If you’ve yet to check out Asian Civilisations Museum’s (ACM) new fashion and jewellery galleries (which opened last year right before lockdown), here’s a good chance to do so. ACM is putting on a new show titled Fashionable in Asia, which will feature more than 20 antique garments from the 18th to 20th century, most of which have never been displayed before.

“(The show) provides a window into fashionable dress in Asia, and is a statement that ‘fashion’ is not only the preserve of the modern West. Asia always had fashion and a sense of what was fashionable at any given moment in time,” says ACM director Kennie Ting. “As Singapore’s National Museum of Asian Antiquities and Decorative Art, we hope visitors come to appreciate the beautiful dress and textile traditions in Asia, which rival the best of the West; and also come to celebrate the figure of the Asian designer and artisan, sometimes named, more often anonymous, who have helped to set standards of aesthetic excellence for the world.”

The show will delve into everything from the rise and evolution of Javanese batik to tracing the history of fashion designs and textiles production in Asia – in particular, the massive influence Indian cottons and silks had. There’ll also be a section on garments worn by Thai, Japanese and Indonesian royalty.

Ongoing at Asian Civilisations Museum, 1 Empress Place

Art in nature has been a growing movement over the years and the latest is Rewritten: The World Ahead of Us, a public art showcase commissioned by the Public Art Trust (PAT) under the National Arts Council (NAC). This showcase sees 14 larger-than-life art installations positioned along the 36km-long coast-to-coast trail at eight nature parks from Punggol to Jurong. Each artwork was the result of the designated artist (names include Dawn Ng, Robert Zhao, Vertical Submarine, Sam Lo and more) drawing inspiration from existing bodies of literary work by known Singaporean poets.

It’s been a year since the onset of the pandemic and this project was conceptualised during Singapore’s circuit breaker last year. Rewritten represents the resilience of the arts community during the pandemic, where artists are not only thinking out of the box to elevate or pivot their practice, but also committed to making art that is widely visible and freely accessible to all.

What’s also noteworthy is that this showcase saw artists experimenting in this field for the first time, such as Ang Song Nian, Hunny and Lummy – all artists who are usually more accustomed to presenting works in gallery settings. For the full list of artworks and locations, visit PAT’s website here.

Ongoing till June 6 at various locations

Pictured: When A Tree Becomes A Forest by Ang Song Nian

Over at Gillman Barracks, Yavuz Gallery is exhibiting Corpus, the first solo show by noted Australian multi-disciplinary artist Caroline Rothwell. Her practice investigates how ideas and beliefs have shaped the contemporary world, and the latest show draws on imagery of archival and natural history to create a textured look (including a series of pastel sculptural pieces and paintings) at our relationship with the natural world.

For Corpus in particular, the artist has researched imagery and information from the archive relating to Singapore, such as the Natural History Drawings commissioned by William Farquhar in the 19th Century and held at the National Museum of Singapore.

Ongoing till April 18 at #02-23, 9 Lock Rd