A collaboration with Google, Lenovo and WWF
SINGAPORE (9 February 2017) – From 11 February, ArtScience Museum visitors will be able to effect real-world change through interactive technology at the museum’s latest permanent development, Into the Wild: An Immersive Virtual Adventure.
Built in collaboration with Google, Lenovo, WWF and Singapore artist, Brian Gothong Tan, in association with Panasonic and Qualcomm, Into the Wild transforms over 1,000 square metres of ArtScience Museum’s public spaces into a virtual rainforest, explored using a smartphone device. The virtual adventure becomes a reality, when visitors take an active role in replanting the rainforests of Southeast Asia. For every virtual tree planted, and accompanied with a pledge to WWF, a real tree will be planted in a rainforest in Indonesia.
The experience
Into the Wild begins at ArtScience Museum’s Basement 2. Using Lenovo’s Phab 2 Pro, the world’s first Tango-enabled smartphone, powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™652, platform visitors will step into the role of a ranger and embark on a virtual reality adventure. This experience is made possible by Tango’s area learning, depth sensing, and motion tracking capabilities
Immersed in a lush digital world, visitors will encounter some of the key inhabitants of the Southeast Asian rainforest and learn about the imminent dangers they face. They observe animals in their natural habitat and take action to defend the natural environment from destruction. The adventure leads visitors around the museum and up to Level 4, where their actions will help restore the rainforest of Southeast Asia. When visitors plant a virtual tree and accompany it with a pledge to WWF, a tree will be planted in Rimbang Baling – one of the last pristine rainforests in Sumatra and a vital territory for the critically endangered Sumatran tigers.
“Into the Wild is driven by a deep-seated, collective commitment to making the world a better place. Working with leaders from the world of technology and sustainability, we have created a compelling artistic experience using the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro smartphone, along with augmented reality technology, Tango. We do not just want to augment reality; we want to improve reality. Every time a visitor plants a virtual tree in our rainforest in ArtScience Museum, WWF will plant a real tree in one of the last strongholds for wildlife in the rainforests of Southeast Asia. By combining, art, science and technology, Into the Wild transcends the virtual world and makes a significant, real-world impact,” said Honor Harger, Executive Director of ArtScience Museum.
Into the Wild underscores the urgency of rainforest conservation in Southeast Asia, and highlights the fragility of natural habitats for animals such as pangolins, tapirs, mousedeers, orangutans and tigers.
“In a time of rampant deforestation in Southeast Asia, Into the Wild sends a critical conservation call for the growth and renewal of our natural environment. Only with collective action can we effect positive change, restore rainforest biodiversity, protect tiger habitats and transform the lives of communities and millions across West Sumatra and Riau,” said Elaine Tan, Chief Executive Officer, WWF-Singapore.
Immersive film installation by Brian Gothong Tan
Into the Wild culminates with a cinematic experience, directed by one of Singapore’s leading filmmakers, Brian Gothong Tan. Using state-of the-art animation and projection-mapping techniques, Tan has created a portal through which visitors pass from the virtual reality of the smartphone adventure, into an immersive, cinematic experience on a spectacular scale. Tan’s thought-provoking film depicts the fragile habitat of the five protagonists featured in the virtual adventure – pangolins, tapirs, mousedeers, orangutans and tigers.
Inspired by the work of explorer and naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Mexican mural painter, Diego Rivera, Tan’s film eloquently and fluently animates the animals’ journey from creation, to destruction and rebirth. In addition to the epic projection, the installation is accompanied by six monitors, each with real-world data about the forests of Southeast Asia, and the animals that live in them.
“It was an exciting and meaningful collaboration with ArtScience Museum, WWF and Google in creating this gigantic digital mural. By immersing visitors in this animated film, I hope it brings more awareness to the richness and fragility of our region’s natural heritage. It was a technical and creative challenge to project on the huge curving wall that goes up to almost 20 meters, but we managed to pull off this magnificent project with the help of Pico and a team of very talented animators from CraveFX,” said Brian Gothong Tan.
Hailed as one of Singapore’s most gifted contemporary artists, Brian Gothong Tan is known for his award-winning films, and his visually stunning spectacles at events like Singapore’s National Day Parade. His films and installations have been shown in numerous festivals around the world, including at Cannes Film Festival, Venice Architectural Biennale, Singapore Biennale, and Shanghai World Expo. In 2016, Singapore International Festival of the Arts commissioned Tan to create, Tropical Traumas, which also focused on the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. His dynamic use of multimedia has earned him Life! Theatre Awards in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016. He was a recipient of the Young Artist Award in 2012 and the Singapore Youth Award in 2015.
Into the Wild is built using cutting edge technology and stunning virtual reality content developed by digital creative agency, MediaMonks.
“Into the Wild is part of Lenovo’s long-term commitment to make augmented reality accessible to as many people as possible. And this is an exciting time for AR, as the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro becomes one of the most potent tools for institutions such as ArtScience Museum to increase audience engagement, allowing users to absorb content and engage in causes via an augmented experience that’s both rich and accessible,” said Khoo Hung Chuan, Cluster General Manager, Lenovo Malaysia and Singapore. “With its large 6-inch+ screen, pin-sharp QHD resolution and the indoor navigation and AR capabilities of Tango, the Phab 2 Pro is the perfect device to give Into the Wild audiences a window into the magic of the world’s endangered rainforests.”
“We are extremely excited to work with Lenovo on this highly anticipated product, the Phab 2 Pro,” said Lauren Thorpe, Senior Director, Business Development, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Given the advanced technology and comprehensive design of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 platform, this allowed Tango to be implemented completely in software without the need for a separate co-processor. We foresee more exciting opportunities with Lenovo in the near future.”
“Into the Wild is a great platform to leverage upon the innovative display solutions that Panasonic provides. Besides Panasonic’s long history of collaboration with museums, our display and laser projection technologies are able to enhance the immersive experience of bringing forth art and technology to the audience,” said Wilfred Wee, Executive Vice President, Panasonic System Solutions Asia Pacific.
Opening weekend programme
Conversations: Open Wide Wilderness
11 February, 2pm – 3.30pm
ArtScience Museum, Level 4
Free admission
As part of the opening weekend of Into the Wild, ArtScience Museum will be organising a Conversation session, titled Open Wide Wilderness. Join speakers including Brian Gothong Tan (artist and filmmaker), Kevin Teng (Executive Director of Sustainability, Marina Bay Sands) and Sunarto (Wildlife Ecologist, WWF- Indonesia) in an engaging discussion to explore the inextricable connection between technology, art and nature.
Into the Wild is available for free to all ArtScience Museum visitors.
For more information on Into the Wild, please visit www.marinabaysands.com/ArtScienceMuseum.
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About Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd
Marina Bay Sands is the leading business, leisure and entertainment destination in Asia. It features large and flexible convention and exhibition facilities, 2,560 hotel rooms and suites, the rooftop Sands SkyPark, the best shopping mall in Asia, world-class celebrity chef restaurants and an outdoor event plaza. Its two theatres showcase a range of leading entertainment performances including world-renowned Broadway shows. Completing the line-up of attractions is ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands which plays host to permanent and marquee exhibitions. For more information, please visit www.marinabaysands.com
About ArtScience Museum
ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands is Southeast Asia’s leading cultural institution that explores the interrelationship between art, science, technology and culture. Featuring 21 galleries totalling 50,000 square feet, the iconic lotus-inspired building has staged major exhibitions by some of the 20th century’s key artists, including Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as major exhibitions which explore aspects of scientific history.
About WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. WWF-Singapore’s campaigns centre around sustainable consumption, raising awareness and prompting action on issues such as deforestation, haze pollution, seafood sustainability and the illegal wildlife trade. wwf.sg
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a $45 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial, and enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode Yoga brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Moto brand), tablets and apps. Join us on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@Lenovo) or visit us at http://www.lenovo.com/sg/en.
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries.
Qualcomm Snapdragon is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
About Panasonic System Solutions Asia Pacific
Based in Singapore, Panasonic System Solutions Asia Pacific is the B2B solutions division of Panasonic Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, the South East Asia and Pacific (APAC) subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation. Panasonic System
Solutions Asia Pacific delivers B2B solutions for government and commercial enterprises of all sizes that cover unified business communications, mobile computing, data storage, security and surveillance, retail point-of-sale, visual communications (projectors, professional displays, digital signage) and imaging network solutions (broadcast and professional video). For more information: http://panasonicapac.mynewsdesk.com/
About MediaMonks
MediaMonks is a global creative production company. They work with the world’s leading agencies, biggest brands and innovative media and technology companies. MediaMonks turn ideas, strategy and IP into award-winning campaigns, film, content, products and platforms.
The company has offices in Amsterdam, London, Stockholm, Dubai, New York, LA, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Singapore and Shanghai. MediaMonks boasts an in-house team of 600+ Monks that are versed in all aspects of digital, film and physical production and are recognized by over fifty institutions worldwide, including Cannes, the Webbys, the Ad-age Production A list, Spikes Asia, FWA and the Awwwards.
Appendix
About Tango
Tango uses computer vision to enable devices the ability to understand their position relative to the world around them. There are currently 35 Tango-enabled apps available on the Google Play Store, opening up new user experiences in gaming, precise navigation without GPS and windows into virtual 3D worlds. Singapore’s ArtScience Museum is one of the first museums globally to launch a Tango-powered project with the Into the Wild exhibition, demonstrating the capabilities of Tango in creating new and immersive worlds, which opens up new avenues for app developers to stretch the limits of their imagination.
For more information, please refer to https://get.google.com/tango/
About Lenovo Phab 2 Pro
Three core technologies bring the Tango experiences in the Phab 2 Pro to life: motion tracking, depth perception and area learning. Through motion tracking, the Phab 2 Pro’s “eye” sees its own location in 3-dimensional space. Area learning tells the smartphone its location. Depth perception lets the device analyze the shape of the world around it by detecting surfaces and obstacles. And now for the first time ever, your smartphone can visualize and understand its surrounding objects and environment via sensors that capture more than 250,000 measurements a second.
The Phab 2 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 652 platform, which brings efficient hardware integration and processing, leading 4G LTE connectivity, and cutting-edge time stamping and camera and sensor processing capabilities. Demanding computer vision processing is performed by a single, integrated and highly efficient Snapdragon platform with a tightly integrated suite of key modules including a DSP, ISP and integrated sensor hub. The Snapdragon heterogeneous computing platform is optimally balanced for a Tango workload and is designed for all-day use. Snapdragon 652 also quickly processes and time stamps all the rich sensor data simultaneously received from multiple camera sensors, gyro and accelerometer, resulting in a fast, smooth augmented reality experience, where 3D AR graphic overlays track more naturally to the physical surroundings.
The Phab 2 Pro will be on shelves exclusively with StarHub starting 10 February 2017.
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