Two trick art museums opened in Singapore in the same month, so there are bound to be comparisons.
Here are my personal opinions for visitors who are contemplating whether to go to Trick Eye Museum or Alive Museum.
Location
Trick Eye Museum
-1 Located at Sentosa, it is considered inconvenient for many people
Alive Museum
+1 Located at Suntec City Mall, it is centralized and easily accessible.
Number of Exhibits
There is no huge difference in number of exhibits for both museums. Depending on what appeals most to you, each attraction has their own merits.
Trick Eye Musuem
+1 Mostly trick art. I personally find the exhibits here are more interesting.
Alive Museum
+1 A mixture of trick art and just-for-fun exhibits. Some exhibits have special effects like "wind", "trampoline" and others, also, there are more large scale exhibits here.
Ease of photo-taking
Trick Eye Museum
-1 The correct photo angles were not easy to grasp and some poses were difficult
+1 The exhibits were spaced out well enough to avoid people walking into other people's shots.
Alive Museum
+1 I found that the poses required at Alive Museum was easier to accomplish and photo angles are usually accurate
-1 Except for some isolated exhibits, most of the exhibits were difficult to capture because of crowd and space constraints. For example, there are two exhibits on each side of a L shape wall. When one is taking photo of one side, the other exhibit is blocked. Some exhibits had doors behind, hence we had to wait quite a bit whenever someone opens the door from another side. There were some exhibits located in narrow spaces, which makes it difficult to capture shots without people walking into the shot.
Tickets
Trick Eye Museum
$25 per pax.
Alive Museum
-1 $25 per pax. There is 20% off for passion card. However, it was not mentioned to us at the counter and we paid full price even though we had the card.
Navigation
Trick Eye Museum
+1 It is not easy to miss out exhibits because the route was straight forward.
Alive Museum
-1 One can miss out many exhibits if they do not notice the door to another room. Some doors are difficult to spot because they are painted to blend in with the artwork on the wall.
Capacity Control
Trick Eye Museum
+1 It was spacious to walk around without too many people and I had no worries about putting my bag down on the floor while I pose at the exhibit.
Alive Museum
-1 We were quite annoyed by the lack of capacity control at the entrance. There were too many people crowded in such a small space, it was impossible to take any photos. At some points, there were barely-moving human jams. It was a mood-spoiler and I kinda regretted entering and skipped many of the exhibits at first. Thankfully, the crowd eased towards the 2nd half of the museum.
Staff
Trick Eye Museum
-1 Did not see any staff around the exhibits, probably would be good if some could be planted around the premises in case anyone requires some assistance.
Alive Museum
+1 There were some staff(presumably part timers because some of them did not seem to know what they are there for besides standing around). However, one offered to take a photo for couples and I thought that it was a nice gesture so that we do not have to trouble other visitors.
Atmosphere
Trick Eye Museum
+1 Not sure if it was only on the day I went, but many couples were around and the atmosphere was definitely more lively, happier, and fun.
Alive Museum
-1 Probably because of the lack of capacity control, the whole place felt very rowdy and un-magical.
Final Verdict
I had a better time at Trick Eye Museum.
My experience at Trick Eye Museum: http://www.estherxie.com/2014/06/trick-eye-museum.html
My experience at Alive Museum: http://www.estherxie.com/2014/06/alive-museum.html
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Trickeye Museum
ReplyDeleteI visited the Trickeye Museum in Singapore. The place was nice but the experience was not. The management allowed too many people inside. The result was people wishing to kill each other just to grab a few minutes for decent picture-taking. Very sad in contrast to the goal of the place. The space inside the venue is best for a pair of family members or friends for every "museum piece". But I experienced up to10 people lined up for every "museum piece". Most people who have never visited this place think they'll be relaxed and entertained. The management made us line up for 2 hours before going inside. I didnt mind that. No one can control the people who want to line up. But the management should have lessened the number of visitors INSIDE the place. Very bad for business. I paid good money for this but neither was I relaxed nor entertained. I am never going to visit another Trickeye Museum ever again. Let this be a warning to others.