DIS-WWWU-Website Banner-1920x1080px-FA-II
DIS-WWWU-Website Banner-1920x1080px-FA-II

What We Carry with Us: Remembering 1942 and Beyond

16 Jul 2022
The Salon,
L1 | Zoom | Facebook Live
10am – 5.30pm
Free Admission
What We Carry with Us: Remembering 1942 and Beyond is a one-day conference organised in conjunction with the ongoing special exhibition Dislocations: Memory and Meaning of the Fall of Singapore, 1942. Held both online on Zoom and Facebook Live, and also on-site at the National Museum of Singapore, the conference will explore the role of public history in shaping narratives of the Fall of Singapore.

This will also be the first physical conference by the Museum since the start of the COVID pandemic. Looking at new ways to represent a wider variety of stories and perspectives associated with the Fall of Singapore, What We Carry With Us will feature not only academics, but also artists, writers, heritage practitioners and student-researchers as panellists. The conference will consist of one roundtable discussion, and two presentation panels, where the public can interact with panellists through a moderated Q&A session.

For in-person attendance of the conference at The Salon, kindly register at https://dislocations-conference.peatix.com. Only the afternoon panel sessions (i.e. Panel Discussions 1 and 2) are open to in-person attendees.

Registration is also required for the concurrent online livestream of the conference. Register now! The livestream will also be available on the NMS Facebook Page


Launched in conjunction with the conference is a publication written by the Dislocations curatorial team. Titled after the exhibition, the publication draws on personal memories and artefacts to examine how the Battle of Singapore, the surrender, and its aftermath have become “war memories” remembered and retold in different ways. It retails for $25 (including GST) and can be purchased at the National Museum’s Supermama store as well as at major bookstores in Singapore. Conference participants can enjoy a 20% discount on the publication at the museum’s Supermama store (valid till 31 July 2022).

20220124-Dislocations-215

Roundtable Discussion:
At Crossroads: What Does 1942 Mean to Us Today and Beyond? Date: 16 July 2022 (Saturday)

Timing: 10.45am – 12.15pm
Location: Zoom | Facebook Live

At Crossroads: What Does 1942 Mean to Us Today and Beyond? is a youth panel that discusses the relevance of the Fall of Singapore to us today. The panel is moderated by Dr Ho Chi Tim from the Singapore University of Social Sciences’ Centre for University Core and will involve youth panellists that have engaged with the documentation of Singapore’s past in a variety of ways, such as Lim Jia Yi from the Singapore War Crimes Trials Project, Carine Chan from Yale-NUS College, Ridhwan Ismail, a recent graduate of the Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art, Design and Media, as well as participants from the Student Archivist Project.

Registration is required for the concurrent online livestream of the conference. Register now! The livestream will also be available on the NMS Facebook Page

20220124-Dislocations-314

Panel Discussion 1: Re-presenting the Fall

Date: 16 July 2022 (Saturday)
Timing: 2pm – 3.30pm
Location: National Museum of Singapore, The Salon, Level 1 | Zoom | Facebook Live

Re-presenting the Fall looks to provide a practitioner’s perspective on Singapore’s war memory. The invited panellists are artists and writers who have constantly used wartime Singapore as a backdrop for their works, such as playwright Huzir Sulaiman, visual artist Anthony Chin, and N. Sivasothi from NUS Toddycats. They will discuss the considerations they keep in mind during the conceptualisation of their works and programmes as they present the Fall of Singapore. This panel is moderated by Syafiqah Jaaffar, Assistant Curator at the National Museum of Singapore.

For in-person attendance of the conference at The Salon, kindly register at https://dislocations-conference.peatix.com. Only the afternoon panel sessions (i.e. Panel Discussions 1 and 2) are open to in-person attendees.

Registration is also required for the concurrent online livestream of the conference. Register now! The livestream will also be available on the NMS Facebook Page

20220124-Dislocations-330

Panel Discussion 2: Remembering and Re-remembering the Fall

Date: 16 July 2022 (Saturday)
Timing: 4pm – 5.30pm
Location: National Museum of Singapore, The Salon, Level 1 | Zoom | Facebook Live

Remembering and Re-remembering the Fall focuses on how Singapore has lived with its memories of the war. Besides featuring scholars from Singapore such as Associate Professor Kevin Blackburn from the History department of the National Institute of Education and independent scholar Julia Lau, the panel will also include Assistant Professor Sandra Manickam from the Department of History at Erasmus University Rotterdam. They will discuss the notion of war memory, its formation and changes over the years. This panel is moderated by Rachel Eng, Assistant Curator at the National Museum of Singapore.

For in-person attendance of the conference at The Salon, kindly register at https://dislocations-conference.peatix.com. Only the afternoon panel sessions (i.e. Panel Discussions 1 and 2) are open to in-person attendees.

Registration is also required for the concurrent online livestream of the conference. Register now! The livestream will also be available on the NMS Facebook Page

Family Time

Visit our permanent galleries with your little ones and play spot-the-artefact! Our colourful Early Learning Resources introduce pre-schoolers to our artefacts according to the themes of Numbers, Colours, and ABCs. Available at $8 per set from the Museum Label shop. For more children's activity booklets, click here.

Museum guide

Download our museum guide (English, Chinese, Bahasa Melayu, Tamil) to find out about the many treasures in our various galleries. In this guide, you will also find the floor plan for easier navigation. Enjoy your visit!