Reflections of Little Red Dot Explores Singapore’s History Through Mixed Reality

Reflections of Little Red Dot explores how Singapore’s rapid urban development has affected its communities.

Created by Chloé Lee, Reflections of Little Red Dot is a mixed reality experience that explores time, memory, diaspora, and place in Singapore through “intimate conversations” and personal stories filmed in 2015. Using archival footage throughout this 3D environment, this experience explores how rapid urban development has impacted Singaporean communities since the country gained independence in 1965.

“In 2015, I returned to Singapore after a long absence to get to know the country better and understand the place and its people. Many Singaporeans feel disoriented in a landscape of ever-changing high rises,” states Lee. Highlighting how many kampongs (villages) have disappeared, this uses XR to try to remember the significance of these places in a new way.

Reflections of Little Red Dot premiered several months ago during SXSW 2025, recently returning during Venice Immersive 2025. It’s here where I spent 40 minutes diving into these individual conversations, taking an interesting approach by using a faux projector. Pick up one of the eight cards from the case, place it into the slot, and watch this projected in front of you while wearing a Quest 3.

Between six carefully placed stools I could sit on emerged a digital table with a chessboard on it, and sitting in different locations started playing different clips. Because this demo was time-limited, I didn’t have time to go through them all to completion, so I usually ended up watching two or three different clips before swapping to a new card.

This novel approach makes it unlikely that we’ll see a home release without considerable alterations, though I will say Reflections of Little Red Dot is an eye opener. As someone who admittedly did not know a lot about Singaporean history, watching residents discuss matters like language and heritage, modern life, and where the “little red dot” nickname emerged from is highly informative.

I have some criticisms. Having a physical table to lean on would be preferable in these demos, even if the digital table overlaps it. Not all of them have this issue, but select clips have the subtitles ghosting over each other, doubling up in the background. Still, it’s a compelling insight into the Asian country that’s deeply personal in its mission, questioning how you can foster a sense of community when rapid development feels relentless.