ArtScience Museum

The lotus on the bay changes its subject every few months. The basement is the one constant.

Come for one show, not for the museum. ArtScience has never had a fixed personality: what you get is whatever is on that month, plus teamLab in the basement. That makes it a good rainy-afternoon plan and a decent first date with built-in talking points, but only if you choose the exhibition before you choose the day. Read the programme, buy one headline show, add teamLab if the budget stretches, and walk the overload off along the bay afterwards.

A building that keeps changing the subject

You know the building: Moshe Safdie's ten-fingered lotus at Marina Bay Sands, opened on 17 February 2011, whose bowl of a roof funnels rainwater into a reflecting pond on the lowest level. Inside, the subject keeps changing. It opened with the treasures of the Tang shipwreck, then swerved to Van Gogh Alive, Titanic, Harry Potter, The Art of the Brick and mummies, and more recently Attack on Titan and The World of Studio Ghibli. Each show is its own ticket and its own audience, which is both the charm and the catch.

Recent programming has leaned oceanic and philosophical: Into the Ocean: Journey Beneath, developed with OceanX, More than Human and a seasonal focus called Forms of Life, alongside a cinema, a VR gallery and an ArtScience Laboratory. Check what is running on your date before you buy, then pick one. Stacking three immersive experiences in a row is how a good afternoon turns into a headache.

teamLab, the one constant

teamLab Future World, a permanent interactive exhibition, fills most of the basement galleries. The highlights are Crystal Universe, a room of suspended lights over a mirrored floor (staff will lend a sarong if you're in a skirt and worried about the reflections); Sketch Aquarium, where children's coloured-in fish swim off into a shared sea; and Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds, which requires visitors to be at least 1.2m tall and in covered shoes. Entry is timed, and strollers stay outside.

The trick is to stop photographing it and start poking it. Most of the works respond to you, so give children time to experiment, and give yourself the same allowance.

How to do it well

Book the teamLab slot first and fit the main show around it. Children under 13 need an adult with them throughout, and Fridays outside school and public holidays are Family Fridays, so check the offer if you are bringing a few. Bayfront MRT gets you closest. When you come out, the Marina Bay waterfront is right there, and a slow lap of the bay is the best cure for an hour of projections.

Good to know Open 9am–6pm daily, last entry 5pm. teamLab Future World runs on timed tickets, and each exhibition and experience is ticketed separately, so check what's included for your date. Nearest MRT: Bayfront. Public holidays: Marina Bay Sands lists the museum as open daily, 9am–6pm with last entry at 5pm, and gives no different hours for public holidays.

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ArtScience Museum | 6 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018974 | Nearest MRT: Bayfront