Come face to face with your future self at SG60 exhibition

Straits Times

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The linchpin of the exhibition is Windows in the Sky, a segment where visitors can watch a personalised 25-second trailer of themselves in a future Singapore.
SINGAPORE - Visitors to an upcoming exhibition will be able to see themselves living, working and playing in an envisioned future Singapore. They can also hold a conversation with their future selves in the immersive showcase, which starts on Aug 26.
The SG60 Heart&Soul Experience at Orchard Library will be able to work this magic through a data set that took in future plans for the city state from more than 110 partners, such as
the Forward Singapore blueprint and the SG Green Plan 2030.
A human team then created 125 character archetypes and 2,500 'scenes' from the data, which generative artificial intelligence (AI) will help turn into a unique narrative for each visitor, based on the individual's background and interests. For instance, someone keen on the outdoors may see a future of himself doing something related to sustainability or solar panels.
The linchpin of the exhibition is Windows in the Sky, a segment where visitors can watch a personalised 25-second trailer of themselves in a future Singapore on a wraparound, floor-to-ceiling screen.
The national exhibition – which marks Singapore's 60th year of independence – is jointly developed by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and National Library Board (NLB), and created by the team behind
The Bicentennial Experience in 2019 and the
SG50 Future of Us exhibition in 2015. Booking of tickets to the exhibition opens on July 29.
Executive creative director Gene Tan, who is also NLB's chief librarian and chief innovation officer, said that while the past two exhibitions were more about telling overarching stories, this latest one seeks to create a tailored experience for every visitor.
Mr Tan admitted that he was 'terrified' at the uncertainty and unpredictability of this highly personalised approach, with some 3.5 million permutations that the AI could generate.
'How do we have the audacity to tell people what the future is? So in the end, we came up with the idea of it as a sensation of the future... What it could feel like, rather than what it will be,' he said in an interview on July 25.
At the exhibition, visitors will be able to chat with a lifelike digital librarian about their lives and interests, with their answers used to generate the personalised trailers.
Visitors will be able to chat with a lifelike digital librarian about their lives and interests, with their answers used to generate the personalised trailers.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
Another segment will chronicle pivotal moments in Singapore's history as narrated by eyewitnesses, while a quirky emporium will showcase possible products from the future, such as cricket protein bars and okara soya cream soup.
A quirky emporium will showcase possible products from the future, such as cricket protein bars and okara soy cream soup.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
A magazine stand inspired by the
iconic Holland Village Thambi Magazine Store , and in support of SPH Media and The Straits Times' 180th anniversary, will feature some 60 newspaper front pages that spotlight key global and local events since 1965.
A magazine stand will feature some 60 newspaper front pages that spotlight key global and local events since 1965.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
Using augmented reality, visitors will also be able to see how Singapore's landscape has transformed and will continue to change in a segment called Curiocity.
Visitors will be able to see how Singapore's landscape has transformed and will continue to change in a segment called Curiocity.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
At the end of the exhibition, which will take about 60 to 90 minutes, each visitor will be able to take home a bookmark with a QR code that links to their personalised 25-second trailer.
The organisers said that visitor data collected will be accessible only to NLB and assigned partners. Each visitor's image will be deleted after 24 hours, and each personalised trailer will be kept for only seven days.
Selected elements of the exhibition will be repurposed to be part of the new Orchard Library when it reopens in 2026.
Besides the ticketed experience at Orchard Library, there is also a non-ticketed installation series at the ground-floor atrium of Orchard Central and Orchard Gateway.
This will be a visual tribute to SG60, tracing the nation's journey through time . Visitors will be able to walk alongside historical figures in colourised archival videos from the National Archives of Singapore from the 1900s to 2025.
There will also be a generative AI-powered station, where visitors can take home personalised postcards of themselves in the past. In addition, the Tote Board and Singapore Pools have collaborated with Heart&Soul on a photo booth where for every photo taken, they will pledge $1 to support four mental wellness charities, capped at $500,000.
Creative director Beatrice Chia-Richmond said building a national showcase that can resonate with Singaporeans from all walks of life was extremely challenging, as the creative team had never done a show where the visitor was the star.
She hopes every visitor will leave the exhibition excited and optimistic, and will want to call Singapore home 'fiercely, over and over again'.
Fellow creative director Michael Chiang said it will be a one-of-a-kind experience for all, and that Heart&Soul is probably the first time that anyone in the world has attempted a personalised exhibition of this scale.
(From left) Creative directors Michael Chiang and Beatrice-Chia Richmond and executive creative director Gene Tan.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
NLB chief executive officer Ng Cher Pong said the exhibition aims to deepen visitors' connections with one another – as Singaporeans, and as a nation.
'Our hope is that this experience inspires optimism and confidence in Singaporeans as we look ahead to the next 60 years and beyond,' he added.