A new interactive exhibition at ArtScience Museum sheds light on mental health

If you’re feeling low, the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore has just the prescription. Starting on September 3, the museum will host MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing, an interactive exhibition exploring different shades of mental health and human connection.

MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing will be a welcoming space that provides many viewpoints and stories throughout the mental health spectrum through the interaction of art, science, and technology.

The exhibition will feature more than 20 interactive displays and expansive installations that challenge social misconceptions about mental health—all created by scientists, designers, makers, and artists worldwide. Seven further pieces of art by Southeast Asian and Singaporean artists tackle mental health from distinctively Southeast Asian perspectives.

MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing—A space to heal

The artworks in this exhibition address serious issues in a relatable way. Rather than focusing on mental illness, treatments or cures, the exhibition will celebrate the diversity and complexities of the human mind. The works will prompt visitors to pause, reflect, and empathize with what it means to be human, perhaps changing how they see themselves, other people, and society as a whole.

“We are delighted to be collaborating with Science Gallery Melbourne on an exhibition that really showcases the creative intersection of art, science, and technology. MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing is a significant and timely new exhibition that invites visitors to contemplate what mental wellbeing means to them. This exhibition is a culmination of ArtScience Museum’s Season of Mental Wellbeing—a year-long series of exhibitions, education activities, and public programs that have sought to raise mental health awareness,” says Honor Harger, Vice President of ArtScience Museum and Attractions at Marina Bay Sands.

“MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing presents universal themes that will transcend boundaries and resonate with visitors of all ages and backgrounds. It encourages visitors to reflect on different ways of being, surviving and connecting in our modern age. We hope this exhibition will create an open and supportive space for family and friends to discuss the many colors of mental health and wellbeing,” she adds.

“Never has there been a more important time to explore mental health, especially for young people. Colliding science and art, MENTAL is an exciting collaboration between ArtScience Museum and Science Gallery at The University of Melbourne that provides the opportunity to connect new audiences through lived experiences of mental health, technology and creativity. The exhibition highlights that we are all on our own mental health journey through life, just not all journeys are equal,” shares Dr. Ryan Jefferies, Director of Science Gallery Melbourne.

Key Highlights of MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing

MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing was co-curated with Science Gallery Melbourne and will make its Asian debut in September.

The project was originally developed in collaboration with a group of young people in Australia, as well as experts and academics from the scientific and creative fields. It was first shown at The University of Melbourne’s Science Gallery Melbourne in the early half of 2022.

The exhibit, which seeks to illuminate the lived experiences of young people, offers a sensitive examination of mental health from several viewpoints.

What visitors can expect at MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing exhibition

Visitors to the exhibition will see a wide range of artworks that explore mental health from various perspectives.

A human-sized rainbow wheel, a mirror that reads emotions, a giant balloon imprisoned in a pink cage, and other experimental and interactive projects will be featured in the exhibition.

These projects encourage viewers to explore and consider the human condition through science, technology, and creativity.

What if you could turn a dial to boost your mood instantly?

Hiromi Tango, a well-known artist, and Dr. Emma Burrows, a researcher at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, created Wheel (2021) together.

This work looks at how exercise, color, and fun environments might alter mood and how social benefits can influence someone’s commitment to exercising. The collective trip odometer that tracks the distance traveled by visitors throughout the exhibition is connected to a large, colorful wheel and wheelchair-accessible training equipment.

Through a “like” button, viewers may support competitors from the sidelines by viewing a live stream of their hands or feet. Ultimately, the installation examines the resolve to maintain motivation with this “mood medicine.”

Who knows you best? The machine or you?

Mirror Ritual (2021), an interactive artwork by Nina Rajcic and SensiLab that appropriates a commonplace object—a mirror—and enhances it with artificial intelligence (AI) to encourage literal and metaphorical reflection—is one of the exhibition’s key works.

By interpreting the viewer’s emotional states from their facial expressions, the mirror “speaks” to them and creates a specially crafted poem.

Rather than telling the audience how they should feel, the installation allows them to examine their own state of mind, emphasizing harmony or conflict between intentional and unintentional expressions.

What does the weight of caregiving look like? Can we share it?

In Between Earth and Sky (2018), Singaporean artist Alecia Neo works with the activities and viewpoints of a community of caregivers for persons with mental illness. They bring to light the efforts and contributions of caregivers who are frequently called upon to care for loved ones with mental health conditions.

A culmination of a year-long project, this multi-media installation features a performance video in which the caregivers use their bodies as a primary means of expression to develop stories and expressive movements based on their caregiving experiences. The film is accompanied by 14 shield-shaped kites. Each kite features close-up pictures of apparel each caregiver and their loved ones wears. Together, these kites form a collective body and symbolize both vulnerability and freedom.

This work also momentarily re-centers the attention on the caregiver who has long learned to bear weight but may have forgotten how to give weight. In many ways, Between Earth and Sky (2018) is an intimate portrait of faith restored in times of profound loss, within oneself and in society.

How can we express our feelings when there are no words to describe them?

In art therapy, circles are commonly used to help clients process and express their innermost feelings on a deeper level, but emotions can sometimes be too overwhelming to contain.

Singaporean artist Lee Yi Xuan’s The State of Mind (2021) attempts to submerge viewers in a scenario where no words can adequately express such sentiments, with the concept of ‘drawing in a circle’ serving as a visual vessel to communicate one’s thoughts and feelings.

The artist’s contained state of mind is depicted by ‘scribbling’ inside the circle—when words fail, the scribbling process allows her to face her inner chaos. While lovely to look at, a closer inspection reveals the artwork’s more turbulent and complex nature.

How much can we trust our perception of reality?

Distorted Constellations (2019) by UK artist Nwando Ebizie immerses viewers in a sensory-rich atmosphere that draws inspiration from the uncommon neurological condition known as visual snow.

The work challenges the notion of a “normal” brain in favor of viewing reality as a subjective experience into a broader spectrum, allowing viewers to experience what it could be like to walk in someone else’s shoes. This is done through visual and audio distortions.

Conversations: Headspace, A symposium

On September 3, Conversations: Headspace—a symposium in connection with MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing—will take place.

The symposium brings together researchers, artists, and curators behind the exhibition to discuss a range of perspectives on mental health and wellbeing through their practices, advocacy work, and lived experiences.

MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing is an eye-opening exhibition that provides much-needed insight into mental health and wellbeing. If you’re looking for support or want to learn more about mental health, MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing is a good place to start.

The ArtScience Museum in Singapore is hosting the exhibition from September 3 to early 2023.

About ArtScience Museum

A significant cultural center in Singapore, the ArtScience Museum explores the nexus between art, science, technology, and culture. The museum is a part of Marina Bay Sands’ cultural landscape.

Since its opening in February 2011, the ArtScience Museum has staged large-scale exhibitions by some of the world’s major artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, M.C. Escher, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as exhibitions that explore aspects of science and technology, including particle physics, big data, robotics, paleontology, marine biology, and space science.

Featured image: Wheel (2021) by Hiromi Tango, Dr Emma Burrows, and Dr Tilman Dingler (Image courtesy of Alan Weedon)

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