Orient Magazine Issue 73 - September 2019 | Page 54

Orient - The Official Magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore - Issue 73 September 2019

Ground-breaking Exhibitions – Why a Diverse Team is Integral
Alexander McCuaig, Managing Director, MET Studio

We’ve entered a new era of exhibition design where visual storytelling is instrumental to the process of bringing an educational visitor experience to life. Experts in creative interpretation and experiential design, MET Studio believe in the power of collaboration and multidisciplinary design to deliver a holistic cultural experience.

The studio’s recent work for the Singapore Bicentennial Office to create ‘From Singapore to Singaporean: The Bicentennial Experience' is testament to this multidisciplinary approach to design. The in-house team who worked on the project stem from the worlds of multimedia and graphic design, product and set design and architecture, and was expanded to include an extensive network of external partners.

MET Studio worked in close partnership with the Singapore Bicentennial Office and Kingsmen to design ‘From Singapore to Singaporean: The Bicentennial Experience', the landmark exhibition that commemorates the 200th anniversary of Stamford Raffles’ arrival in Singapore. The project saw MET Studio’s design team work collaboratively with external creative partners to deliver a ground-breaking exhibition that, through visual storytelling and a sense of theatricality, translates the complex narrative around Singapore’s 200th anniversary into an immersive visitor experience.

‘From Singapore to Singaporean’ brings to life Singapore’s rich history and evolution to the present day, through a cinematic experience within the Fort Canning Centre. MET Studio worked together with theatre expert Beatrice Chia and communication design and production group Kingsmen to conceive ‘Time Traveller’, a multisensory experience that tells of Singapore’s 700 years of history in five acts. The teams approached the project with a creative mindset to ensure every design element of the experience was connected and considered. At the heart of this methodology was the integration of 3D and 2D design to ensure every single interaction was carefully orchestrated. In doing so, MET Studio were able to fully engage visitors in the narrative and allow them to live and breathe each stage of Singapore’s heritage. The immersive experience begins from the second someone enters the exhibition where a weather installation, with the help of strobe lights, features rain falling in “reverse” and serves to physically convey how weather played such a significant role in Singapore’s journey through the ages.

Theatricality has been woven into every stage of the exhibition and was the result of an ongoing collaboration with Beatrice Chai, who worked with MET Studio to weave performance and audience participation into the experience. The first act, Beginnings, charts events from 1299 to 1613, through live performers and multimedia projections that form high-action re-enactments of how Singapore was involved in early global events. As visitors sit and watch the third act, Connectivity (1867 to 1941), their seats move as the platform is rotated, showcasing Singapore’s urbanisation with emphasis on new shipping routes and communication lines. Act Four focuses on the Japanese Occupation, where darkened rooms focus the mind on the intensity of the story.