The ArtScience Museum has long stood as a beacon of cultural and artistic expression in Singapore, and for good reason. Instantly recognisable from its distinctive lotus flower design, the museum is an architectural masterpiece that embodies the melding of disciplines, and its dynamic range of exhibitions highlights the intersection of creativity and innovation present within the lion city.
This just in, ArtScience Museum has just unveiled its line-up of exhibitions and programmes for the year of 2025. Titled Mind and Body: The Art and Science of Being Human, the new season celebrates the human potential and experience, through newly-added installations by teamLab alongside two international exhibitions—namely Mirror Mirror: Journey Into the Mind and Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses—that are making their Asia debut.
“At a time dominated by global conversations about artificial intelligence and its implications, Mind and Body offers a timely exploration of what it means to think, feel, and exist as human beings. This season is designed for audiences to engage deeply with the interplay of thought, sensation, and identity, and imagine new possibilities,” shares Honor Harger, Vice President of ArtScience Museum. “Simultaneously, the launch of ArtScience Laboratory marks the most significant new permanent development at the Museum in over a decade. Its opening next month will create a step change in how we engage with the next generation of artists, scientists, and creative thinkers,” she adds.
One of the two key exhibitions, the Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses exhibition officially opens its doors to the public from 15 March, and looks to offer an authentic and experiential retrospective on the elusive Dutch couture designer. The immersive exhibition is in collaboration with Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France, and will feature over 90 of van Herpen’s best works, serving as an exploration into the mind of one of fashion’s most radical designers.
Famed for merging traditional haute couture techniques with digital technologies such such as 3D printing and laser cutting, van Herpen’s garments draw inspiration from a wide variety of disciplines including dance, science and even nature. “My process has always been interdisciplinary, and I wanted people to be able to explore and see a new world in which art, couture and science influence each other and become one,” muses van Herpen. “I hope visitors leave with an expanded notion of what couture is, and the way it is connected with various other aspects of life—with psychology, philosophy, science, society. I hope to encourage visitors to open themselves up to the world, and to experience it in a more holistic function.”
Ranging from micro to macro, the extensive selection of Haute Couture body-works are further spliced with contemporary artworks from various artists including the likes of heavyweight names Wim Delvoye, Kate MccGwire, Casey Curran and many others. “Building an exhibition is like orchestrating the atmosphere in the space, and the most challenging part of the process was recreating my atelier inside the exhibition. For this, I dived into my R&D archive in which we preserved thousands of samples, which are the birth of each collection. It was overwhelming to select all the experiments as all together they show perfectly the complexity of my creative process.”
Items from spheres of natural sciences, such as skeletons and fossils, are also incorporated into several of the exhibits, adding a layer of history and depth to the rapidly-changing landscape. The end result is a melting pot of modernity and taste, punctuated by the complexity and methods of a true visionaire.
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses will be open to public from 15 March 2025 at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands Singapore.
