This afternoon, I visited the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands to experience Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. The exhibition lends its visitors the opportunity to relive the grandeur and the tragedy on the Titanic ship.
The exhibition begins with a photo-taking opportunity with the Titanic ship. Visitors then learn about the construction of the ship. I learnt that White Star Line, the highly prominent British shipping company in those days, was the owner of RMS (Royal Mail Steamer) Titanic. In the first gallery of the exhibition, visitors can learn more about the story behind Titanic's conception, design and construction.
Luxurious was possibly the word to describe the design of Titanic. It was very apt that the next gallery brings visitors to experience the full-scale re-creation of a First Class passenger's room. Nearby, the Verandah Care is a one-of-a-kind alfresco dining area on the Titanic where the dining passengers could enjoy the ocean breeze.
The majestic Grand Staircase follows. Its design somehow reminded me of the Neo-Baroque style of art. It was grandeur and dramatic.
Soon enough, visitors to the exhibition would travel to the quarters of the Third Class passengers. I could clearly hear the continuous rhythms from the ship's engine ringing away at the Third Class quarters.
One of my favourite sections of the exhibition was the Promenade. It replicated the Promenade of the Titanic, which appeared to be an ideal place to gaze the stars of the romantic night skies.
At the following Iceberg Gallery, visitors are allowed to touch the interactive iceberg to experience the freezing climate of the North Atlantic.
The Memorial Gallery was quite well conceptualized in my opinion. Before entering the exhibition, each visitor will be given a boarding pass at random. This boarding pass includes the name of one of the selected actual passengers onboard the Titanic and some facts regarding the stated passenger. With the boarding pass that was issued, visitors could check against the memorial at the Memorial Gallery to find out if that particular passenger whose name was stated on their respective boarding pass was saved or was lost when the Titanic met with its tragic end on 14-15 Apr 1912.
The Discovery Gallery provided visitors with a glimpse of the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic. This gallery also offered insights to the recovery and the conservation of artifacts from the Titanic.
Perhaps the most disconnected part of the entire exhibition was the gallery named Singapore 1912. While the idea of showcasing how the sinking of the Titanic had resonated in Singapore was brilliant, I felt that the presentation of the gallery seemed too disconnected with the rest of the exhibition galleries. Nevertheless, I have had an enjoyable visit. It was definitely a safe way to re-experience Titanic.
This exhibition will be held at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands from 29 Oct 2011 - 29 Apr 2012. For more information, please visit http://titanic.sg and http://www.marinabaysands.com/Singapore-Attractions/ArtScience-Museum/
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Please also see the following brilliant reviews of this exhibition by fellow bloggers who were invited to the media-preview of this exhibition. These reviews include interesting photographs on the exhibition.:
http://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/step-on-board-the-titanic-in-singapore/
http://leonefabre.blogspot.com/2011/10/titanic-artifact-exhibition-in.html
http://leonefabre.blogspot.com/2011/11/titanic-sails-into-singapore.html
