Align your Body, Heart & Soul at Marina Central district, where you can look forward to participate in interactive installations, workshops and boundless experiences set to vivify possibilities across arts, business and leisure. Debuting on 26 March, the travelling initiative Body, Heart & Soul will be unveiled at Marina Square as its first stop and will subsequently be popping up across Millenia Walk, South Beach and Suntec City this March to November.
Interweaving the district’s values of collaboration, innovation and sustainability to create a profound digital experience, the photogenic series of installations are designed to transform interactions in public spaces with new themes and experiences at each stop, vitalising the district into a thriving, interconnected community for the common good.
Marina Central Business Improvement District (BID)
Marina Central district (Image Credit: JWMarriott Singapore South Beach) and Largest Rubik’s Cube Mural in Singapore
Marina Central Business Improvement District was established as a joint effort by four stakeholders, Marina Square, Millenia Walk, South Beach and Suntec City, and community partner, Esplanade — Theatres on the Bay, to inject fun placemaking experiences, rejuvenate vibrancy and support businesses in the district. Exciting past activations include the creation of the Largest Rubik’s Cube Mural in Singapore and the record-breaking skipping event, Skip for Steps organised in partnership with Health Promotion Board’s Healthy Workplace Ecosystem and National Steps Challenge.
Presently, Marina Central district rings in the second quarter of the year with the launch of the sublime art installation, Body, Heart & Soul — a testament to the district’s endless and exciting placemaking initiatives for locals and tourists to enjoy.
Ms Kwee Wei-Lin, Co-Chairperson of Marina Central BID and Head of Hotels, Pontiac Land Group, said, “We are thrilled to establish Marina Central as a district that offers endless entertainment, cuisines, shopping and retail enclave, not forgetting diverse business opportunities and world-class hospitality for locals and visitors alike. Marina Central district embodies a relentless spirit of collaboration and district building for the common good.”
Dawn Lai, Co-Chairperson of Marina Central BID and Chief Operating Officer, ARA Trust Management (Suntec) Limited, adds, “This year, we are honoured to be collaborating with Dr Jason Lim from Singapore University of Technology and Design, and Ar Asami Takahashi of YUME Architects to launch our very first art installation of Body, Heart & Soul. The installation embodies our goal to position Marina Central district as a fun and dynamic destination for collaboration, innovation and placemaking.”
Body, Heart & Soul
Body, Heart & Soul is an initiative by Marina Central district that is headlined by an interactive installation designed by Dr Jason Lim of Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Ar Asami Takahashi of YUME Architects, in collaboration with TinkerTanker. The installation which first made its debut at the prestigious Venice Biennale in 2018 is now reimagined as four illuminating cubes — representing Marina Square, Millenia Walk, South Beach and Suntec City — that explore the way light can be used to affect our perception. An intricate crystal lattice is artfully assembled out of more than 1,200 four-point-knots to channel light and create an illusory world of reflections and colour as it responds to human presence and gestures, transforming and taking on new forms with each movement they make. Body, Heart & Soul illustrates the convergence of art, technology and human consciousness.
Traversing through Marina Central District
Body, Heart & Soul kicks off with the first theme — Body at Play, in the central atrium of Marina Square from 26 March till 12 May. Visible from all four entries, the interactive cubes draw shoppers, young and old alike, into their vicinity and light up in response to playful poses and gestures. Through their body movements, audiences are invited to control projections of shadow puppetry. Integrating art and technology in a tangible way, this installation is the setting for new memorable experiences, further enhancing Marina Square’s reputation as the space for fun and merry-making with its diversity of amusement tenants including Pororo Park, Kiztopia and the world’s first NERF Action Xperience.
To complement the experience, children and adults can participate in a workshop entitled, Programmable Shadows. The workshop at Marina Square will tie in with Body, Heart & Soul’s key motive of ‘humanising technology’ as visitors learn to create their very own digital shadow artwork. Workshop participants will be able to draw their own artwork and transform them into shadows that respond to their body motions. The workshop is suitable for children from six years old and adults, and it is a great activity for parent-child bonding. Register for the workshops at marinacentral.com.sg.
In mid-May, Body, Heart & Soul will be transformed and transported to the next mall, Millenia Walk. Themed Heartfelt, the cubes will create passages for visitors to walk through. Upon sensing the presence of its audiences, the cubes will pulse with light in a measured rhythm, creating an immersive atmosphere along with the additional transformational projections in the arena. To offer an intimate insight into designing the heart of the installation, the interactive animated lights — Dr Jason Lim will be facilitating a Heart of Computing workshop. The workshop offers participants a hands-on experience to learn how to express their creativity with the aid of technology by learning how to build an electronic circuit and compose a computer programme for light animation.
In July, the installation will arrive at South Beach themed In the Mood. The installation will take on an audiovisual format and be displayed across the open air plaza to allow visitors a more intimate and multi-sensory experience as they respond to audio cues to effect change in the illuminating cubes. Carrying forward Body, Heart & Soul’s sustainable initiative, and in a bid to normalise sustainable design in our everyday lives, visitors can also sign up for the Origami Upcycling workshop and learn to turn used paper products into beautiful Origami art.
The installation makes its final stop at Suntec City in mid-September 2022 with the theme Collective Soul. Visitors will be enthralled by synchronised displays of light designed to accentuate vibrancy. Visitors will also be encouraged to make their mark on the installation with their Instagram photos by tagging @marinacentralsg. The collage of photos contributed by visitors will aptly epitomise the ‘Collective Soul’ of Marina Central district’s Body, Heart & Soul. Adding to the experience and in line with the district’s aim of ‘galvanising sustainability’, the Second-life Electronics workshop seeks to impart vital skills of transforming used electronics into art and breathe new life into electronic junk, thereby saving them from landfills.
Redefining your retail experience
That’s not all, visitors at Marina Central district can also look forward to a variety of exciting retail promotions across the stakeholders, redeemable through their respective apps.
