National Gallery Singapore opens Amanda Heng AI avatar that learns from visitors

National Gallery Singapore has opened “Retired Singirl”, an artificial-intelligence avatar of the Singapore artist Amanda Heng that visitors can speak with in real time. The work, installed in the Digital Immersive Space on Level 2 of the City Hall Wing, began public interactions on Nov. 13 and is intended to perform on Heng’s behalf through 2030.

Commissioned for “Singapore Stories: Pathways and Detours in Art”, the avatar is accessed through a microphone interface. Visitors can ask about Heng’s practice, Singapore art, digital doubles, identity and whether technology helps or impedes conversation. Its responses draw on Heng’s artistic work, archives and ideas.

The Gallery’s exhibition material says “Retired Singirl” was developed with the AI human developers Pantheon Lab and social-design studio Lekker Architects. It is one of two connected commissions, alongside “Let’s Chat Further”, that use AI and holographic display to respond to works from Heng’s career.

The companion installation records conversations with visitors, which contribute to a dataset used to train the digital avatar. The Gallery says the avatar is being made collaboratively by Heng, technologists, designers and the public, while contributions from conversations in the Digital Immersive Space will inform it over time.

That makes the work an evolving archive rather than a fixed digital replica. Later encounters may differ from earlier ones as the AI develops through audience interaction. Heng has said that “Retired Singirl” is “not an extension of me as much as it is an exploration of what a living archive of performance art can be.”

The project uses licensed material, including Heng’s likeness and archival records, while Heng retains ownership of both. Visitor conversations are anonymised and their contribution to the system is guided to keep it rooted in her practice, ideas and legacy. National Gallery Singapore has described this arrangement as a considered model for ethical AI use in the arts.

The commission emerged from more than four years of research, experimentation and collaboration, with Heng defining its conception, development and refinement since 2022. The Straits Times reported that the Gallery engaged the Melbourne-based art lawyer Alana Kushnir to draft a contract under which the museum acts as intermediary between Heng, who licenses her data and holds the intellectual property, and Pantheon Lab.

“Retired Singirl” draws on “Let’s Chat”, Heng’s 1996 participatory work in which people gathered over tea to clean beansprouts and talk. First presented at The Substation and now in Singapore’s National Collection, that work recreated the informal communal meetings of Heng’s mother and friends at public-housing void decks. The Digital Immersive Space similarly takes inspiration from the void deck and examines how technology and art change human connections.

It also references Heng’s continuing “Singirl” series, begun in 2000, which uses the kebaya and the figure of the Singapore Girl to examine identity, representation and gender. The Gallery presents the avatar as a feminist reimagining of digital humans typically depicted as ageless ideals of femininity.

Heng, a full-time practitioner since the late 1980s, has said she wants to create “everyday encounters with art that democratise its access.” “Retired Singirl” is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; admission to the work is free, while “Singapore Stories” requires a General Admission pass, which is complimentary for Singaporeans and permanent residents.