He entered the arts scene as a photographer. Inspired by ‘The Last Supper’ painting, Eugene shot a Singaporean version titled ‘The Last Kopitiam’. It was featured in the centrefold of Campus Magazine, which went viral a couple of years later and catapulted him to fame.
Despite the ensuing projects and exhibitions, he was not a fan of being identified as a photographer. As a self-taught computer programmer and an Interactive Media student at NTU’s School of Arts, Design and Media, Eugene was keen on rebranding himself.
He brought his photos to life with augmented reality and founded Dude Studios, a creative tech studio focusing on Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality. While experimenting with VR, he brought the equipment over to nursing homes and developed an app to allow them to watch 360 videos with ease. The project was a huge success and Eugene founded Mind Palace, a social enterprise that uses VR to help dementia patients and nursing home residents revisit fond places and explore the world from the comfort and safety of their chairs.
When the pandemic struck, Eugene was keen on some downtime to work on his personal projects. However, as businesses and the arts scene became digital, his commercial workload swelled. Stuck alone in his home-office space, he found his creative outlets through sledgehammer workouts, sword collections, crowbar pianos, and archery.
Watch the video to find out the eccentric ways Eugene manages his commercial and personal projects in this episode of Life After COVID.
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Special thanks to: Eugene Soh | @dude.sg | @mindpalacevr
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