Few figures navigate as many disciplines as Honor Harger. As executive and artistic-scientific director at ArtScience Museum, she shapes the museum’s vision at the intersection of art, science and technology. Harger combines strategic oversight with an instinct for storytelling across these fields. “It’s unique for a country to have a museum dedicated to both art and science, and Singapore has embraced that uniqueness representing the interconnection between these disciplines,” Harger said. “Having such an institution to unite these disciplines and tell unique stories is really special.”
Honor Harger, ArtScience Museum Executive and Artistic-Scientific Director and Marina Bay Sands Vice President of Attractions
The ArtScience Museum marks its 15th anniversary this year, establishing itself as one of the world’s preeminent institutions that champions immersive experiences, interdisciplinary collaborations and speculative thinking. “Our early years were spent defining what an art-science museum could be. We’ve matured over the last decade and settled into a clear identity: future-facing and technologically adventurous exhibitions, programming, stories, and permanent offerings complementary to our colleague institutions and cultural ecosystem.” In this interview, Harger shares more about an institution that invites guests to imagine new possibilities, where cutting-edge innovation meets emotional resonance, and where boundaries of knowledge are continuously redefined.
Hi Honor. Please tell us about your role at the ArtScience Museum and your day-to-day responsibilities.
I’m both the executive and artistic-scientific director of the ArtScience Museum, and also vice president of attractions at Marina Bay Sands. My day-to-day duties involve leading the team and managing the executive side of ArtScience Museum, overseeing budgets and audiences, and shaping our artistic and scientific programme by deciding which exhibitions we stage each year and what story those exhibitions tell over the annual cycle. Exhibitions are planned two to three years ahead; programmes are about six months out. Much of my job is building the broader vision and finding the projects, stories, content, art, and science that will populate that vision.
Speaking of vision, the ArtScience Museum celebrates its 15th year. How do you think the museum’s identity and role have evolved within Singapore’s cultural landscape?
It’s unique for a country to have a museum dedicated to both art and science, and Singapore has embraced that uniqueness, representing this interconnection between the two disciplines. Having such an institution in our ecosystem that can specifically bring together these disciplines to tell stories that might not otherwise be possible is really special. Our early years were spent defining what an art-science museum could be — there weren’t many models that offered such guidance, and so we had to define it ourselves. Over the last decade, though, we’ve matured and settled into a clear identity about the exhibitions, programming, stories, and permanent offerings that the ArtScience Museum would stage: future- facing, technologically adventurous, and complementary to our colleague institutions and cultural ecosystem.
Based on your interactions with audiences, do you feel this principle of combining science and the arts resonates with the public and that they understand it better now when they walk through those doors?
Our local audiences do. Many grew up with us and intuitively understand our DNA and what it means to bring these two disciplines together. Future World, our long-running teamLab exhibition, has been invaluable for us to communicate — almost without words, but through experiences — what it means to bring art, creativity, technology, and science into one environment. Tourists are different; we work hard to ensure they understand our proposition during their visits, which may only be once [in their lives]. As such, we encourage them to explore the full museum through special ticketing to get that cumulative understanding.
The world’s one and only Light Sculpture with Paper Airplane installation at teamLab Future World
Part of the ArtScience Museum’s identity involves asking audiences to imagine possible futures. Why do you think it is important for a cultural intitution to engage with people of different nationalities, age groups and generations over such questions?
That’s a very perceptive remark, and it’s something we’ve consciously embraced, particularly over the last five or six years. There are two exhibitions that exemplify this approach. For Singapore’s bicentennial in 2019, instead of looking back 200 years, we projected forward to 2219. That leap into the far future, beyond most people’s ability to conceptualise, was to make a powerful and emotional statement: Singapore will endure until 2219, and its culture and traditions will survive dramatic ecological shifts.
Tropicalia Vulgaris, 2025, Photographs by Finbarr Fallon, Courtesy of the artists. Commissioned by ArtScience Museum, with the support of DesignSingapore Council as part of Another World is Possible
If people can’t imagine themselves in a future — especially a hopeful one — they’re less motivated to act in the present. Climate change and biodiversity loss are constant themes for us, and showing that alternative futures are possible can inspire meaningful action. Our recent exhibition Another World is Possible in conjunction with SG60 continued that work with a cautiously optimistic, Singapore-informed view of the future.
You mentioned institutions, but the artists themselves are equally important. What makes this group of people so powerful at interpreting complex scientific ideas and making them understandable to the everyday audiences?
We work across disciplines of artists, scientists, technologists, designers, and architects, and that synthesis is one of our institution’s superpowers. Sometimes, the most powerful communication in our exhibitions and programmes occurs when we’ve figured out how to synthesise both approaches. Science provides a factual basis for understanding; art provides emotional resonance. When combined, they create powerful moments of learning and wonder that neither could achieve on its own.
Terms like “immersive experiences” and “participatory interactions” are increasingly prevalent, especially with digitisation. Do you think these approaches actually help convey ideas better through hands-on interaction?
There is strong scientific and behavioural evidence behind what we now call immersive experiences, particularly in how they create receptive states for learning. That’s one of the reasons we partnered with teamLab on Future World. We’ve long been interested in “enactive learning”, learning through doing where the body plays a central role. It’s a powerful mode of understanding because the body remembers in a way that’s both immediate and lasting. When done well, with the right artistic and educational foundation, immersive and participatory environments can be incredibly effective. In fact, we’ve been working in this space since the museum opened, before “immersive” was even a recognised term. From early projects like our Van Gogh exhibition to our ongoing collaborations with teamLab, our VR gallery and augmented reality initiatives with WWF and Google, this has always been central to how we think about learning through experience.
That said, the term has become so widely used that it risks losing meaning. We’re careful not to rely on it too heavily. Ultimately, it’s not about chasing a momentary sensory high but creating experiences that genuinely surround and engage visitors and deepen their understanding of both art and science.
The Network Within (2026) by Chiharu Shiota at the entrance of the Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy exhibition
What is the current ratio between international and regional works? And how do you balance blockbuster works versus smaller, more specialised programming?
We don’t track ratios. We start with a topic, then find the right collaborators, whether they’re artists, scientists, designers, or institutions. Their origins matter less than the quality of the work. Take Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy as an example. We’d never done an exhibition on medicine or anatomy, so there was a project to be undertaken. We found a fantastic exhibition at The Getty from 2022 that examined anatomy from a historical perspective, which gave us the basis for developing something bigger.
Evolver (2019) by Marshmallow Laser Feast as part of Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy
For science-led exhibitions, we always try to partner with Singapore-based scientists and researchers. Audiences are consistently surprised by the depth and richness of scientific work happening here, and showcasing that has become part of our mission. As part of last year’s Mirror Mirror : Journey Into the Mind exhibition, we worked with neuroscientists to interpret memory and neuroscience.
Last year, the museum embarked on a rebranding exervise with an evolved philosophy. How will this shape the museum’s approach to creating and presenting exhibitions in the years ahead?
As we approached our 15th anniversary, we thought it was a wonderful opportunity to examine our DNA, purpose and mission, and what we’d accomplished over 14 years. We articulated a new purpose, “See New Possibilities”, with the help of the marketing and communications team and the board’s involvement, and refreshed our logo and design language. These brand values are now part of our curatorial decision-making. If a proposal doesn’t align with our mission, we don’t pursue it. It’s a sharper tool for us, ensuring that how we present ourselves to the world and what we do are perfectly aligned.
Was there an exhibition or programme that resonated most strongly with you over the past decade?
I’m especially fond of the two shows we discussed earlier, which allowed us to create experiential futures for visitors. They sit far outside the remit of a conventional museum, and that’s precisely what makes them exciting — we’re able to take audiences into the future without relying on science fiction clichés or simplistic utopian or dystopian narratives, but instead present something more grounded and plausible.
2219: Futures Imagined and Another World Is Possible are very close to my heart, as is New Eden: Science Fiction Mythologies Transformed. The latter exhibition explored Western science fiction alongside Eastern philosophical traditions such as Shintoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism and drew unexpected connections through contemporary works by women artists from Asia. It was a distinctive project that resonated strongly with both audiences and peers.
Is there an upcoming exhibition you can share that you’re particularly excited about?
Right now, our focus is on Flesh and Bones, which opens tomorrow (at the time of interview). It has taken us somewhat by surprise how deeply the subject has connected with people. It has really struck a nerve with those who have seen it so far, and they have found it emotional, affecting, and highly educational. What makes it special is the way it brings together Renaissance masterpieces and 18th-century anatomical engravings in dialogue with contemporary art, something another institution in Singapore can’t do. It’s also ambitious in scale, with over 160 objects spanning a millennium, alongside an extended VR component, “Evolver”. I’m very excited to see how audiences respond to it.
A render of Marina Bay, Singapore, in the future as imagined by RAD+ar from Link-Scape © RAD+ar as part of Another World is Possible
After 15 years, what do you hope visitors will feel or take away when they walk through this amazing architecture for the first time?
Architect Moshe Safdie and I want to create a moment of wonder. That initial feeling is crucial because people are attuned to learn more once they are in that state; they become curious, open and receptive. That initial surge of excitement sets the tone for everything that follows and marks the beginning of a journey.
You wrote a statement, “Looking for life, looking for darkness”, that resonates in today’s global climate. To close this interview, tell us what you think is the role of art today?
Art has always nourished the soul through the ages and offered a sense of meaning beyond the everyday, and when there is so much anxiety and tension in the world, it feels more important than ever. During the pandemic, when the world came to a standstill, it was art, music, film and storytelling that sustained us, even if we didn’t always recognise it as such.
Artists have the ability to hold space for both darkness and hope. They act as intermediaries between the two — acknowledging difficulty while gesturing towards possibility. That, I think, is incredibly necessary today.
All images are courtesy of ArtScience Museum. Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our April 2026 issue.