SG60 Heart&Soul Experience has attracted over 1 million visitors so far

Chin Soo Fang

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SG60 Heart&Soul Experience has drawn over 1 million visitors since late August, with 122,000 tickets booked so far.
The exhibition, launched by PM Lawrence Wong, uses AI to offer a personalised view of Singapore's future, running until 31 Dec at Orchard Library.
Visitors rate the experience highly (4/5), enjoying features like "Windows in the Sky". Tote Board pledges up to $500,000 for mental wellness.

AI generated

SINGAPORE – The SG60 Heart&Soul Experience, the national exhibition at Orchard Library marking Singapore’s 60th year of independence, has attracted more than one million visitors in nearly three months since opening in end-August.

Weekend slots for the showcase are usually fully booked. Admission is free, but tickets are required for some parts of the exhibition. More than 122,000 tickets have been issued to date.

When polled about their experience, the majority of visitors gave it a rating of four out of five.

Giving an update on the showcase, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo said in her social media post on Nov 24: “These visitors, both young and old, have had the chance to get a personalised and unique glimpse of Singapore’s tomorrow through a multi-sensory journey.

“The showcase is a heartfelt celebration of our shared journey as a nation, enabling visitors to connect to new knowledge, interests, and with one another.”

She added that the exhibition imagines the future plans of more than 110 partners, including the Forward Singapore blueprint and the Singapore Green Plan 2030, in a digitally inclusive society where everyone can thrive and grow together.

Some of the most popular features are Windows In The Sky, Wheels Of Time, Call Me In The Future and Time Traveller, said Mrs Teo.

Windows In The Sky is a floor-to-ceiling multi-sensorial space where visitors can experience how the story of their own future unfolds alongside others through a display of sound, visuals and sensations. The zone culminates in a dramatic finale sequence generated based on the visitor’s responses to various interactive elements throughout the experience.

Wheels Of Time allows visitors to walk through pivotal moments in Singapore’s history and listen to the oral history of those who lived through it.

Visitors can chat with their future selves in Call Me In The Future, while Time Traveller is a generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI)-powered photo booth that takes them to reimagined moments in Singapore’s history.

SG60 Heart&Soul Experience

was launched by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Aug 26 and will run until Dec 31.

It was jointly developed by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and the National Library Board (NLB), and created by the team behind

The Bicentennial Experience

in 2019 and the

SG50 Future of Us exhibition

in 2015.

The team includes executive creative director Gene Tan, who is also NLB’s chief librarian and chief innovation officer, as well as creative directors Beatrice Chia-Richmond and Michael Chiang.

Using immersive storytelling techniques and Gen AI, the showcase at Orchard Library offers each visitor a personalised, imaginative experience. They can envision themselves living, working and playing in a future Singapore, and hold a conversation with their future selves.

At the end of the exhibition, each visitor takes home a bookmark with a QR code that links to his own 25-second trailer of his personalised imagined future.

The experience is available in the four official languages and runs for about 60 to 90 minutes. It is recommended for visitors aged seven and above.

More than 760,000 people visited The Bicentennial Experience at Fort Canning in 2019. Its originally scheduled three-month run from June 1 to Sept 15 was extended until Dec 31 owing to overwhelming demand.

Organisers of the SG60 Heart&Soul Experience had expected to draw some 400,000 visitors over the entire duration of the event.

There is also a non-ticketed installation series at the level one atrium of Orchard Central and orchardgateway that is open daily from 9am to 10pm.

The Tote Board and Singapore Pools have collaborated with Heart&Soul on a

photo booth

where, for every photo taken, they will pledge $1 to support four mental wellness charities, capped at $500,000.