One of the things I have really missed since moving to Byron Bay is the opportunity to visit art galleries and museums. It was one of my favourite things to do when we lived in London and we were so spoilt there with the sheer number of world class exhibitions there were to visit.

Of course now that I am travelling with my two little sidekicks there is the small matter of visiting a gallery or museum with two young children in tow, which to be honest, made me pretty nervous … the constant vigilance required to keep them out of trouble seemed exhausting! I was willing to give it a go though, and especially when I learnt that there was a fabulous, interactive, child-friendly exhibition called Future World at Singapore’s Art Science Museum.

The exhibition is a creation of the amazing teamLab, who are an international art collective consisting of artists, programmers, engineers, animators, mathematicians and architects. Their works are an investigation between art, science, technology, and the natural world.

The exhibition we visited was called Future World and was based around the four themes of City in a garden, sanctuary, park and space. The kids and I loved it so much we spent nearly four hours exploring (with a stop for lunch at the fabulous museum cafe. The salads were amazing and the kids cauliflower mac and cheese was delicious).

Universe of water particles, transcending boundaries

The first room was one of our favourites and set really high expectations for the rest of the exhibition. As you entered the room, through black out curtains, you were immersed in a world full of sensory pleasure … sweet, flowing music and illuminations of butterflies and flowers floated over the walls. The highlight though, of course, was the wall length waterfall which moved with your body, the water flowing around you as you interacted with the illuminations. So beautiful and so addictive!

Sliding through the field of fruit

The next artwork was pure fun and joy. An interactive slippery slide in the the middle of an art gallery. What’s not to love! Layla, Etienne and I loved sliding down over the illuminations of fruit and bouncing balls. The concept was that you became sunlight and when your body collided with the balls your sunlight energy was transferred to them. They in turn collided with the fruit which grew and exploded. There were cries from Etienne of ‘again, again!’.

Connecting this artwork and the next was a hidden tunnel that the kids loved racing through.

Sketch piston playing music

Making different sounds and music by writing and drawing on the screens. The kids loved this room and it was one they kept coming back to again and again.

Sketch aquarium

This sweet little artwork allowed visitors to participate in creating sea creatures to fill the giant aquarium. After colouring in, their creatures are scanned and uploaded, and then there is the thrill of spotting your masterpiece up on the big screen.

Inverted Globe, Giant Connecting Block Town

I always thought it was a cliche that little boys love things with wheels but if my little boy is anything to go by the cliche is full of truth! So being given the opportunity to play in a mini city scape, watch projected cars, trains, planes and boats move around the space, and move around giant blocks to create a system of roads, rivers and railways, was pure heaven. Layla, my five year old loved this one too. And there are plenty of opportunities for movement and burning off a little energy here if it is needed!

Sketch town

Just like this sketch aquarium, this artwork allowed children to participate in designing a cityscape with their colouring skills.

Hopscotch for geniuses

This was one of Layla’s favourite artworks. She spent ages hopping, skipping and running up and down attempting to create her own electronic version of hopscotch.

Light ball orchestra

Combining a visually beautiful display with the fun of a giant ball pit and the opportunity to make great sounding music made this a wonderful artwork. Rolling the giant light ball changed its colour and sound and together the balls made sounds that resembled an orchestra. A great fun activity for children and adults alike. There was even a smaller area with smaller balls for the tiny people.

Story of the time when the gods were everywhere

This was an intriguing artwork that took some thought and exploration. As you touched one of the images on the screen it evolved and changed and little story within a story took place. It is kind of hard to explain but it kept Layla entertained and enthralled for hours.

Crystal Universe

Last, but definitely not least, this enthralling artwork was a definite highlight of the exhibition and one where we spent a lot of time! It was created with teamLab’s interactive 4D vision technology using 170,000 LED lights which created an illusion of stars moving in space. The lights and sounds were ever changing and it was absolutely mesmerising to watch, interactive with and photograph.