Refreshed museums in SG60 arts

A timely slate of refreshed spaces and new programmes at Singapore's arts and cultural institutions will be launched in 2025, wooing audiences with a different Singapore story as the nation gears up to mark 60 years of independence.

- Shawn Hoo

The National Museum of Singapore (NMS), which is undergoing a three-year revamp, will reopen its Life in Singapore galleries and glass rotunda in 2025. The latter has hosted the popular immersive teamLab exhibition Story of The Forest since 2016, so the new look is highly anticipated.

Ms Chung May Khuen, director of NMS, says: "The revamped rotunda will feature the sea in its new display, so that the museum can look into the maritime connections that have defined Singapore historically and contemporarily."

NMS declines to reveal if the new display will be a teamLab creation, but the display will address Singapore as an island-state and issues like climate change.

The permanent exhibition in the Singapore History Gallery will also close in early 2026 for a revamp and is estimated to reopen in end-2026.

Adding that the museum will allow personal and diverse stories to come through in the revamp, Ms Chung says: "My vision for the museum is to expand its role beyond being a cultural institution, and be a place for fostering empathy, exchange, and inclusivity through the power of storytelling."