The best things to do in Singapore in March 2021

Culture vultures rejoice – another cultural institution has reopened this Phase 2. Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC) resumes activity on July 13, kickstarting with its inaugural permanent exhibition Singapo人: Discovering Chinese Singaporean Culture. Debuted in March this year, the exhibition explores what it means to be uniquely Chinese Singaporean by looking into the heritage, cultural interactions, and public policies that have shaped the community.  Journey through five specially curated interactive zones that spotlight elements that contributed to the distinctive Chinese Singaporean identity – from food, language, and traditions to popular culture and music. The exhibition features precious loans from iconic local personalities like Stefanie Sun and Anthony Chen, alongside interesting contributions from the community. To ensure the safety of all, safety guidelines are to be followed. This includes wearing a mask and keeping a distance of at least one metre between groups. All exhibition visitors are also provided with disposable gloves. Beyond the centre, SCCC is also introducing a series of online offerings including the SCCC YouTube Channel where you can discover lesser-known stories behind the local customs and traditions, as well as relive the Centre's past programmes. The popular TGIF Music Station has since resumed with a refreshed digital format, live streaming performances by local artists every fortnight via SCCC's Facebook page. Over at the SCCC website,

With rows upon rows of fairy lights, glittery baubles, and brilliant installations that will give Las Vegas a run for its money, Singapore is looking hella lit – albeit a quieter one – this festive season. But the sparklers at Orchard and Gardens by the Bay aren't the only ones grabbing our attention. As the gift that keeps on giving, Downtown East is pulling out all the stops this festive season with multi-sensory light and art installations, as well as new retail, dining, and lifestyle venues to create more memorable moments with loved ones. From now until March 21, the lifestyle destination illuminates for Lite On!, an arts programme that showcases four Instagram-worthy works by local artists Speak Cryptic, BOD, Space Objekt, and Shophouse & Co. These visually stimulating yet meaningful mixed-media pieces take inspiration from imagined landscapes, existing spaces, and everyday things. Take a sonic trip in a pyramid, walk through a kaleidoscopic tunnel, surround yourself with playful illustrations, and pop bubbles on the bubble-wrapped staircase. Make the most of your trip to Downtown East with 12 new retail, entertainment, and F&B outlets, including heritage brands such as Redman by Phoon Huat, Fragrant Garden, and The Banana Leaf Apolo. And speaking of 12, it has also lined up $12 deals, starting from December 13 in a back-to-back 12-day lead up to Christmas. These deals include shopping, dining, and entertainment such as water park rides at Wild Wild Wet. You can also sa

This Chinese New Year, it’s out with the rat and in with the ox. From January 23 to March 12, the 880-metre-stretch along Eu Tong Sen Street and New Bridge Road are all dolled up with 888 brightly-lit lanterns including meaningful new year symbols such as pomelos, blossom trees and ingots that signify good health, prosperity and longevity. Lanterns of the zodiac star and his 11 zodiac pals, arranged in the order based on the Great Zodiac Race, can also be found along South Bridge Road. However, bring your attention to this year's main star: the towering 10-metre-tall oxen centrepiece located opposite Chinatown Point. It depicts a large golden ox standing atop gold coins and ingots to symbolise fortune and prosperity. And next to the ox is the riverbank and water wheel to represent the flow of wealth and fortune. Here's hoping for a smooth-sailing year ahead. Beyond the attention-grabbing display, you can also gather the fam for a variety of online activities, from watching short films to joining virtual tours while experiencing Chinatown and its heritage, as well as the origins of Chinese New Year, at the comfort of your sweet digs. Plus, you can catch continue taking in the stunning sights of this year's Street Light-Up with a 360-degree virtual tour too. “It is important that we continue to celebrate Chinese New Year, bring cheer, and showcase the vibrant traditions of the festival while adhering to safe management measures. Even though events such as the Festive Street Baz

Accelerate for the very first drive-through art exhibition in Asia. Say what? The Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre is starting the Year of the Ox with an immersive outdoor experience that brings together art and technology to spotlight the Chinese culture in Singapore as well as the importance of sustainability.  This Lunar New Year, the Centre's car park has been transformed into an immersive experience, a collaboration by The MeshMinds Foundation and eight local artists. In the comfort of a four-wheeler helmed by drivers at the exhibition, you can learn about the ox's cultural significance through the digital masterpieces of eight local artists including Almostasthma, André Wee, Antz, Puffingmuffin, and Mithra which have been transformed into 3D installation art, selfie filters, and augmented reality murals. Look out for a "talking" red packet by one of the artists, PuffingMuffin. Her whimsical artwork come to life in the form of an ox sculpture clothed in popular Chinese motifs. You can also select a festive Chinese New Year greeting in Mandarin and the five major dialects of Singapore (Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, and Hainanese). Tickets are priced at $5 for walk-throughs and $10 for drive-throughs, available for purchase on SISTIC.   

You don't have to wait until May the Fourth to be the ultimate Fanboy (yes, the movie starring Hollywood geek Jay Baruchel). From January 30 to June 13, get to know the characters of Star Wars on a whole new level at ArtScience Museum. The Star Wars Identities: The Exhibition has finally landed its Millennium Falcon on our shores, making Singapore the final stop of its global tour. The Force is strong with close to 200 original props, costumes, models and artwork from the film franchise, as well as the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art archive, occupying the ArtScience Museum. The exhibition includes one of Darth Vader's earliest outfits, the metal bikini that Princess Leia wore when she captured by Jabba the Hutt, and a model of the Imperial fleet, Star Destroyer. It's not your typical movie exhibition either – Star Wars Identities takes you on a customised, interactive identity quest to gain new insights into how the characters were developed, so expect some surprises. It also gives you the opportunity to discover your own personal identities in the Star Wars galaxy and how the Force shapes you – are you on the Light Side or Dark Side? Are you a Wookiee, Nautolan, Ewok, or one of another dozen options? To help you with your discovery, the exhibition has divided its study of human identity into three key themes: the characters’ origins (Origins), the influences that shaped them (Influences), and the personal choices that changed their lives (Choices). Within these three themes,

Does the new norm feel like a surreal dream? Are you hoping to wake up and find everything as it was pre-circuit breaker? We hate to break it to you, but there's no denying that the pandemic has shaken up our realities – from the way we work to the way we live our lives. To capture these strange times, OH! Open House rolls out a "sleepwalking" digital art experience Days — and counting. Known for multisensorial trails, OH! Open House has led curious creatures through the lesser-known corners of Emerald Hill, and even invited them into the sweet digs of six strangers for unique art experiences. This year, it goes digital with an immersive virtual trail that takes place over three seasons, embodying the notion of dreams through audio, text, and moving images. First launched on October 30, Season 1: Walls Crumble invites all to traverse a surrealist narrative of a sleeping man's dreamscapes through an old-school Teletext, and delve deeper into the idea of home during the circuit breaker with unique artworks by local artists. Then from February 19, Season 2: The distance between us lets you immerse yourself in a captivating combo of art and stories through an interactive point and click adventure game. The season is divided into four weekly-released episodes, with each episode available during certain times of the day, and only for one week. Set your 'alarms' for a collaborative online diary by Bailey Wait, Lim Shi-an, Robert Wait and Tan Kheng Hua; an online zine by Berny Tan;

Local collective El Masnou – the same masterminds behind the Bubble Tea Factory – has transforming Gardens by the Bay into Singapore's first otter-themed escapade. The otter-this-world experience brings together two local favourites – otters and photo-taking.  Spanning 2,500 square feet of a fantasy world, the immersive 45-minute story-based experience challenges visitors to seek Otah out before the cookies in his oven burn. The challenge is to explore his home in search of him, while being treated to a feast for the senses as you step through the door. Once inside, you will get to traverse his visually-stunning and pastel-hued rooms, revel in the delicious scent of cookies baking in his oven, rummage through his cabinets to look for clues, and lounge amidst the lush foliage before wrapping up the experience with a visit to Otah’s lemonade cart in his backyard. Following a sold-out opening month, Otah & Friends will be extending its run to April 4 instead – so you have even more time to discover Otah's colourful world. From March 1, visitors who come between 3 to 6pm on weekdays might even get a chance to meet a larger-than-life Otah and enjoy a picnic with him. And from April 1 to 4, there'll be an egg-hilarating Easter Egg Hunt, where they have to collect five eggs hidden throughout Otah's home. Collect all five eggs and you can participate in a lucky dip, where you'll stand a chance to win limited edition Otah & Friends plushies, and discounts at the merchandise store.  Ti

Hear ye, hear ye, The Orient Express is coming to town. Following the 2014 exhibition in Paris marking the 130th anniversary of the legendary train, the pop-up attraction Once Upon A Time on The Orient Express is set to welcome visitors on board from December 12, running for six months straight at the West Lawn of Gardens by the Bay.  The attraction marks the exhibition's first destination outside of France, kickstarting a series of showcases that unveils a fairy-tale universe related to travel, culture, and gastronomy. Feast your eyes on some of the most extraordinary objects and documents, showcasing centuries of history that retraces the legacy of the train, as well as major events that transformed the world and shaped the map. A myth for 135 years, the history of The Orient Express dates back to 1883 when it was created by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It quickly became a symbol of luxury travel, evoking old-world glamour wherever it goes.  Nonetheless, soon, you'll be able to relive the golden days of The Orient Express by travelling through a reconstituted train platform, and showrooms that showcase a fascinating journey displayed in evocative giant trunks that encapsulates the history of the train. Marvel at a collection of pieces from a bygone era including posters, menus, crockery, cutlery, suitcases, stained glass windows and furniture testifying a luxury now bygone. You can also immerse in documentaries, newsreels and film clips that elicit the rich li

A picture is worth a thousand words. And when it's beefed up with literature, it could be worth much more. To give you a better understanding of this, the National Museum of Singapore has set up a new exhibition to dwell in its newly refreshed Goh Seng Choo Gallery. From February 10, discover intimate connections with Singapore’s history and cultural heritage with A Voyage of Love and Longing, where 19th-century drawings of flora and fauna – commissioned by William Farquahar, no less – are beautifully paired with literature from the Malay Archipelago.  Something you won't find in history books, the exhibition marries illustrations from the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History with Malay lyrics from love ballads, classical texts and pantuns ('rhyme quatrains' in Malay) – all to give you a poetic perspective of natural history. These literary excerpts are drawn from prominent writers and musicians from the 19th and 20th centuries, including Amir Hamzah and Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir. Inspired by the practice of belayar ('voyage' in Malay) in the Malay Archipelago during the 19th century, the engaging showcase is designed in a way where you can immerse yourself in it and experience the complex emotions seafarers felt at different points of a sea voyage, from departure to return. You might even feel an emotional connection to the natural history drawings. Expect innovative use of digital activities and on-site displays to interact with the drawings from the storied collec

"Art to me is a labour of love and like such labours expects neither gain nor reward and brings meaning into one's life," said Georgette Chen, first-generation Singapore artist and one of the pioneers of the Nanyang style of art. A trailblazer of the Singapore art movement, Georgette Chen is an important figure in the nation's art history, especially having lived through two Chinese revolutions and the first and second World Wars.   For the first time in two decades, Chen's work will be presented as part of a major retrospective for National Gallery Singapore's fifth anniversary. Georgette Chen: At Home In The World will feature her most significant works alongside a wealth of newly discovered archival materials. Through the exhibition, the Gallery aims to shed light on her less well-known yet critical contributions to the development of Singapore's then-nascent artistic community.  The large-scale survey features 69 prominent works and 74 archival materials of one of Singapore's most celebrated modern artists. Organised across nine thematic sections, the exhibition takes visitors on an immersive journey through Chen's life and artistic practice, featuring her most significant paintings accompanied by five showcases featuring letters, photographs, documents and newspaper articles. Visitors can also find a comprehensive timeline of Chen's life and career milestones displayed at Level 4 City Hall Foyer to gain a better understanding of how her artistic practice was impacted and