Digital Multicultural Heritage:
Innovation, Continuity, and Collaboration

2 & 3 October 2025

Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry

SCCCI Auditorium, 47 Hill Street, Singapore 179365

Singapore’s multicultural heritage is one of its greatest strengths, a dynamic interplay of languages, faiths, customs, and stories that have shaped a shared national identity across generations. Yet in an era of digital acceleration, global connectivity, and social transformation, heritage is no longer static. It is fluid, adaptive, and increasingly mediated through technology. The challenge before us is not only how to preserve this diversity, but how to innovate with it, sustain it, and reimagine it for the future.

This edition of the Co-Lab Forum responds to the urgent question: how can we not only safeguard but reimagine multicultural heritage for the future? Framed by the idea that heritage is a critical resource for innovation, the event brings together researchers, cultural experts, artists, industry leaders, and community voices to explore how cultural identities are expressed, transmitted, transformed, and revitalised in the digital age.

Opening SpeecH

Professor Jon Wilson
Dean, College of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, NTU

Keynote SPEAKER

Low Sze Wee
Group Director (Museums), NHB

Ali Hossaini
Co-director, Centre for Philosophy & Art, King’s College London;
Professor of Digital Media and Culture at SOAS, University of London

Artist Talk

Galina Mihaleva
Associate Professor, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University

Panel Discussion

Situating Digital Multicultural Heritage: Continuity, Challenges, and Strategies

This interdisciplinary panel brings together leading scholars, practitioners, and experts to explore what it means to value and situate multicultural heritage within today’s digital society. Just as Singapore (and the region) is shaped by diverse voices, beliefs, and histories, so too our approaches to preservation, engagement, and innovation reflect this complexity.

With rapid digital transformation and increasing reliance on technologies like AI, immersive media, and data-driven platforms, the panel will also consider how these technologies are reshaping not only access and representation but also knowledge production and collective memory. What are the risks and promises of digital mediation? How do we ensure continuity and authenticity while navigating technological change and global influences?

Drawing from insights from design, archives, art history, cultural studies, curatorial practice, industry and technology, the panel explores the technical challenges of digital heritage and the implications of how we document, transmit, and transform cultural memory in today’s multicultural societies.