Talks at ArtScience Museum

Connect with ArtScience Museum's dedicated programming track for talks as it goes online. Tune in to leading local and international speakers from diverse backgrounds who discuss ideas and share insights on topics such as futures thinking, environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion, art and technology, and more.

Hope from Chaos Talks

Three years into the pandemic, artists and scientists contemplate isolation and innovation in this companion talk series of Hope from Chaos exhibition.

Hope from Chaos: In Conversation with Professor Lam Yeng Ming

Professor Lam Yeng Ming (Chair of the School of Materials Science and Engineering at NTU Singapore) shares strategies in nanotechnology that can be repurposed to act against COVID-19, as well as sustainability-driven innovation in materials science that draws on the research of NTU scientists.

View details
Hope from Chaos: In Conversation with Luke Jerram

Luke Jerram shares how his Glass Microbiology artworks question the global impact of deadly diseases, challenging observers to reconsider their view of viruses and pathogens.

View details
Hope from Chaos: In Conversation with Cao Fei

Chinese contemporary artist Cao Fei discusses how her work, Isle of Instability, responds at a personal level to her time living under pandemic lockdown with her family.

View details

Radical Curiosity Talks

Accompanying Radical Curiosity: In the Orbit of Buckminster Fuller is a series of online talks that considers the profoundly relevant legacy of one of the greatest minds of our times, Richard Buckminster Fuller.

Radical Curiosity: Curators in Dialogue with Rosa Pera and José Luis de Vicente

Presented by Rosa Pera and José Luis de Vicente (guest curators of Radical Curiosity), the inaugural lecture takes us through the universe of the unclassifiable investigator and visionary who, throughout the 20th century, foresaw the major crises of the 21st century.

View details
The Future is Always First an Idea – Charu Kokate

Charu Kokate (Partner at Safdie Architects and Director of the Singapore office), who led on and oversaw the construction of iconic and complex structures including Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Jewel Changi Airport and Sky Habitat Residential Towers, headlines the second session in an online talks series accompanying Radical Curiosity: In the Orbit of Buckminster Fuller.

View details

Orchestral Manoeuvres Talks

6 Oct, 4pm

Orchestral Manoeuvres: Curators in Dialogue with Adrian George and Amita Kirpalani

Join the curators of Orchestral Manoeuvres: See Sound. Feel Sound. Be Sound for an in-depth look at the themes and ideas explored in this exhibition that expands how we think about, experience and understand sound.

View details
Adrian George
(Director, Exhibitions and Museum Services at ArtScience Museum)
Amita Kirpalani
(Curator at ArtScience Museum)

Special Event: Gameplay

6 Sep, 10am
Games as a Medium for Artistic Expression

Hear from Kevin Prior, Senior Lecturer in Game Software Design and Production, as he shares about how art and science can create immersive and emotional forms of storytelling. His talk will cover the history of games as expressive media, the main components that make games a unique and interesting medium, and some challenges and opportunities those who wish to pursue this medium may face.

View details
7 Sep, 8pm – 9.15pm
Panel Discussion with DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore Alumni

Hear from DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore alumni as they discuss easy and accessible ways to approach game development.

In this panel discussion, they will share stories and challenges faced in their personal journey and how everyone can be a game designer!

View details
10 Sep
ABCs of Healthy Video Gaming

Learn about the benefits of video gaming while debunking common misconceptions with Elyna, and Pauline from SOOS OIO!

View details
13 Sep, 10am
Games as a Medium for Expressing Cultural Values

Cultural values and socio-political implications of games are important topics of discussions for the fields of humanities and social sciences. As educators at DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore, Ms Shanthina and Dr. Sim Jiaying encourage students to make games that consider social issues and increase cultural awareness.

View details
14 & 15 Sep, 3pm – 5pm
Future Gaming Conference

Join us to explore how videogames are changing the world right now and discuss transformative ideas that are shaping the future of one of the most exciting media.

View details

Expanded Realities Conversations

27 Jul, 8pm

Expanded Realities Conversations with Daniel Birnbaum and Honor Harger

Join us to imagine the future possibilities of contemporary art and technology as we explore how extended reality is transforming museums in inexplicable ways.

View details
13 Jul, 8pm

Expanded Realities Conversations with Robin McNicholas and Sarah Ellis

Discover how creative directors and producers are working in blended reality spaces and creating new paradigms for how immersive storytelling can be experienced.

View details
17 Jun, 8pm

Expanded Realities Conversations with Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Patrick Moran

Join us to explore how videogames are evolving beyond the screen and introducing new encounters that connect virtual and physical worlds in extraordinary ways.

View details

Climate Conversations

10 Mar, 8pm - 9pm

Join us in the concluding Climate Conversations talk featuring prominent ecologist and President of Nature Society (Singapore), Dr Shawn Kaihekulani Yamauchi Lum. He will share about the efforts by Nature Society focused on marine conservation and coastal clean-up, and how we can play a role in protecting our marine environments and biodiversity.

View details
6 Oct, 8.30pm

The series launched with a talk by Cynthia Doumbia (Director, International Exhibitions at National Geographic Society), who spoke about how this multi-year initiative harnesses storytelling to tackle the global plastic waste crisis and effect meaningful change.

View details
20 Oct, 5pm

Intan Suci Nurhati (senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences’ Research Center for Oceanography and National Geographic Explorer) highlighted issues in plastics management and her recent research work on the rising tide of pandemic-driven plastic waste.

View details
26 Nov, 5pm

Mandy Barker (photographer and National Geographic Explorer), whose work involving marine plastic debris has received global recognition, shared how she has been working alongside marine scientists to transform data on ocean plastics into arresting collages of pollution.

View details
26 Jan, 5pm

Renowned conservation scientist Lian Pin Koh (Director of the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions at National University of Singapore) joins us in the penultimate talk to speak about how a better understanding of the potential and limits of nature-based climate solutions is needed to help inform our climate policy and investment decisions.

View details

Feeling the Future Talks

4 Aug

Feeling the Future Talk with Tong Yee

Tong Yee (Co-Founder of The Thought Collective) reflects on emotional resilience and personal leadership in this season of crisis – how it tells us about who we are as societies and states, and reveals powerful wisdom if we care to look. Following his talk, Tong Yee will also be participating in a Q&A moderated by Honor Harger (Executive Director, ArtScience Museum).

Watch Now
21 Jul

Feeing the Future Talk with Richard Hassell

Titled Strange Times, WOHA’s proposal for Singapore for the year 2050 is presented in the form of a highly realistic newspaper from the future at 2219: Futures Imagined. Richard will talk about the emotions and humour this provocative piece of speculative realism was designed to elicit. Following his talk, Richard will also be participating in a Q&A moderated by Nina Ernst (Associate Director, Programmes).

Watch Now
7 Jul

Feeling the Future Talk with Lynn Froggett and Lizzie Muller

Lynn Froggett and Lizzie Muller speak about how exhibitions support the civic role of museums in bringing what is ‘felt’ into public conversation through a process of ‘cultural contagion’. They will also be joined by Nina Ernst (Associate Director, Programmes) in a livestream moderated conversation on 9 Jul (Thursday), 4pm.

View details
23 Jun

Feeling the Future Talk by Anab Jain and Jon Ardern of Superflux

Listen in as Superflux founders Anab Jain and Jon Ardern talk about how they use narrative and speculation to explore complex problems that are often discussed in terms of data and abstract projections, and why hope often works best alongside tools for proactively tackling future challenges.

View Details
Available Online:

Feeling the Future Talk with Cheryl Chung

Join Cheryl Chung (Co-Director of Executive Education and Head of Strategic Planning at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore) as she discusses how to democratise tools for hope and impart them to youth so they can design the future. She will also be joined by Honor Harger (Executive Director, ArtScience Museum) in a livestream moderated conversation on 26 May (Tuesday), 5pm.

View Details
Available Online

Feeling the Future Talk with Scott Smith

Scott Smith (Founder and Managing Partner of Changeist) shares practical tools for mapping out possible futures in a crisis, which might help us think about and unpack orders of impact of significant change. He will also be joined by Honor Harger (Executive Director, ArtScience Museum) in a live moderated conversation on 12 May at 5pm.

View Details
Available Online

Feeling the Future Talk with Ariel Muller

Join Ariel Muller as she shares how we might better equip ourselves to prepare for future shocks, given what we are learning from people's responses to COVID-19.

Watch Now

Learning from Home Roundtable

28 Sep, 4pm

Parents, educators and practitioners come together in Learning from Home Roundtable to share their experiences of at-home learning during COVID-19 lockdown. Join us as we discuss how this period of disruption is presenting opportunities to respond to new perspectives on parenting, teaching and learning beyond the pandemic.

Watch Now
Sanveen Kang (Principal Clinical Psychologist at Psych Connect)
Bob Lee (Photographer, founder of The Fat Farmer and autism advocate)
Cherie Lim Tseng (editor with The Birthday Collective)
Victor Lim Fei (Assistant Professor at National Institute of Education)
Elaine Ng (co-founder of The Learning Connections)

Artists' Talks

15 Sep, 5pm

Artist Talk: Sara Wookey

How do our bodies navigate the many invisible rules of the public space sometimes without us even noticing? Join us as dance artist and researcher Sara Wookey considers how our bodies relate to space around us and if the new safe distancing choreography of the public space might have changed the way we move forever.

Watch Now
23 Jul

Artist Talk: Blast Theory

UK-based Blast Theory creates interactive art that reveals the interconnectedness of cultural, scientific, and political issues. Join us as two of the artists from Blast Theory, Matt Adams and Nick Tandavanitj, discuss recent works relating to the flu epidemic in 1918 and SARS in 2003 that have renewed resonance in today’s pandemic world.

Watch Now

Special Event: Building a more Accessible Circuit

9 June:

Livestream session at 4pm

As Singapore eases out of isolation, join us in a livestream roundtable with industry panellists as they reflect on how the circuit breaker is offering a pivotal moment to reframe conversations around access and inclusion.

Watch Here
Paul Adams, Learning & Engagement Manager, Singapore Repertory Theatre
Serene Goh, Senior Programme Executive, Creative Services, Singapore Association for Mental Health
Grace Lee Khoo, Founder and Creative Development Director of Access Path Productions
Jean Loo, Co-Founder of Superhero Me