Virtual Realms: Videogames Transformed will premiere in June at ArtScience Museum

Videogames take centre stage at ArtScience Museum, in a new major exhibition, Virtual Realms: Videogames Transformed. Making its global premiere in Singapore on June 12, Virtual Realms is curated and organized by the Barbican in co-production with ArtScience Museum and Melbourne Museum. 

Co-curated by celebrated Japanese videogame designer, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Virtual Realms is a multi-sensorial exhibition that re-imagines videogames as a 21st century artform. The exhibition brings together interactive works by six of the world’s leading videogame developers, who have collaborated with top media design studios to create a series of large-scale, immersive installations. 

The game developers at the center of the exhibition are KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (makers of the hit game DEATH STRANDING), Enhance (Tetsuya Mizuguchi and team behind Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect), thatgamecompany (authors of the meditative games Sky: Children of the Light and Journey), Tequila Works (the studio that made Deadlight and RiME), Media Molecule (creators of LittleBigPlanet and Dreams) and David OReilly (artist and creator of the games Everything and Mountain). They have partnered with media artists and design studios, Rhizomatiks, FIELD.IO, The Mill, Marshmallow Laser Feast, onedotzero and The Workers to make six new commissions that transport videogames from the screen into the galleries. 

Each of the six new commissions is a kaleidoscopic realm driven by a unique theme. The themes of the six virtual realms are: SYNESTHESIA, UNITY, CONNECTION, PLAY, NARRATIVE, EVERYTHING.

SYNESTHESIA 

Rezonance, 2021 

By Enhance (game developer) and Rhizomatiks (media designer) 

The first realm of the exhibition looks at synesthesia – a neurological phenomenon in which the boundaries between the senses are blurred and where sounds can be ‘seen’ and visuals can be ‘heard’ or ‘felt’. 

Tetsuya Mizuguchi has explored the potential of synesthesia since his 2001 game, Rez. Unique among videogame designers, this interest has led to some of the most critically acclaimed titles in the medium, Rez Infinite (2016) and Tetris Effect (2018). Acclaimed Japanese artistic research collective, Rhizomatiks created the Tokyo segment of Olympics’ closing ceremony in Rio De Janeiro in 2016. They also made the world’s first live streamed 360º virtual reality performance for singer, Björk. 

Mizuguchi’s experiments with synesthesia have been expanded into a large-scale format, resulting in the new installation, Rezonance (2021). Upon entering the SYNESTHESIA realm, visitors will be part of the pulsing rhythmic beat and become a ‘traveller’ on the Rezonance journey. It allows visitors to encounter this sensorial state as a shared experience. Using light, sound and technology developed specifically for this exhibition, Enhance and Rhizomatiks have created an unexpected synesthetic encounter, which will transport visitors to other worlds and dimensions. 

UNITY 

Together: the distance between (us), 2021 

By thatgamecompany (game developer) and FIELD.IO (media designer) 

In the UNITY realm, the dreamlike world of thatgamecompany’s Sky: Children of the Light (2019) has been transformed into an immersive spatial environment. As one moves beneath the circular light-sculpture, music and audio fragments from the game, Sky, are triggered and a choreography of light sequences unfolds. 

Working with creative studio FIELD.IO, thatgamecompany presents Together: the distance between (us) (2021), an immersive experience where visitors become players in an all-encompassing generative instrument. Visitors will explore the relationship between movement, light and sound as their presence and participation influence the composition of the space.

CONNECTION 

WALL, 2021 

By KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (game developer) and The Mill (media designer) 

Tokyo-based videogame developer KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS, has partnered with the global production studio, The Mill to create, WALL (2021). 

The key theme of human connection in KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS’ latest game, DEATH STRANDING (2019), has been reimagined for the WALL experience. With a soundscape inspired by DEATH STRANDING, visitors will be transported into an unfamiliar environment where a wall is the only channel of connection to two opposing worlds – one alive with biological cells and the other flowing with galactic energy particles. 

As visitors approach the wall, the cells and cosmic particles will respond to their presence, dividing and clustering with one’s movement. The mesmerizing patterns that form will offer hints of communication between different spaces and time. Whilst technology can isolate us, WALL demonstrates its potential to create connections in ways that were never previously possible. 

PLAY 

Dream Shaping, 2021 

By Media Molecule (game developer) and Marshmallow Laser Feast (media designer) 

The realm of PLAY celebrates the joyful and performative sensibilities that videogames inspire in us, their players. It takes the form of a giant play-space where visitors experiment in both the physical and virtual worlds. Equipped with tracking helmets and a selection of oversized soft geometric forms, participants become part of an improvised performance while other curious visitors look on. 

Media Molecule’s vast digital toolset, Dreams (2020) empowers makers to build and share their creations, be it games, music, art or animation. Based on Dreams, the installation Dream Shaping (2021) invites visitors to work together to create and manipulate their custom experience. Marshmallow Laser Feast’s acclaimed artistic work, which experiments with making the digital ‘tactile’, further enhanced the installation, resulting in a uniquely playful experience. 

NARRATIVE 

Book of Sand, 2021 

By Tequila Works (game developer) and The Workers (media designer) 

The NARRATIVE realm showcases the power of videogames to tell stories and create new forms of fiction. The commission, Book of Sand (2021) invites visitors to step into the mysterious Mediterranean world from RiME (2017). 

Inspired by the novella, Book of Sand (1975) by Jorge Luis Borges, the installation explores the notion of an infinite story that has neither “any beginning or end”. Visitors are to follow the lead of the spotlights by stepping into the light to trigger changes on the screen, such as the crumbling of statues or shifting night into day. Depending on the choices made and the collaborations between players, each rendition of the narrative will differ. 

EVERYTHING 

Eye, 2021 

By David OReilly (game developer) and onedotzero (media designer) 

This realm is inspired by Irish artist David OReilly’s game, Everything (2017), that celebrates the capacity of videogames to generate expansive universes and gives shape to the infinite potential of our imagination. Everything is a meditative and reflective world conveying the Buddhist concept of inter-connectedness. 

Working with onedotzero, OReilly created Eye (2021), a unique interactive environment controlled by visitors, where forms of life self-organize into kaleidoscopic patterns. Eye takes visitors on a visual journey through time, from the Big Bang to the end of the universe. Visitors can direct elements of the video using large interactive controllers, or lounge on soft spongy seating, listening to the synchronized soundtrack from the London Symphony Orchestra and bathing in the psychedelic wonder of the space. 

Dates and Tickets 

Virtual Realms: Videogames Transformed will run from June 12, 2021 to January 9, 2022 at ArtScience Museum before embarking on its global tour. 

Tickets are available for purchase from May 31 at all Marina Bay Sands Box Offices and website. Terms and Conditions apply.