Before one enters the art installation, the familiar tune from the popular mobile phone game Bejeweled Blitz can be heard from a distance.
Upon entering the 96 sq ft space, one's senses are pushed into overdrive.
The room is dark, aside from the projection of the game on one of four walls. The images rest on your skin as you inevitably obstruct the projection. All this while a sweet scent fills your nose.
Smooth, glossy jewels identical to those in the game - made from foam and wood and ranging from about 0.5 to 1m in diameter - dangle from the ceiling on cables, bringing the virtual game into reality.
"It's meant to overwhelm," says the installation's artist Tan Yang Er, 24. "I'm encouraging visitors to take pictures and touch everything and, when they leave, there's that sense of emptiness that only true life and touch can fill.
"I'm hoping they realise that nothing beats true touch, which you can't get virtually."
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BOOK IT /LIGHT FIELD
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WHERE: Hall B, Science Centre Singapore, 15 Science Centre Road
WHEN: Till Sunday, 10 am to 6pm
ADMISSION: Free for Singaporeans and permanent residents on weekdays, $6 (adults) and $4 (children and senior citizens) on weekends and public holidays; $12 (adults and senior citizens), $8 (children) for foreigners
INFO: www.visualsg.com
She explains her inspiration for the installation: "There's no way to escape technology. Games like Bejeweled are played by everyone nowadays, even the uncles and aunties on the bus, so it really gels three generations - us, our parents and even our grandparents."
Tan's mixed-media installation is one of five on display at the Science Centre Singapore till Sunday.
From neon lights and PVC sheets to large pieces of fabric mimicking sunsets, the exhibition is organised by Science Centre Singapore in collaboration with local young artists selected by Gushcloud Entertainment.
The four other pieces, a mix of art and science installations by seven other young artists, ranging in age from 21 to 27, also follow the Light Field theme.
The art-tech exhibition is part of the fourth edition of Visual SG, an annual art science festival.
Science Centre Singapore's chief executive Lim Tit Meng hopes that the centre's collaboration with youth will be seen as a statement of sorts.
"We want to make a statement to youth that if they want to co-create with us, we have the space for them," he says. "We want to collaborate with young people because they can be very creative with their energy.
"Art in the form of imagination inspires science, but science can sometimes realise the dreams of an artist."
