by Jon Lackman | 25 July 2006 | Museums
From The Art Newspaper: “The Singapore government has announced a new museum examining the relationship between science and art that will be part of a resort complex … [The Las Vegas] Sands Corporation are investing over $3.2 billion in the scheme designed by Boston-based architect Moshe Safdie … [Safdie] convened an advisory group that included Harvard University Art Museums director Tom Lentz, information design expert Richard Wurman, and Albena Yaneva who heads the Gallery of Research in Vienna. He also consulted with French philosopher Bruno Latour and Harvard art historian Joseph Koerner. After considering an art museum, theatres, and an aquarium, they settled on a museum that connects the arts and sciences … Mr Safdie points out that Sands Corporation emphasised that they didn’t want anything ‘highbrow,’ and that the museum must be able to deal with ‘blockbuster’ shows. He responded with proposals for several temporary exhibitions. One would focus on a specific moment in history—possibly 1915—when cubism, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and developments in film and in x-rays were altering the way we see the world. Another would be based on the geography of the Silk Roads, with art and music of nomadic peoples, archaeology from China, and the IBM/National Geographic genome project about the movement of DNA from Africa to Asia. Yet another would examine the five senses through science and art. Permanent displays may include one depicting various aspects of the work of Leonardo da Vinci.”
