Artists’ interpretation of what technology and ‘Smart Nation’ might enable for ordinary citizens will be shown off at Singapore’s inaugural Festival of Tech.
Organized by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) to celebrate Singapore’s 50th birthday, the festival will be a coming together of artists, designers and tech communities to discuss ideas of the future.
Using art as a medium, the event aims to get the public to start conversations about the impact of technology. From 10 to 18 October, the public can take part in online contests to showcase their creative interpretations of technology and Smart Nation.
IDA said the public can strike up conversations with street furniture such as lamp posts and even the Merlion – an interactive public activity designed by the artists to allude to how technologies such as the Internet of Things are making random objects part of our everyday interactions.
The public can also experience sleeping in an installation that explores another group of artists’ vision of using public space for restorative sleep in our increasingly digital life.
Headlining the Festival of Tech is FutureEverything Singapore, a collaboration between IDA and FutureEverything, an award-winning innovation lab for art, music and digital culture based in the UK.
FutureEverything is bringing its landmark festival to Singapore, its first major collaboration in Asia. FutureEverything Singapore will feature curated activities that mesh tech and art; such as interactive street furniture (Hello Lamp Post: Singapore), a public art installation (The Chronarium), an innovation workshop, and a public conference (Signals of Tomorrow).
“At a reflective moment for Singapore in its 50th year, we want to engage and stimulate the public to consider how its future society could be further shaped by technology and innovation,” said Drew Hemment, FutureEverything founder and CEO.
Meanwhile, the Signals of Tomorrow public conference will pull together leading artists, designers and futurists to engage in a national conversation on the place of smart technologies in society and culture.
IDA will also partner The Straits Times to chronicle and commemorate the 35 years of Singapore’s tech development with a special online feature. This feature will look at how Singapore’s tech journey has evolved from 1981 — when the then National Computer Board was first set up - to the present year, with the IDA as one of the key government agencies championing the country’s push to become a Smart Nation.
"The next chapter of the Singapore Story is the journey to become a Smart Nation. Creativity is vital in this journey, and there is a role for everyone. We want to encourage not just the tech professionals, but artists, designers, students, basically everyone, to experiment and prototype. This is why we are excited to be working with FutureEverything in bringing its art and digital innovation spectacle here as part of the Festival of Tech. It’s great that everyone--of any age or background--will get the chance to experience tech through interactive art. We also hope the events around the island will help people enjoy the positive role of technology in their lives,” IDA executive deputy chairman Steve Leonard said.