Past Exhibitions

Amazônia spotlights the Amazon region and its ecosystems coming under the threat of deforestation and climate change, featuring the voices, portraits, and perspectives of its Indigenous communities.

A collective effort with our local community of artists and toy collectors, this showcase presented over 250 locally and globally recognisable toys across various eras.

A breathtaking showcase of artistry and creative technology by digital art collective teamLab, Story of the Forest transformed 69 drawings from the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings into three-dimensional animations that invited you to interact up close with the enchanted wildlife and landscapes of 19th century Malaya.

Created by renowned local photographer and artist Robert Zhao, this intimate exhibit at the bottom of the Glass Rotunda invited visitors into the images and stories of 17 trees in Singapore – providing an alternative perspective of Singapore’s history and the personal connections that Singaporeans have with our local trees.

A special exhibition charting plastic’s meteoric rise in the 20th century, its environmental impact, and cutting-edge solutions for a more sustainable way of using plastics in our society.

Our Now Boarding exhibition looked back at the history of travel, tourism and hospitality in Singapore from the 1800s to the 2000s.

A special exhibition that captured the ferment and dynamism of our early years, when the leaders and people of Singapore rallied together to build our fledgling nation between the 1950s and 1970s.

Set against the larger historical context of Singapore’s early years as a young nation, this gallery offered a look at the parallel societal changes in the tumultuous 1950s and 1960s through the kampung, school and entertainment venues.

By the end of the 19th century, Singapore was already a global city brought about by an influx of people, ideas and goods from Asia and Europe. This gallery explored the cosmopolitan nature of Singapore as British Crown colony in the 1920s and 1930s.

This gallery shone the spotlight on how the people of Singapore coped with daily life and responded with grit and resourcefulness to the Japanese Occupation, a period of great adversity and abject scarcity. It celebrated their resilience, tenacity, resourcefulness and self-reliance.

Through cultural artefacts including music, performances, television and theatre, this gallery explored how Singaporeans constructed a complex terrain of self-expression in the 1970s and 80s.

From food to performing arts, Southeast Asia’s intangible cultural heritage is an important link to our past and intrinsic to our rich cultural identity. To pay homage to the time-honoured traditions and living expressions that define and connect us across the region, Spinning Connections presented four original video artworks that showcase creative contemporary responses to the theme of intangible cultural heritage.

Drawing inspiration from the practice of belayar (voyage) in the Malay Archipelago during the 19th century, A Voyage of Love and Longing invited visitors to re-trace the complex emotions at its different points, from departure to return, through the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings.

Artist Yew Chong’s life-sized murals took visitors on a trip through time and through scenes of Singapore, both past and present.

Celebrating Japan's beloved manga character, Doraemon, through the works of globally renowned contemporary Japanese artists such as Takashi Murakami, Mika Ninagawa and Yoshitomo Nara.

In visualising and creating various everyday and specialty dishes across generations, Singapore has proudly carved its own identity and passion centring around the subject of food.

This immersive showcase explored how everyday technological tools changed and shaped the lives of Singaporeans from the 1970s to 2000s.

Dislocations: Memory and Meaning of the Fall of Singapore, 1942 was a commemorative exhibition to mark the 80th anniversary of the British Surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army in Singapore on 15 February 1942.

Three multimedia artworks created as an artistic response to climate change and sustainability, inspired by the museum's collection to create fresh connections between environmental issues that concern our present and allow us to imagine what our future might look like.

Relive fond memories and learn interesting fun facts about amusement parks in Singapore. Enjoy some of the classic amusement park games and rides, provided by local carnival veteran Uncle Ringo, at the Nati...

Made possible by people from all walks of life in Singapore, this exhibition told the story of how people came together to respond to and live through this local and global crisis, through photographs, film and donated artefacts.

As part of The Straits Times' 175th anniversary, this intimate exhibition invited visitors to see themselves in the stories presented, adopting a personal and contemplative tone to encourage reflection on what Singapore means as our home, and our hopes for the home we aspire to be.

#NEVERBEFORESG addresses the impact of COVID-19 in Singapore and serves as a visual documentation seen through the eyes of 87 creatives.

What memories bind us together as Singaporeans, and what makes this home, truly? @ Home, Truly: A Digital Experience let viewers join nine-year-old Nadine and her beloved Gong Gong (Mandarin for “Grandfather”) as they conversed with each other about living and growing up in Singapore.

As part of the Singapore Bicentennial commemoration, this exhibition told the lesser-known stories of Singapore's history 200 years before the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles.

This exhibition explored the world of food packaging in Singapore, from the early bottling and canning factories in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, to the light industries of the 1960s–1970s when food was manufactured in factories.