FUTURE WORLD: ALLURE AND ART THROUGH INTERACTIVITY

Abstract

Museums in Singapore have observed a sharp increase in visitor counts in the past five years; this success can perhaps be attributed to the import of foreign exhibitions, appeal across age groups and the incorporation of interactivity within art works through the manipulation of spaces and the integration of technology to the works. A prominent example of this can be found in the Singapore ArtScience Museum's permanent exhibition: Future World by teamLab, which effectively showcases the use of interactivity as a fundamental element to most of their works. These works have been warmly received with consistently high visitor counts and positive media coverage, proving to be a successful approach in attracting members of the general public. Considering this shift in the approach that museums are adopting, while exhibitions have to be alluring enough for the general public to show interest, it is therefore crucial to understand what are the particular elements that bring about their success. In turn, this informs a critical perspective formed on the impact of incorporating interactivity to serve NAC's larger goals. This thesis explores visitor responses to the Future World exhibition through the lens of relational aesthetics. This is done through examining the thoughts and feelings toward the Future World exhibition of 10 Singaporean youths and young parents, via qualitative interviews supported by an autoethnographic mapping and ethnographic observations over 9 visits to the exhibition. Hence, I argue that many facets of the exhibition are in tension with one another, suggesting that the facilitation of physical interactions are just as important as the technological interactions. Thus, the findings of this thesis emphasise the need to identify, evaluate and possibly balance these factors so that interactive art of similar nature to teamLab's Future World can be directed to ensuring that the interactivity is successful. Lastly, this thesis also poses a question regarding the wider purpose of museums and calls for a more comprehensive understanding of the thought processes and expectations of non-art aficionados to constructively engage them on a deeper level.