Singapore turns 60 this year and a great way to commemorate the milestone is with a celebration of the country’s vibrant pop culture. As part of its SG60 festivities, ArtScience Museum is presenting SingaPop! 60 Years of Singapore Pop Culture, a multimedia immersive exhibition launching on Aug 2.
Presented in collaboration with mm2 Entertainment and supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Singapop! marks the first exhibition created by national icon and Cultural Medallion recipient Dick Lee – the celebrated musician behind National Day classics like Home.
“Having lived through and been a part of the evolution of our cultural identity in the last 60 years, I’m proud to present this exhibition that showcases who we are: Idiosyncratic, colourful and uniquely Singaporean,” said Lee in a statement.
This immersive showcase unfolds across five chapters, each exploring a different facet of Singapore’s evolving cultural identity over the past 60 years – from the birth of Singlish and the rise of hawker food, to the transformation of local fashion.
The exhibition will also offer a glimpse of the stories of the people who have shaped Singapore’s pop culture including vocal powerhouse Kit Chan, comedy king Kumar, music icon Rahimah Rahim and Lee himself.
Some highlights include an animated map tracing the early migratory paths of communities from China, India, the Malay Archipelago and Europe – laying the foundation for the rich cultural diversity that defines Singapore today.
At the heart of the exhibition is RojakLand, featuring six sections that spotlight the defining elements of Singaporean pop culture. Here, visitors can step into a theatre set and leave their mark at the central botanical pavilion where they can rubber-stamp their favourite pop culture icons.
To add to the fun, there will be SingaStyle, which explores how fashion has helped shape Singapore’s national identity in the 1950s. From the glamour of beauty pageants to everyday street style, visitors can admire pageant wear from 2013 to 2022, designed by renowned local designers Frederick Lee and Moe Kasim, alongside a digital fashion scrapbook curated by Dick Lee.
The exhibition also turns the spotlight on Singapore’s media evolution. There will be a screening room where visitors can explore how the nation’s media landscape has expanded – starting from its first broadcast in 1963 to today’s array of multilingual platforms. The section also features iconic local films and shows that have shaped the Singaporean narrative across generations.
The exhibition will run from Aug 2 to Dec 28. For more information, visit the official website.
