Now in 2024, I went back to the same exhibition, said to be upgraded and now held at a different venue i.e. Singapore Expo Hall 8B. While there were some works which appeared in the 2013 edition, there were quite a number of new works which I had never seen before.
It always fascinates me as to how these small Lego bricks can be transformed into such amazing works which just goes to show that creativity has no boundaries. It was definitely an inspiring experience to see how things like daily life objects or well-known paintings can be represented in a different manner through these Lego blocks. Given that I hardly had the opportunity to play with Lego as a kid, it does seem a bit of a challenge for me to get into this now as an adult since I think I'm not too good at following diagrams to build stuff like this. Even small Nanoblocks models were tough for me when it was quite the craze sometime back.
At the entrance of the exhibition, there was a short video featuring Sawaya about his journey with Lego bricks since childhood, becoming a lawyer since he didn't know that studying art was an option for him in university before immersing himself into his lifelong passion creating artworks with Lego. While not everyone can manage to follow their passion and make it into a career, his experience is definitely encouragement and a real life example of "it's never too late to chase your dream".
With the change in venue, there are a few things that you may wish to take note of:
- Hall 8B is quite a distance from the MRT station so if you are taking the train, note that this hall is not part of the main Expo building and it's connected by the sheltered walkway. If you are taking a taxi or private hire, you can probably choose the drop-off point outside the hall to save on the walking which can be quite uncomfortable on a hot day.
- There is another exhibition featuring bubble-themed art sharing the same hall where there is loud music playing. As such, I found it a bit noisy and distracting as compared to when it was very quiet at the ArtScience Museum.
- Some of the exhibits were placed on mirrors or stands with reflective glass so you can get some really nice pictures by incorporating the actual exhibit and the reflection together.
- Note that the ticket prices quoted on the website do not include the booking fee of $2.90 which is imposed regardless of whether you are buying it online or on the spot. I didn't like the fact that the organiser wasn't forthcoming about this charge because it was only when I got to the payment page that this was mentioned. Even at the on-site ticketing counter, the list of charges do not mention this. While I understood that there would be surcharges for ticketing systems, considering that a Wednesday ticket for an adult was $19.90, a booking fee of $2.90 works out to about 15% of the ticket price. This is a pretty high percentage, I would say because concert tickets costing several hundred dollars has a ticketing fee usually not more than $5.
- It is advisable to get tickets online first for designated timeslots since there is crowd control supposedly during peak periods so that the viewing experience won't be affected. Tickets on weekends are definitely the priciest while on weekdays, it will be cheapest on Wednesday which I suppose should be the day with the least number of visitors. The exhibition is closed on Tuesdays. Tickets can only be paid for using cards.
- There is a cafe at the end of the exhibition area but there wasn't a place to sit down and enjoy the refreshments unless you sat at the the area for visitors to colour their drawings and scan onto the big screen. I suppose there would be a long queue on peak days since the wait was already quite significant on a weekday.
- The post-exhibition merchandise area was a bit underwhelming. Other than the exhibition catalogue ($25 for a very heavy hardcover book), the rest of the stuff were Lego sets. Perhaps it might be cheaper and you will get a wider range of designs if you buy your Lego outside?
While I was a bit skeptical about the claim that there were more than 150 works on display and there were some things which I was not too happy about especially the ticketing, I was quite satisfied with the exhibition on the whole. Despite having seen some of the works more than a decade ago, there were still some new surprises in this year's edition. As such, even if you had been to the previous exhibition before, the 2024 edition should still be interesting to such visitors. For first-timers, this should be quite an eye-opening experience.
Here are a selection of the works that I liked from the 2024 edition so I hope that you'll find your favourites there as well!
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