A bustling international airport is the last place you would expect to have a breath-taking encounter with world-famous art. However, this is exactly what travellers and visitors to Singapore’s Changi Airport are experiencing at “Monet: a journey through seasons”, an immersive new art experience welcoming visitors from Autumn 2022.
The stunning installation is the brainchild of ARTiSTORY, leading specialists in art and cultural IP licensing, who have brought together Changi Airport and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to co-create an immersive showcase of 8 famous landscape paintings from the museum’s renowned Monet collection.
In the heart of Changi Airport’s terminal 2, visitors are invited to set off on a mesmerising, multi-sensory walk through the four seasons where the real life paintings are displayed within immersive, seasonal scenes – which have been inspired by the artworks themselves. Rich in storytelling, licensing the IP of the paintings to create an immersive setting in which they are displayed represents a truly ground-breaking and innovative approach to art IP licensing and LBE projects
The ‘indoor park’ experience, designed by Archvogue Creative, includes four environments, one for each season, with two reproductions of Monet paintings displayed in each:
- Visitors begin with a stroll through the frosty lamp-lit boulevard of a rural French village, lined with atmospheric wintry trees. The chilly scene takes inspiration from Monet’s work, “Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in Winter”.
- Visitors then step into Spring: a fresh and vibrant scene in the French Riviera filled with blossoming Spring flowers, lush green grass, leafy trees and the sound of gently lapping waves in the distance, inspired by “Monet’s beautiful Cap Martin, near Menton”.
- As they journey on, colourful Summer flowers bloom as visitors enter the poppy fields and lily ponds of Normandy, Northern France, where they step into a picture-perfect summer scene teeming with poppies to have high tea in a memorable photo-opp, inspired by Monet’s “Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny”.
- Finally, Autumn arrives. Visitors feel a light cool breeze in the air and hear the sound of rustling leaves as the trees turn to warm hues of red and orange, with inspiration taken from the painting “Meadow at Giverny”
As one of Asia’s most connected international aviation hub, Changi Airport is a gateway to the world linking Singapore with over 120 cities globally. It is also a retail and hospitality destination for locals in its own right. The installation therefore allows an unprecedented number and diversity of people from both the immediate area and the wider world to experience the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and its impressive Monet collection, for the first time and in a completely unique setting.
Furthermore, as the world continues to move beyond a period of travel restrictions, it also inspires people to travel, explore and discover again – whether that be travelling to different countries and climates or simply experiencing cultural delights on their own doorstep.
Rich and immersive story-telling driven by IP: Licensing the IP of the eight Monet paintings to create sensorial and immersive environments in which the original paintings themselves are displayed is a truly ground-breaking and innovative approach to art IP licensing and to creating LBE projects.
Using art to inspire people to travel again: People love to travel to experience different environments and climates but Covid prevented people from doing so for a long time. “Monet: a journey through seasons” uses art to inspire people to travel and discover again by immersing them in different seasonal settings in Asia’s biggest travel hub.
Emotionally-engaging experiences: For people living in Singapore where there is no real Winter and little variation in climate between the seasons, a significant part of the LBE is that it allows locals to experience the four seasons in all their glory – inspiring them to travel internationally again in the post-Covid era.
First-of-its-kind LBE: The project is the first of its kind where a major art museum and a major international airport have come together to create an immersive art LBE. It is also the first licensed LBE project from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in Asia and the first time Singapore Changi Airport has collaborated with a museum in this way.
A disruptive cultural attraction in the local market: The vast majority of the art-related exhibitions in Singapore are either created by local artists; feature work from artists within the region; or are dedicated towards a particular artist in a traditional gallery setting. The immersive and unique collaborative nature of this LBE makes it a truly disruptive cultural attraction in the local market.
Reaching new and truly global audiences: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, boasts one of the largest collections of the Claude Monet’s work outside France. Singapore Changi Airport is now the busiest airport in Asia, according to analysts at Sobie Aviation. The collaboration is therefore an unprecedented example of bringing some of the most iconic art of the Western world to a major travel and hospitality hub on the other side of the world where it can be enjoyed by millions of visitors who may not have seen it otherwise.
Sensorial and interactive elements: As well as the beautiful seasonal outdoor scenes featuring trees and flowers, the design of the installation includes a number of sensorial and interactive elements, such as:
- Atmospheric sound design such as the sound of waves crashing against a cliff or the sound of rustling leaves.
- A ‘real’ autumnal breeze that gently blows on the faces of visitors
- Four ‘photo spots’, one for each season, with props for visitors to take photographs of their experience
- Classical music playing that heightens the mood and atmosphere of the season
- As well as the eight original Monet works on show, including well-known masterpieces: The Water Lily Pond, Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in Winter, Cap Martin, near Menton, Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny, Meadow at Giverny.
Catering for the whole family: As a playful counterpoint to the Monet, the installation also includes a hidden “Play Cottage” for kids, inspired by the illustrations of cats and kittens by Louis Wain, which have also been licensed from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Where, what and when: Monet: a journey through seasons is open in Singapore Changi Airport (Terminal 2) from October 2022 to March 2023. The attraction covers 320sqm can accommodate up to 150 visitors at a time.
An international team of experts: “Monet: a journey through seasons” has been created by ARTiSTORY, leading experts in art and cultural IP licensing, who brought together Museum of Fine Art, Boston, and Singapore Changi Airport to create the LBE, with designs by Archvogue Creative.
Partners
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA)
Changi Airport Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd (CAG)