A Century after RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, just two hours and 40 minutes after striking an iceberg, and with a loss of more than two thirds of the passengers and crew. The story has lost none of its power to shock. The arrival of the long-running artifacts exhibition in Singapore brings the raw emotion of Titanic’s infamous maiden voyage, aided by an audio narrative from imagineear.
The exhibition narrative tells the human stories behind the tragedy of the Titanic – the world’s largest, ‘practically unsinkable’ passenger vessel– illustrated by over 250 artifacts recovered from almost four kilometers beneath the freezing North Atlantic. With over 25 million tickets sold worldwide to date, fascination with the Titanic shows no sign of waning. But imagineear’s Chief Executive, Andrew Nugée, felt that a whole new approach to the narrative was necessary: “This is a story, the cold facts of which are well known, and indeed have passed into legend. We felt that a new audience in Singapore deserved a fresh approach to the human stories, to provide the small domestic detail of the multiple personal tragedies, as well as the broader importance of the largest such peacetime disaster of the day.”
Nine galleries will lead visitors through the ship’s conception, construction and launch, as well as following her passengers and crew through the sailing, life on board, the iceberg and the sinking a century ago. The exhibition also tells the fascinating and evolving story of the discovery of the wreck, and the recovery and preservation of its artefacts.
Tom Zaller, Museum Director, ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, said “Titanic is such an iconic ship with such a powerful story to tell that we’re proud to present Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at such an equally iconic venue. For the first time in Singapore and Southeast Asia, visitors will travel back in time to relive Titanic’s majestic maiden voyage and experience the drama that unfolded as the world’s largest ship sank to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.”
To understand the impact of Titanic in Singapore, a new gallery named “Singapore 1912” will be dedicated to local connections. Visitors will learn how the Titanic tragedy strongly resonated in Singapore. Images of Singapore in the early 1900s will be displayed alongside local newspaper articles that covered the disaster at the time, alongside archaeological finds from the period.
“ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands is committed to bringing blockbuster exhibitions to Singapore that are accessible to people of all ages and interests”, added Mr Zaller. “With Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition, we’ve taken this one step further and enhanced its relevance to Singaporeans by demonstrating the impact of global developments here, even in the early 20th Century.”
