PRESS ‘ONE’ TO VIEW ART
Art and technology are being paired in a bold new venture by National Gallery Singapore
As some organisations waited for the resumption of business in some form or other, National Gallery Singapore set about defining what normalcy could look like moving forward. Using technologies such as AI and AR, it fulfilled its commitment to deliver art to the public through an innovative combination of physical and virtual engagements.
The success of that experience fuelled the creation ofY-Lab, the Gallery’s product innovation laboratory that merges art and technology to further the reach of art institutions and help propagate the use of art-aligned technologies across disciplines and functions.ThroughY-Lab, the Gallery is providing innovators and entrepreneurs with a working laboratory where they can test and launch their arts- and tech-related product innovations before releasing and scaling them in the market.
Eleven prototypes currently occupy a dedicatedY-Lab showcase located at the Gallery’s basement – ranging from a series of AI-backed paintings to an autonomous robot guide, and an immersive installation that can be accessed virtually.The plan is to replace them with another batch of prototypes on a six-month rotation.
Alongside the showcase,Y-Lab, through its Foundry program, is accepting proposals for similar products that have applications and commercial viability in the arts and culture sector.A panel comprising the Gallery’s partners in the private and public sectors will judge the proposals, which will be given access to the showcase space, expert mentorship, a comprehensive curriculum providing industry knowledge and tools, and a grant for product prototyping and deployment.
Risk Appetite
The forerunner ofY-Lab is the in-house team Co:Lab X, which has been working with various departments within the Gallery to introduce innovation – and disruption – to the internal system for better risk management and future-proofing, reveals Kevin Lim, Deputy Director of Digital Innovation & Transformation, National Gallery Singapore.
“This led to the realisation that there were very exciting things out there that we couldn’t simply do through an inhouse innovation team,” Lim explains. “That’s whereY-Lab was born.”Y-Lab encouraged the teams to explore ideas, Lim says. “What if we actually worked with start-ups?What if we took more risks? What do we need to actually go about doing that?” Sometime in 2018/19 the idea was mooted, theY-Lab team met up with various VCs, including RedShift Capital, and the idea gestated from there.
Although the VCs were not involved in funding the initiatives, they provided invaluable advice. “But once our projects have taken flight and have better potential, (the VCs will) start to invest in them for the long term.”
Cross-Disciplinary Approach
As a young museum, National Gallery Singapore has the freedom to chart its own course, Lim surmises. Its chief executive, Siak Ching Chong, whose diverse background reflects the innovative leadership of the institution, envisioned the Gallery to be “business as unusual”.
“Siak Ching’s experience and credentials inspired a lot of this; she’s really very open-minded and crossdisciplinary in her thinking. So, that kind of DNA is really what you see inY-Lab as well,” he adds.
Chong herself observes that “recent developments, from the use of blockchain to authenticate artworks to the reemergence of the Metaverse, clearly demonstrate the game-changing potential through the convergence of the art and tech sectors”. She stresses that as a progressive museum, “we want to re-imagine the future by fostering and leveraging complementary synergies between digital technology, creative services and art”.
Art museums inspire new ideas outside the realm of the humanities, and at the Gallery this proves true. “The showcase is a platform for start-ups that we’ve partnered with to demonstrate their prototypes that are powered by the latest technology, such as AI, block-chain, augmented reality,” Chong says. “And here, the innovations can seek real-time validation from our gallery visitors.”
For more information, visit nationalgallery.sg. To submit a project proposal, visit ylab.sg.