Arts Picks: National Gallery’s murder mystery, family piano recital, Wild Rice’s Rice Cooker series

Framed: A Murder Mystery In National Gallery Singapore

The National Gallery Singapore’s latest audience outreach programme is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot-based game which takes players through the galleries in a chase for clues to solve a mystery. 

These immersive experiences are often more gimmicky than effective and, having spent almost three hours solving the puzzles in Framed, this reviewer’s opinion has not changed. 

Players of this self-guided game are taken through a set of clues finessed from art exhibits and captions. The game unfolds through a WhatsApp conversation with the somewhat randomly monikered Void Deck Cat chatbot. 

The AI interface is a bit slow, which is acknowledged in an initial housekeeping message which requests only one person messages at a time “or you will confuse me”, and “please be patient with me as I consider your answers”. A word of advice: Connect to the Gallery’s free Wi-Fi for better connectivity. 

The limitations of AI are also apparent when one correct answer is rejected for not fitting the exact phrasing the chatbot has evidently been programmed to look for. 

The individual puzzles will engage problem-solvers, although the clues do not play an integral part in the overall mystery narrative, just as the final solution could have been derived without playing the entire game. 

What the game is really effective at is forcing participants through the various spaces in search of clues. I clock up 12,000 steps at the end of the day. Fitness goals aside, there is one directional error which might befuddle players unfamiliar with the maze of galleries, but it should be fixed soon. 

Young adults looking for novelty are the best audience for this, especially those in search of group activities. The game advises at least two to five players, which will speed up the problem-solving process, as some of the puzzles simply demand more sets of eyes to hunt through displays. 

For older visitors, be advised that the route includes at least three sets of stairs to navigate, so it is not the most accessible of activities. Also, poor lighting means one has to squint to decipher a long line of text to solve the first clue. 

Some of the gallery sitters are befuddled by the sight of my friend and me peering closely at works for clues, but a few of them who know what we are up to are immensely helpful in pointing out things we miss. The Gallery might want to consider briefing its staff in more detail to aid and engage players. 

Where: 1 St Andrew’s Road
MRT: City Hall 
When: 10am to 7pm daily
Admission: $29.90 a person 
Info:

str.sg/qnnF

Piano Duo Recital by Lilya Zilberstein & Anton Gerzenberg

Russia-born German pianist Lilya Zilberstein has evidently passed on her musical genes to her son Anton Gerzenberg. 

Since she won the Ferruccio Busoni competition in 1987, Zilberstein has built a busy concert career and has also been teaching at Italy’s Accademia Musicale Chigiana since 2011.

Gerzenberg has followed in her footsteps, winning the first prize at the Concours Geza Anda in 2021, as well as earning the first Martha Argerich Steinway Prize in 2024. 

Singapore concert promoter Altenburg Arts has brought in both pianists for solo recitals before, but this concert will feature a duo programme. The line-up will feature two-piano masterworks, including Brahms’ Sonata In F Minor and Shostakovich’s Concertino. 

Where: Victoria Concert Hall, 9 Empress Place
MRT: City Hall/Raffles Place
When: March 15, 8pm
Admission: $25 to $98 from Sistic (go to

www.sistic.com.sg

or call 6348-5555)
Info:

str.sg/mBQR

Vox Populi

One of the most engaging and popular programmes of the 2024 Singapore International Festival of Arts was the Tomorrow And Tomorrow series, which showcased works in progress (WIP) by Singapore theatre groups. It was a rare and welcome opportunity to see what scripts were being worked on at Singapore’s best theatre groups.

The same concept of dramatised readings of WIPs underlies Wild Rice’s new Rice Cooker series, which aims to develop new scripts. The theatre group has been quietly expanding its ambitious programming at its Funan mall space, and this series has promise as an important new staple, adding to the ecosystem of theatre offerings in Singapore. 

Kicking off the series on March 28 is a new script from one of the hardest-working practitioners on the theatre scene, actress-playwright Jo Tan. Her work, Vox Populi, centres on Govfrey, a new government-created AI android which aims to become the ultimate Singaporean by feeding off online content. 

Three other new works will be featured in June and November. Go to

www.wildrice.com.sg/the-rice-cooker

for more information. 

Where: The Studio @ Wild Rice, Funan, 107 North Bridge Road
MRT: City Hall 
When: March 28, 8pm; March 29 and 30, 3pm 
Admission: $20 
Info:

str.sg/JbViR