Singapore’s tentpole contemporary arts event is back. Organized by the National Arts Council (NAC) and supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Singapore Art Week (SAW) runs from January 19 to 28 this year, featuring more than 150 art exhibitions and programs by over 400 artists, curators, and partners from Singapore and around the world.
Coming off a particularly buzzy edition last year, marked by the debut of the much-anticipated ART SG – Singapore’s and Southeast Asia’s largest art fair, the upcoming 12th edition continues NAC’s overarching direction of moving away from traditional stereotypes of the industry. Instead, it aims to bring people “closer to art and artmaking.”
What this means: there’s something for every kind of audience – from hardcore collectors to someone who might be stepping into a gallery for the first time (or a mid-century modernist home – more on that later). Below is our round-up of events (big and small alike) that you should be paying attention to.
What: Being a woman, especially today, is many things and Singapore interdisciplinary artist Sarah Choo Jing has poetically interpreted it in a new series of videos titled Gestures of Affection. A commission by Roman luxury house Valentino (the brand is returning to Singapore Art Week once more after making a triumphant debut last year with Thai artist Pinaree Sanpitak), Gestures of Affection is a set of seven unique videos and print artworks, each featuring a female protagonist expressing a notion Choo sees as central to the female experience – sensuality, resilience, empathy, individuality, freedom, passion, and vulnerability.
You’ll notice that each of the work is bathed in a predominant colour palette of pinks and reds – nods to Valentino’s house codes of course. Each video captures a woman’s small gestures and facial expressions that might go unnoticed in real time and are deliberately showcased in slow motion, forcing the viewer to contend with the woman’s unapologetic presence.. P.S. These women and Choo developed closer relationships through the collaborative making of the work – thus the title Gestures of Affection.
Choo is well-known for her striking visual works that combine photography, video and installation to explore notions of solitude in contemporary life, and for this commission, the work was inspired by Valentino’s Spring Summer 2024 L’Ecole womenswear collection, which reaffirms women’s agency over their own bodies, independent of the male gaze or any societal expectations. Gestures of Affection will be unveiled at the lobby of Soho Residency Singapore (located within The Warehouse Hotel) from January 16 and remain on display till SAW concludes on January 28. Following this, the work will be sold, the net proceeds from the sale will go to gender equality non-advocacy group AWARE.
Who’s behind it: The well-decorated Singapore artist Sarah Choo Jing, in collaboration with Valentino, with curation by veteran curator Rita Targui.
When: January 17-28
Where: Soho Residency Singapore at The Warehouse Hotel, 320 Havelock Road
What: Singapore artist Tan Ngiap Heng is the youngest child of the late Dr Tan Kheng Khoo and Madam Gunn Chit Siew. He has produced this group exhibition, Eat Play Love, as a way of bidding farewell to his family home. Through the show, Tan emphasizes the overlooked value of being sentimental about moving houses, positioning the house as both an artistic subject and an exhibition site. With a diverse array of artworks, Eat Play Love prompts visitors to contemplate the concept of home in its multifaceted nature: as a physical location, a series of everyday rituals, and an emotional experience.
Beyond the intriguing premise of an art show staged in a family space, there’s much artistic value in the building itself – a mid-century Modernist home designed by none other than William Lim, one of the founding figures of Singapore architecture who designed iconic buildings like Golden Mile Complex.
Who’s behind it: Tan serves as the producer, with curation by Michael Lee, featuring the artworks of artists Catherine Hu, Cynthia Delaney Suwito, Khoo Guo Jie, Lei Yuan Bin, Mike HJ Chang, Susanna Tan, and Tan himself. The non-profit group Docomomo Singapore will also be holding tours of the space – more details here.
When: January 17-31, 11am-7pm daily
Where: C1 Holland Park
What: A group exhibition titled Keys under the Sofa utilises the furniture shop as a focal point. The artists investigate and unearth the symbolic meanings and tangible significance of furniture in workplace and family narratives. The artists, each with an interdisciplinary practice spanning various media such as photography, kinetic sculpture, video art, installation, painting, text, and participatory methods, contribute to the diverse range of expressions in the exhibition. The showcase is complemented by programs and workshops, including guided tours by the artists, modern kintsugi, and creative repair workshops by the artist collective Yellow Thatchery, and still-life drawing sessions led by artist and art educator Shirly Koh.
Who’s behind it: The show is curated by independent curator Kamiliah Bahdar, featuring the works of artists Cynthia Delaney Suwito, Geraldine Kang, Jaxton Su, Woong Soak Teng and Yang Jie.
When: January 19 to February 18, 9am-5pm Mondays to Saturdays, 9:30am-5:30pm on Sundays
Where: Hock Siong & Co., #01-02/03 Junjie Industrial Building, 153 Kampong Ampat
What: A playful open studio by artist Genevieve Leong, whose show will be the highlight of the independent art space dblspce during Singapore Art Week. Visitors can expect to participate in a collaborative installation – which the artist hopes will educate people on objects and their potential for changing and being changed by an environment.
Who’s behind it: Leong is known for her poetic installations that often combine text, image, found and made objects, and the manipulation of space to create what she describes as “an almost physical image.”
When: January 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 28, 1pm-6pm
Where: dblspce, #02-20 Peninsula Shopping Centre, 3 Coleman Street
What: A must-see for any feline fanatics out there, the group show “Lucky Cats” explores the magical mysticism behind cats, as well as how they sustain artists’ spiritual connection to art making. After all, cats symbolize many things – independence, curiosity, freedom of spirit, mystery – and this show is a love letter to them, as well as the artistic community that has supported the independent art space I_S_L_A_N_D_S since its inception. There are more than 20 artists taking part in this show, and best of all, the artworks are available for sale, with 50 per cent of all proceeds going to the Singapore Cat Welfare Society, and the other 50 per cent going to the respective artist.
Who’s behind it: Pey Chuan Tan, creator of I_S_L_A_N_D_S, has put together a formidable list of many emerging names in Singapore’s art scene – Divaagar, Marla Bendini, Jennifer Anne Champion, Zachary Chan, Mike Chang, Edwin Chen, Daniel Chong, Ferry, Harng Foong, Hong Shu-Ying, Howie Kim, Phyo Thant Kyaw, Lai Yu Tong, Genevieve Leong, Ryan Lim, Natalie Lim, Natasha Lim, Mengju Lin, Liu Aoyang, Benedict Loong, Nai Iyn Huii, Anna Ng, Lynette Quek, Shen Jiaqi, Moses Tan, Berny Tan, Amanda Tan, Marvin Tang, Danielle Tay and Robert Zhao are all taking part.
When: January 20-March 2, 10am-10pm daily
Where: I_S_L_A_N_D_S, #B1-07B, Excelsior Shopping Centre, 5 Coleman Street
What: A group show titled “Nothing But A Daydream” is organized by multi-hyphenate creative Ashley Chiam, founder of the multi-use art space Supper House. Nothing But A Daydream has many interesting elements – for one, it’s taking place at the GR.iD mall on Selegie Road, and it’s a four-week-long residency program that will culminate in an open studio session during Singapore Art Week 2024. But get this: the public is welcome to visit the space anytime during the residency itself – the aim is to encourage organic interaction with the artists, and to shed light on the process of art-making (read: see the artworks in the midst of being created), rather than the usual finalized forms we see at typical exhibitions.
Who’s behind it: Chiam conceptualised and curated the show, which features a diverse line-up of emerging artists and creatives across multiple genres, including Amien, Owen Tee, Benedict Yu, Liz Zhu, Guang, Liszu, Natalia Tan, Masuri Mazlan and Cherine Wee
When: On now till January 28, 3pm-10pm on Fridays to Sundays
Where: Level 7, GR.iD, 1 Selegie Road
What:What’s the value in doing something “futile”? That’s the question this group show is cheekily prodding at—a question which admittedly might sound alien to ROI-driven folks. In this group exhibition, various artists have come together to play with what is seemingly “useless”: repetitive processes that seem to have no clear outcome; objects stripped of the functions for which they were made; tasks with outright impossible goals; rituals that have lost their purpose for one reason or another. Through this process, they aim to transform the futile into the fertile.
Who’s behind it: Artist-curator Berny Tan has curated the show, which features new works from emerging artists Fiona Seow, Genevieve Leong, ila, Marvin Tang and Ryan Lim Zi Yi
When: January 18-February 4, Thursdays and Fridays 4pm-7pm, Saturdays and Sundays 1pm-7pm. Register here for free guided tours
Where: Block B, #05-18, Shun Li Industrial Complex, 705 Sims Drive
What: The latest edition of Crossroads, the annual festival meant to spotlight new media art using electronic billboards in commercial spaces. This year’s theme focuses on the idea of RAM (that’s Random Access Memory), which in tech speak refers to a computer’s short-term memory, alluding to the fact that an art exhibition showcased on a billboard is typically transient. Simultaneously the exhibition nods to to the idea of memories – personal or collective – and how we deal with the fact that memory itself tends to be malleable (rose-tinted glasses and all that).
Who’s behind it: The fast-rising digital art collective ToNewEntities, featuring the works of Syahrul Anuar, Priyageetha Dia, Kimverlyn Lim, Kapilan Naidu, Nghia Phung, and Hilary Yeo.
When: January 19-28
Where: Fortune Centre (Outdoor Billboard), 190 Middle Road, and Wilkie Edge (Outdoor Billboard), 8 Wilkie Road
What: National Gallery Singapore’s (NGS) signature visual arts festival, Light To Night, is always a crowd-pleaser, and this year it features a lineup of over 60 artworks and programs spread across the Civic District. In response to the theme ‘Reimagine,’ attendees at the festival will experience artworks with a twist – for example, many of the works are designed to be interactive to break with the traditional taboo of no-touch artworks.
Look out for the installation Ping Pong Go-Round (pictured) by local performance artist Lee Wen, where friends, families, and even strangers are encouraged to gather around a table, collectively engaging with and activating the artwork. It’s located outside National Gallery Singapore’s DBS Singapore Gallery Two on the second floor of the museum. Elsewhere within NGS, there’s a room dedicated to ASMR – discover unexpected textures and sounds by taking part in an ASMR video at Wishful Thinking by Whisperlodge. Find it in the basement where the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium Foyer is located.
For those who enjoy late nights at museums, you’ll be glad to know that the NGS will extend its opening hours until 11 pm and offer free entry to all the exhibitions, including its year-end blockbuster, Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America, during the festival’s weekends.
Other highlights include Malaysia-born Singaporean contemporary artist Kumari Nahappan’s six-meter-high installation, Wings of Change, which sees saga seeds, a favorite motif with the artist, now blown up to larger-than-life proportions. This surrealistic installation can be found dotting the Padang field.
Who’s behind it: National Gallery Singapore
When: January 19-February 8, various times, get full details and tickets for paid programmes here
Where: Various locations throughout the Civic District, including National Gallery Singapore, Asian Civilisations Museum, Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, The Arts House, The Padang, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and Funan Mall
What: Singapore’s and Southeast Asia’s largest contemporary art fair returns with a sophomore edition, this year with a slight dip in the number of galleries taking part (116, compared to last year’s 164), reportedly due to external factors such as inflated shipping costs. Still, many of the blue-chip galleries that participated in 2023’s debut are returning, such as Gagosian, White Cube, Thaddaeus Ropac, and Lehmann Maupin, while regional and local powerhouses taking part include ShanghART, Ota Fine Arts, Yavuz Gallery, Sullivan+Strumpf, TKG+, and Richard Koh Fine Art.
Additionally, this year’s edition sees 38 new names from around the region joining ART SG, including Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Asia Art Center, Taro Nasu, Sabrina Amrani, Poligrafa Obra Grafica, BANGKOK CITYCITY, BASTIAN, Gathering, Nadi Gallery, and Chi-Wen.
As with last year, ART SG will be organized into three primary themes. For your Ai Wei Weis and Olafur Eliassons, make for the Galleries section, which will showcase diverse and multi-artist exhibitions from 69 leading names from around the world, while the Focus category will highlight 36 galleries presenting solo or duo artist programs, as well as curated thematic presentations. You’ll find the younger and more experimental galleries (those under 10 years) in the Futures section, where they will be presenting works that have been created within the past 18 months and not previously exhibited in a gallery or institutional setting.
In addition to these categories, visitors to the fair can explore dynamic and large-scale site-specific installations from five artists of disparate generations and backgrounds sprinkled throughout the fair as part of the Platform sector – they are Gordon Cheung, Boedi Widjaja, Marcos Kueh, Donna Ong, and Ian Davenport. There’s also a Film program curated by former National Gallery Singapore curator and Southeast Asian film and new media specialist Sam I-shan in collaboration with the ArtScience Museum, as well as talks and panels featuring leaders in the art world.
Who’s behind it: ART SG is organised by The Art Assembly – the company behind some of the most influential art fairs across Asia Pacific (think Photofairs Shanghai, Sydney Contemporary, India Art Fair, Taipei Dangdai and Tokyo Gendai), and is presented by UBS.
When: January 18 (for the VIP preview, 5pm-9pm), 19 (12pm-7pm), 20 (11am- 7pm) and 21 (11am-5pm) – get your tickets here.
Where: Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Avenue
What:
A major show to catch at Gillman Barracks is “Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics,” a group exhibition curated by renowned art historian Dr. Zoe Whitley, assisted by independent Singapore curator Clara Peh. Spread across multiple venues in Gillman Barracks (as well as Michelin-starred restaurant Nouri), this expansive exhibition explores the lively and interconnected stories of the African and Asian diasporas.
The exhibition sources its content from esteemed private collections in the region, offering a rare chance for both art enthusiasts and the general public to intimately explore themes of migration and displacement, language and identities, spiritual practices, as well as shared historical marginalization across cultures from both continents – much akin to what the ongoing Tropical blockbuster over at National Gallery Singapore is attempting to do.
P.S. We’re not kidding when we say expansive – the show features approximately 100 globally recognized artists representing a variety of perspectives from Africa and Asia, such as Dinh Q. Le (pictured), El Anatsui, Theaster Gates, Do Ho Suh, Haegue Yang, Tang Da Wu, Nick Cave, Vibha Galhotra, Apichatpong Weerasekathul, The Otolith Group, Zarina Hashmi, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Misheck Masamvu, Robert Zhao, Yanyun Chen, and many more.
Who’s behind it: Non-profit organisation The Institutum
When: January 18-30, 11am-6pm daily
Where: The show is split across multiple venues within Gillman Barracks (9 Lock Road #03-21 & #03-22; 7 Lock Road #01-12; 6 Lock Road #02-09; ShanghART Gallery), as well as Nouri, 72 Amoy Street