The Force is strong at the ArtScience Museum this year, with the opening of the Star Wars: Identities exhibition, held from 30 January to 13 June 2021. Tickets are now available online.
The exhibition will feature close to 200 artefacts from the Lucasfilm archives, from the original and prequel Star Wars trilogies, and even The Force Awakens. The Singapore stop of the exhibition is also its final stop, so this will be your last chance (for a while?) to get up close to props, artwork and costumes from the films.
Luke Skywalker’s original rebel flight suit. More Vogue Squadron than Rogue Squadron, I think. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks) The Fab Four! Only Chewie’s costume is from the prequel. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks) I really liked Amidala’s costumes back in the day, and it was great to see them up close. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks)
A Dip Into The Archives
One key highlight of the exhibition is a look at all the artefacts, many of them originals from the films. You’ll also get to see lots of artwork for the film, including Ralph McQuarrie’s originals when director George Lucas was still pitching Star Wars.
Director of Archives at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Laela French, says the Yoda display is most likely to be kissed by kids. I am not a kid, so I controlled myself. Barely. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks)
Many of the exhibits are truly iconic. From the Yoda puppet, to Darth Vader’s suit, it is worth seeing them up close.
You’ll also learn some trivia, including how Han Solo in carbonite used Harrison Ford’s face and hand molds, but that body belongs … to someone else.
Oona Goota Solo? Guess not. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks) The puppets for Jabba the Hutt’s eyes. Excellent detail. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks)
There’s little things you should look closely at too, especially Palpatine’s Frieze near the end, which contains a little nod to fellow director Steven Spielberg.
Formerly known as the Great Hyperspace War Bas-Relief, it’s now unidentified in current Star Wars canon. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks)
There’s enough in there to fascinate any fan. But while there’s probably billions more possible props to show, and shows like The Mandalorian aren’t featured at all, I think all the key pieces of history are there. And as usual, a guide to bring us through and share trivia would be fantastic.
Also, doesn’t this early concept-art version of Yoda look like George Lucas?
I call him Gnome Lucas. (Screenshot)
Finding Your Star Wars Identity
But where the exhibition really shines is in the interactive portion of it. You’ll be equipped with an RFID tag, which you can scan at various stations and create a Star Wars character that represents you.
You start off by choosing your alien race. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks)
You’ll explore what “Forces” shape you. Your choices will affect your character, whether it’s your race, where you’re born, or the kind of parents you had. You’ll even get to do an MBTI-style quiz, as well as choose whether to accept Palpatine’s offer.
It’s something that’s nice and simple, that adds an interesting aspect on top of viewing the wonderful artefacts. I’ve created a number of characters for Star Wars MMORPGs before, and even then, creating Zackbar was fun! Zackbar is a Mon Calamarian who got caught (it’s a trap!) and ended up excelling as a slave. There are many permutations, so it’ll be fun to give this a go again.
Here, you’ll get to choose the quality which is most important to you. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks)
One of the selection panels has one of the funniest official Star Wars art, and deserves to be seen up close.
So search your feelings, and create your own identity in a galaxy far, far away.
A Long, Long Wait
Seeing the “full-size” Star Destroyer up-close is quite breathtaking. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks) The Millennium Falcon … this isn’t the only version made for the original trilogy. (Photo: Alvin Chong / Here Be Geeks)
This is the final stop for Star Wars: Identities. You might be surprised to know that all the artefacts have been stored in Singapore for close to a year: The exhibition was supposed to open in April last year, until the Circuit Breaker struck. Re-jigging the exhibition for these pandemic times was a challenge for the organisers.
“This was quite a challenge because the exhibition was designed prior to COVID,” said exhibition presenter Pico Pro general manager Barnabas Chia. “So we have to kind of adapt the layout, as well as some of meet some design minor design changes in order to handle the expected throughput of people, and maintain that maintains the interactivity of the exhibition.”
“What makes a what this exhibition apart from others is really the high degree of interactivity, being able to walk through 10 stations, interact with them, and come up, you know with with your own unique identity as part of the Star Wars universe,” he added at the media press conference. “So, that was key for the exhibition and for us to adapt it to the new normal in a COVID environment was, was fairly challenging for us.”
It has been a challenging time for all of us, but this trip to a galaxy far, far away is a worthwhile one indeed. Don’t miss it! The kids will love it.
Star Wars: Identities at the ArtScience Museum runs from 30 Jan 2021 to 13 Jun 2021. Tickets are available online from S$20 per person. You can use your SingapoRediscovers vouchers!
