Titanic The Artifact Exhibition :The ArtScienceMuseum at Marina Bay Sands A review

Posted by Vicky on | January 29, 2012 | No Comments

The ArtScienceMuseum at Marina Bay Sands brings Titanic to life. This extraordinary exhibition is one that is not to be missed. Walk along her deck, learn about the passengers who travelled on her doomed maiden voyage, and see the artifacts that have been salvaged from her wreck.

Titanic has been in her watery grave for 100 years. For 100 years the elements of the inhospitable deep sea have been destroying her, long rusticles have formed and are eating her remains. Soon Titanic shall be no more.

But the story of Titanic will always remain. For it is essentially a human story, and at the center of her sad history is the joint notion of pride cometh before a fall, and that in a challenge between man and nature – nature will always win.

It is these two sides to Titanic’s story that are highlighted clearly in the ArtScienceMuseum. Titanic is raised from her resting place and is brought to life though the objects found from inside in the ship, and by the stories of the passengers who were aboard her.

The entire Titanic The Artifact Exhibition is awe-inspiring. As a visitor you are taken aboard Titanic, you walk down her corridors, you see the cabins, the doors to the dining room (made famous in the Titanic movie), and you see the beautiful curved walnut staircase, flanked by the bronze cupids. You get to touch an iceberg, and leave frozen handprints in it. It is in this exhibition that you get to walk along the Promenade (deck) by the starlight. For this is an exhibition that is part real life artifact, part story and also part set.

Visitors are greeted with a boarding card, and the card contains the name of a passenger, the class they were travelling as well as a brief biography. These were real passengers, and by the end of the exhibition I challenge you not to want to find out what happened to them, because you will want to know if they survive.

It is thanks to this exhibition that I had the opportunity to learn about Jane and Fred Quick. Jane was travelling home to Fred in Detroit with her daughters after visiting England. Among her belongs was a leaf, which contained the pinpricked words “I love you”, Fred had given her this leaf before her journey. Theirs was a love story that surpassed even that of the fictional Rose and Jack from the James Cameron Titanic movie. I was so pleased and relieved to discover that Jane did make it back home to Fred, as did their daughters.

The memorial board

There are eight sections to the exhibition, and all of them deserve the time to be appreciated. The exhibition is engaging enough for young children, my 2 year old and 4 year old are fans, we have been to see this exhibition twice already.

The eighth section is called Discovery, and it is amazingly executed. The visitor is plunged into blue light, as if under water, the floor is a transparent structure, with sands and artifacts underneath. Footage of the actual wreck of Titanic, is continuously playing, along with details of her slow and pitiful demise.

This is an exhibition that is difficult to put into words.. but the words that I can offer are ‘please go and see it, before it is too late”.

Titanic The Artifact Exhibition ends on the 29^th April 2012.

For more information including ticket prices and location please click here

Enjoy

~Vicky

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