When was the last time you went to the Battlebox at Fort Canning? Chances are, your most recent memory is of a school learning journey years, even decades back, or perhaps never at all. Over the last few months however, producers Global Cultural Alliance (GCA), who have been managing Battlebox since 2023, have been working hard at bringing the historical site back into vogue, with indie art experiences such as experimental music sessions at Bunker By Night and theatre with No Question of Surrender.

Now, they’re taking on visual art, more specifically, with the brand new exhibition Portals, a group show running till 29th June 2025 that sees seven Singapore-based artists installing site-specific work responding to the significance and space of Battlebox, and incorporating creative technology in this mashup of history and the future.

Commissioned as part of cmd.exe (“command prompt”), an ambitious platform by TRCL exploring the convergence of heritage and creative tech, Portals is curated by Jonathan Liu and Shireen Marican. It features works by Anthony Chin, Dongyan Chen, Ernest Wu, Jake Tan, Huijun Lu, Victoria Hertel, and Zul Mahmod. Interwoven with the permanent exhibitions already housed in the Battlebox, these new works transform the space into a multi-sensory experience that is immersive, provocative, and deeply atmospheric.

With dynamic visuals, haunting soundscapes, and interactive installations, Portals explores themes of power, surveillance, conflict, time, and the strange harmony between nature and defense. Visitors might find themselves navigating reimagined wartime communications systems, light sculptures that react to motion, or eerie soundscapes built from electromagnetic frequencies. While not every artist works primarily in tech, each has integrated technology and programming in inventive ways—creating a fascinating juxtaposition against the historic setting that, surprisingly, feels like it belongs.

There’s no fixed route through the exhibition, and the very layout of the Battlebox encourages curiosity and exploration. One of the first works visitors might encounter is Jake Tan’s In Flux, which transforms the Battlebox corridors into a time-bending tunnel. Using motion tracking, abstract projections of light and line shift and respond as visitors walk by, weaving between simulations of Britain’s surrender of Singapore to Japan. History and imagination collapse into one another, reminding us that the echoes of the past still shape how we move through the present.

In a room of its own, Anthony Chin’s BMA critiques colonial power and its mechanisms of control. Referencing the British Military Administration’s 1945 return to Malaya, the work dives into the darker side of empire—specifically, its profiteering from opium. A magnified hand on a fishing line reaches out towards a screen, with a hook that tugs at it, while archival images flicker across a slideshow onscreen. The setup hints at manipulation and extraction, calling out how colonial powers profited from the pain of Chinese labourers addicted to state-supplied ‘medical opium’. Within the Battlebox, the work resonates as a quiet reckoning with the space’s buried history.

Ernest Wu’s In Some Far Away Land is a split installation that speaks to the numbing effects of digital media. One part features a cascade of social media posts about distant wars, a comment on how doomscrolling has desensitised us to global conflict. The other, tucked into a discreet shelf, projects fragmented Japanese cipher with AI-generated voices. Together, these elements question the nature of truth, the ethics of spectatorship, and our own complicity in scrolling past suffering on a daily basis.

Dongyan Chen’s works tap into the world of surveillance and secret communication. In Void Resonance, sound is transformed into visuals that resemble coded messages, while Drifting Signals projects visitor silhouettes tracked in real time. These works recreate the tense atmosphere of WWII espionage—of constantly being watched, monitored, interpreted. Technology becomes both a tool of insight and a method of control.

Huijun Lu’s Blades as grass turns our gaze upwards—literally. Installed as a reflection of the lawn above the Battlebox, her work draws on British camouflage techniques using flora during WWII. Through kinetic sculptures, audio recordings, sensors, and digital microscopes, Lu uncovers the intelligence of plants and their ability to adapt and defend. It’s a poetic reminder that even the grass holds stories—of strategy, survival, and silent resilience.

Zul Mahmod’s Electromagnetic Sound: The Hidden Echoes turns the invisible into something visceral. His wire-based installation uncovers the electromagnetic frequencies that surround us, using sensors and transducers to make these signals audible. The resulting soundscape of static, coded noise, and ghostly transmissions creates a haunting atmosphere, like history whispering through the walls—always present, but just out of reach.

Finally, Victoria Hertel’s darkmode is perhaps the most unexpected work of all, that truly aligns itself as a site-specific work that utilises technology as a way to guide visitors into what initially appears to be a dark alley leading to a dead end. Using sensors and responsive interfaces, visitors will see tiny lightbulbs with what appear to be live ‘lightning bugs’ within them (they’re not organic, they just seem to be alive), and appear as otherworldly spirits to protect and illuminate the way forward. and automated processes in darkness highlight different sensing methods between human and technological perception. Walking through the cat ladder corridor, these bulbs eventually lead you to the end where one is rewarded by a skylight, a meditative, calm space for reflection against the conflict-ridden history of the space.

“As a creative producing company, Global Cultural Alliance (GCA) is committed to reflecting Singapore’s diverse cultural heritage and fostering shared experiences through the arts. Since taking on the management of the Battlebox in 2023, we have been dedicated to presenting its historical narratives through immersive and innovative experiences,” says Nicholas Tee, Head of Artistic Development at Global Cultural Alliance. “Just as the Battlebox once served as a pivotal wartime command centre, it now becomes a space where artists harness technology to engage, challenge, and transform our understanding of the past. Portals is a testament to how creative technology can bridge generations, perspectives, and disciplines, making heritage relevant and accessible to contemporary audiences.”

Portals runs from 28th March to 29th June 2025 at Battle Box. Entry available with ticket to Battle Box. More information available here