In natural history museums around the world, towering dinosaur skeletons have intrigued audiences for over a century, promising the specter of a monster from a bygone era beyond our wildest imagination.

When Steven Spielberg'€™s classic film Jurassic Park first brought the fearsome terrestrial vertebrates to the screen, a ravenous hunger for knowledge about these creatures was spawned.

Fast forward to the 21st century, and the art and science movement is bringing the specter of these prehistoric creatures truly to life.

The largest dinosaur exhibition in Southeast Asia, '€œDinosaurs: Dawn to Extinction'€, opened at Singapore'€™s ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands Resort Singapore on Jan. 25, and promises to take visitors on a unique journey through 600 million years of prehistoric life spanning four time periods. The exhibition runs until July 27.

This inaugural exhibition will showcase four world-renowned exhibitions from the American Museum of Natural History, San Juan National Science Museum, SCI! Expo at Monash University and artist Peter Trusler and offers a refreshing and in-depth journey into the pre-existence, existence, rise and extinction of dinosaurs.

The exhibition features more than 400 fossils and models, including some fossils never before seen by the public, as well as over 50 original artworks by Australian artist Trusler, whose paintings reconstruct intriguing new species of dinosaurs from their fossilized remains.

'€œThe world of dinosaurs has always fascinated and intrigued many of us. There is no better way to satisfy the curiosity of children and adults at this visually stimulating exhibition than introducing them to a host of interactive activities tailored to suit different audiences and learning styles,'€ said Ross Leo, associate director of ArtScience Museum.

The visual effects and innovative interactive elements of the exhibit, which include a free mobile app allowing visitors to tailor their experience and build on the content of the exhibition, delivers a cutting-edge museum experience unlike any other.

Patricia Vickers-Rich, who curated the exhibition with a team of scientists and artists from around the world, said in a phone interview the exhibit was carefully designed to take visitors young and old on a timeline journey through the Precambrian, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous time periods.

She said the showcase is an original and unique exhibition to ArtScience Museum.

'€œIt is a perfect fit with the museum'€™s mission to tell the long history of dinosaurs through an ArtScience perspective, and to beautifully mix art and science to communicate ideas,'€ said the highly acclaimed paleontologist and geologist, who is also the founding director of the Monash Science Centre and a
passionate promoter of science communications and the art science movement.

Back in time: Patricia Vickers-Rich, geologist from Monash University, arranges displays of imprints of one of the first animals that lived on earth, in sandstone. AP/Wong Maye-E

'€œIt'€™s the reason we brought our exhibition here, it'€™s a museum that takes very seriously both aspects of life. They want excellent outstanding art and they want absolutely klcorrect and outstanding science,'€ she said.

Some of the key fossils on display include an 18-meter-long Apatosaurus, a 17.6-meter-long Lessemsaurus sauropod specimen and a new fossil of Adeopapposaurs discovered in Argentina only three months ago.

Leo said they feel extremely honored to work with some of the world'€™s leading paleontologists,
experts in the domain of dinosaurs and the long history of life on planet Earth, to present this first-of-its- kind exhibition, unlike anything seen in Singapore or Southeast Asia.

'€œThe exhibition will shed light on how dinosaurs lived on earth. It will also serve as a window into the past where visitors will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in this prehistoric world,'€ said Leo.

Occupying over 3,700 square meters of floor space, the journey winds through several galleries inviting visitors to immerse themselves in the environments inhabited by these species and discover what prompted their evolution and adaptations in the face of changing climatic conditions.

For Vickers-Rich, she hopes the complimentary fields of art and science can inspire a deeper understanding of how to approach the future of our species more responsibly.

'€œWe'€™re living in very delicate times today, and we are the first intelligent species on this planet that can actually plan for the future, unlike the dinosaurs and we need to know as much as we possibly can about the past.'€

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The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.