 June 2011 | 10am – 6pm (Closed on Mondays)

 

Description of Work

Presented for the first time in Singapore, this is an innovative original work created by Desjeux and Morton. The artists invite children to “walk into” the movies and play with the characters on the screen, hence creating a new composition of the old and the new. The work aims to use technology to engage the children and aid their understanding of a different period of time, resulting in a completely new and unscripted interpretation of the footage!

 

ii. Sensory Studio (The Lab)
The Sensory Studio welcomes children to experiment and express themselves through creative art play. It is a space where children enhance their experiences and express themselves through the use of all their senses and tactile engagement. Children and families are invited to experience and create collaboratively, guided by the artists and play facilitators.
Activities change every two weeks.

a. Transforming Passages by Playeum, The Play Museum
Sat 14 May – Sun 29 May 2011 | 10am – 6pm

This contemporary art installation invites children to design their own fabric patterns, inspired by designs and geometry in traditional and fashion fabrics used over different time periods. At the same time, children can remove the panels to create passages and tunnels within the installation, transforming it into a morphing landscape for physical and creative interaction.

b. Clay Musescapes by Teo Huey Ling
Tue 31 May – Sun 12 Jun 2011 | 10am – 6pm

Children can look forward to getting their hands messy when they take part in creating a large scale work of an entire museum-scape, which will cover almost the entire Sensory Lab at the end of its exhibition period.

c. Happy Hawkers by Playeum, The Play Museum
Sat 14 May – Sun 26 Jun 2011 | 10am – 6pm
Inspired by the street food setting presented in the Food Gallery of the National Museum, Happy Hawkers is an interactive set for pretend play by children as they make their own food and peddle them in makeshift stalls.