Visitors entered the exhibition through a "time tunnel" featuring my specially commissioned music and sound design
2219: FUTURES IMAGINED was inspired by the work of Singaporean writer and poet Alvin Pang, and marked Singapore's Bicentennial Year by looking forward two centuries to what the island nation may look like in 2219. The exhibition, featuring numerous artworks by Singaporean and international artists, "focuses on small, human-scale acts of innovation and contemplation" and encourages visitors to "reflect on what kind of future they want for Singapore".
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the exhibition ran for many months longer than expected, which meant almost 100,000 visitors got to hear my music/sound design piece "Changing Times", commissioned by the museum for the exhibition's entrance.
As visitors walked through into the exhibition, they passed through a "time tunnel" featuring imagery from Singapore's past, present and future. To illustrate this sonically, I had the team set up four speakers - one at the tunnel's entrance, one at its exit, and two in the middle. As you walked through you would hear birdsong (representing the natural world), followed by the sounds of humans going about their daily lives in Singapore (the modern world) and artificial birdsong with mechanical breathing sounds (a possible future) at the end. Throughout, a muted piano calmly moves up and down scales in changing time signatures (hence one of several meanings behind the piece's title, "Changing Times").
A stereo version of the piece can be heard on YouTube here: