Visitors to ArtScience Museum will soon be able to take a captivating multi-sensory journey through the ecosystem of a vast forest in its upcoming virtual reality installation, We Live in an Ocean of Air.
Opening on May 28, 2022, this first-of-its-kind experience in Singapore will be housed within the Museum’s permanent VR Gallery. We Live in an Ocean of Air is by Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF), one of the world’s leading experiential art collectives. As pioneers in immersive experiences, their latest project transports visitors across the globe to Sequoia National Park, California – a forest filled with giant sequoia trees.
We Live in an Ocean of Air is a 12-minute-long immersive experience where visitors are invited to follow their breath through the forest, discovering the inner life of a giant sequoia tree. In this stunning multi-sensory experience, state-of-the-art technology including breath sensors and heart rate monitors visualizes the human cardiovascular system as a pulsing red glow and transcribes visitors’ breath as a cascade of particles. The resulting artwork is an extraordinary, yet meditative, an encounter that illuminates the invisible, yet fundamental, connection between humans and the natural world.
Prior to its Asian debut in Singapore, We Live in an Ocean of Air premiered in 2018 at The Saatchi Gallery in London for a sold-out run, which was extended twice due to popular demand.
A Multi-Sensory Experience
Forged at the intersection of art, science, and technology, We Live in an Ocean of Air seamlessly blends the digital world with the physical space through a unique combination of technologies. Visitors to the installation will be given a personal rig consisting of a VR headset, heart rate monitor, breath sensors, and a body-tracking device, that will give them the freedom to roam around and interact with the space untethered. Through the use of large projection screens, participants will be welcomed into the heart of the virtual forest before further exploration reveals the full scope of its scale.
The addition of binaural sound, scent dispersal systems, and wind machines will enhance the environment to provide a multi-sensory experience beyond audio and video. Each session accommodates a group of six people, allowing for an individual as well as a collective experience.
We Live in an Ocean of Air builds upon earlier award-winning multi-sensory experiences by MLF including In the Eyes of an Animal, which showcases a 360o vision of a forest from the perspective of animals and insects, and Treehugger, where the inner circulatory system of a tree is visualized through the journey of water from its roots up to its leaves. In We Live in an Ocean of Air, the interconnected exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide that is shown to occur between plants and animals, encourages participants to contemplate their dependence on – and responsibility towards – other living things in the natural world.
Located on Level 4 of ArtScience Museum, We Live in an Ocean of Air also launches alongside a new cinema space as part of a holistic offering that will extend visitors’ experience across different mediums. The opening film program titled We Tread in a Garden of Spells has been specially curated to complement the installation, with a wide variety of works exploring the theme of environmentalism through cinematic magic-realism. Tickets are now available for booking at https://www.marinabaysands.com/museum/events/garden-of-spells.html.
We Live in an Ocean of Air will run from 28 May 2022 to 2 October 2022.
Tickets and Reservations
Tickets can be purchased at all Marina Bay Sands box offices and online from 9 May.
It is strongly recommended that guests pre-purchase tickets online in advance, due to the limited capacity of the venue and timed entry to the installation.
Participants will be required to wear a backpack weighing 5kg for up to 20 minutes. The experience is not accessible to individuals below 120cm in height.
Ticket prices are as follows:
Adults: Standard Ticket 19 SGD, Singapore Resident 16 SGD
Concession: Standard Ticket 14 SGD, Singapore Resident 12 SGD
2:40pm, 2:50pm, 3:20pm, 3:30pm, 4pm, 4:10pm, 4:40pm, 4:50pm, 5:20pm, 5:30pm
Visitors are advised to adhere to all precautionary measures implemented at ArtScience Museum. Hand sanitization and the wearing of masks will be mandatory for all visitors before they enter the VR Gallery. As part of the visit, each visitor will also receive a sanitized VR headset, backpack PC, and wrist tracker. Contact surfaces and materials will be sanitized after each session.