ARTSCIENCE MUSEUM AND OCEANX UNLOCK EXTRAORDINARY UNDERWATER WORLDS THAT FEW HAVE SEEN
An awe-inspiring expedition beyond the edge of light, Into the Ocean: Journey Beneath immerses visitors in the mysterious depths of the deep ocean through interactive artworks and groundbreaking science
ArtScience Museum brings the ocean’s hidden depths to Singapore for the first time with Into the Ocean: Journey Beneath, presented in collaboration with OceanX, one of the world’s leading ocean exploration organisations. Opening on 6 June, this multi-sensory exhibition blends art, science and cutting-edge technology to transport visitors into the ocean’s furthest reaches, revealing worlds few humans have encountered.
The journey begins aboard OceanX’s state-of-the-art research vessel, the R/V OceanXplorer, where visitors step onto the deck and into the pulse of a live deep-sea expedition, surrounded by the hum of equipment, mission brief sub-calls echoing in the distance and real-time exploration unfolding around them. Here, visitors enter an OceanX submersible and experience their Descent – the first zone. As the dive beneath the surface begins and visitors pass through the next chapters – Photic Zone, Twilight Zone, Aphotic Zone – each one reveals a new layer of the ocean.
As the vast blue darkens, unfamiliar lifeforms begin to appear, glowing, drifting and moving in the distance. Every step uncovers a different hidden world teeming with remarkable life, connecting vast unseen systems that sustain Earth’s climate and biodiversity. The journey culminates with a return to light in Resurface, where stories of seagrass restoration and marine renewal show how collective action, however small, can ripple outward to protect the ocean.
“The deep ocean remains one of the least understood environments on Earth – vast, complex and largely beyond our everyday experience. With Into the Ocean: Journey Beneath we wanted to open that world in a way that feels immediate and tangible. Our collaboration with OceanX has allowed us to build the exhibition around real missions, research and discoveries, grounding it in both scientific knowledge and human exploration. It reflects what we believe at ArtScience Museum – that when art and science come together, they can expand how we see, feel and understand the world around us. We hope visitors leave not only with a sense of wonder at the ocean’s beauty, but with a deeper appreciation of its role in sustaining all life on Earth,” said Adrian George, Director of Programmes, Exhibitions and Museum Services at ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands.
“OceanX Education was created from a simple belief: people protect what they understand, and they understand what they can experience. Into the Ocean: Journey Beneath is an important milestone in how we advance ocean literacy through immersive learning. By bringing together science, storytelling, technology and exploration, the exhibition invites visitors to engage with the ocean in ways that are difficult to achieve through traditional educational approaches alone. We are proud to launch this experience with ArtScience Museum in Singapore, a city that has long demonstrated leadership in education, innovation and ocean sustainability. We hope visitors leave with a deeper understanding of the ocean and a greater sense of connection to its future,” said Mark Dalio, Founder and Co-CEO, OceanX.
Featuring works by internationally acclaimed artists and collectives including bit.studio (Thailand), Jana Winderen (Norway), Lachlan Turczan (USA), Marco Barotti (Italy), Marshmallow Laser Feast (UK), Robertina Šebjanič (Slovenia) and Sissel Tolaas (Norway), the exhibition weaves contemporary art with marine science and exploration to evoke the scale, mystery and emotional power of the ocean’s unseen depths.
Running throughout the exhibition is Invisible Ocean by Sissel Tolaas, an olfactory work that translates oceanic environments into evocative “smellscapes. Drawing on ocean samples from the coasts of Costa Rica and molecular chemistry research, the work allows visitors to experience the ocean’s biodiversity and fragility through scent alone.
In the Photic Zone, visitors explore flourishing coral ecosystems. Reef ecology research by Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore features reef core samples from Cyrene Reef, Pulau Semakau and Pulau Hantu, tracing 8,000 years of reef formation in Singapore’s waters. OceanX’s interactive experience Dive and Discover places visitors at the controls of an OceanX submersible, while artworks by Marco Barotti, Robertina Šebjanič and bit.studio highlight the fragility, and movement data of marine life.
The journey continues into the Twilight Zone, where scientific research and sensory experience converge. DataXplorer, developed by OceanX with the University of Bristol (UK) and filmmaker James Honeyborne, visualises ocean currents that regulate Earth’s climate, alongside immersive works by Marshmallow Laser Feast and Lachlan Turczan that translate sound, light and movement beneath the surface.
In the Aphotic Zone, rare specimens from Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, and exclusive OceanX footage reveal life in perpetual darkness, accompanied by Jana Winderen’s Towards Abyssal Plains, a multi-channel sound work inspired by the deep ocean’s acoustic environment.
The journey concludes at Resurface, shifting from exploration to action. Developed with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Singapore, Seagrass Stories: Help the Ocean to Heal invites visitors to take part in real restoration techniques linked to conservation projects across the region, before People of OceanX highlights the inspiring stories behind deep-sea exploration.
Into the Ocean: Journey Beneath runs from 6 June 2026 till 1 November 2026. For more information on the exhibition, please visit here.
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