Escape From Riot Island

Illustrator Natalie and sound designer Zeki team up to create an interactive experience about Singapore’s first and only open-air prison experiment in the 1960s.

13km off mainland Singapore on an island called Pulau Senang, this prison-without-bars was a project to rehabilitate notorious gang members through hard work. But just three years later, detainees rioted, destroying the entire penal settlement in a mere 40 minutes.

Where did it all go wrong? On their quest to create a one-of-a-kind immersive online experience about Pulau Senang, Natalie and Zeki track down the people who lived to tell the tale, from a boatman who survived the riot to an ex-police officer who grappled with secret society gangs in the 1960s, to learn how this revolutionary experiment met such a gruesome end.