Singapore Art Week (SAW) 2024 returns from Jan 19 to 28 with more than 150 art exhibitions involving 400 artists and other programmes, including a vibrant Light To Night festival.
Now in its 12th edition, the National Arts Council (NAC) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) collaboration is one of the most anticipated events of the year, a 10-day celebration where art enthusiasts, collectors, and curious visitors can discover the best of Singaporean and Southeast Asian art and stunning works from international artists.
Additionally, industry professionals can engage in dialogues about global art trends, developments, and art’s role in culture, history, and identity. Some exhibitions extend beyond SAW and most admissions are free. Here are some highlights.
Exhibitions, exhibitions, exhibitions
Paintings, sculptures, and video installations are all means of escaping the mundane, exploring new possibilities, discovering an appreciation for the arts, and expressing yourself. Whether you prefer to explore in contemplative solitude or with like-minded enthusiasts, there is no shortage of SAW exhibitions to keep your January busy and rewarding.
From award-winning experiences with top Asian artists, such as Nepalese Subash Thebe Limbu in The 5th VH Award exhibition, to artworks revealing the cultural affinities between African and Asian diaspora in Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics, there is just so much to experience and appreciate.
At National Gallery Singapore, the blockbuster exhibition Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America is the world’s first exhibition to take a comparative approach across both regions, uniquely animated by their struggles against colonialism.
Casting a spotlight on Singapore talents, Singapore Art Museum (SAM) will present Ho Tzu Nyen: Time & the Tiger, while Art Outreach at Gillman Barracks will present Our Children by Tang Da Wu, a rousing Singaporean performance installation with educating future generations and filial piety at its core.
Art everywhere!
During SAW 2024, audiences will be captivated by meaningful visual arts encounters in both familiar and unexpected spaces. Various neighbourhoods – from the heartlands to the city centre – will come alive with new launches, expanded programmes, and signature SAW events.
Art After Dark returns to Gillman Barracks this year as part of SAW, with live music performances, exhibitions, and pop-up stores. Also, not to be missed are Sonic Sessions (Tanjong Pagar Distripark) for exhilarating evenings of art and entertainment and National Gallery Singapore’s Light to Night 2024 with immersive and interactive experiences, such as epic public art installations, light projections, a vibrant street event along St Andrew’s Road (closed-off for this), and guided and gamified tours.
Exhibitions can even be found in unexpected places. Tan Ngiap Heng’s Eat Play Love, for instance, takes place at the Holland Park home of Dr Tan Kheng Khoo and Madam Gunn Chit Siew. As the family prepares to sell the place, Tan Ngiap Heng, the youngest son, produced this exhibition as a tribute. It showcases works by Tan and six guest artists, including Catherine Hu and Susanna Tan.
Together, Hue & Me at Buangkok Square, Block 991 Buangkok Link, explores homeliness and community through the shapes and colours of everyday spaces and how we are linked as residents, friends, and neighbours through artworks and soundscapes.
Fresh and innovative art experiences
These introduce new programmes by established and emerging Singaporean artists that reflect on the shaping of identities and shared affinities. They include Keys Under the Sofa at Hock Siong & Co, a family-owned second-hand furniture shop, where Cynthia Delaney Suwito, Geraldine Kang, Jaxton Su, Woong Soak Teng, and Yang Jie exhibit photographs, kinetic sculptures, video, installations, paintings, and texts that examine family and workplace narratives, play with spatial poetics, and examine pre-loved objects.
Another, Refraction Index, encourages using glass as an artistic material through an arts incubator programme that helps artists showcase the unique qualities of glass.
Forums, panel discussions, symposiums
SAW promotes critical thinking in the arts by bringing together policymakers, artists, and industry experts to talk about the role a creative economy plays in sustaining the arts industry. It looks forward to offering new perspectives to the global arts dialogue through talks, forums, panel discussions, and workshops.
Among them are the closed-door NAC Art Thought Leadership Forum with a keynote speech by Professor Andy Pratt, UNESCO Chair of Global Creative Economy and a panel discussion with international speakers discussing how cultural institutions, producers, and businesses can contribute towards a dynamic ecosystem of cultural events on the theme “Creative Cities, Creative Regions”.
Alternative Ecology: The Community, with a bamboo sculptural social space by Eko Prawoto (Indonesia), presents a series of public events by Post-Museum (Singapore). They include a Sweat Shop Workshop, a Stone Soup Party, Eco-Karaoke and Eco-Singles nights, and a water and sustainability symposium are among the other events
Art fairs
Singapore has steadily built its reputation as Southeast Asia’s hub for contemporary art. Due to its strategic location, business-friendly environment, and government support for the arts, the city-state attracts artists, collectors, and investors from everywhere. Through its art fairs, SAW brings together galleries, curators, and artists, giving collectors a chance to see a wide range of artworks and build meaningful relationships.
Art SG 2024 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre from Jan 19 to 21 is Southeast Asia’s leading international art fair. Launched in January 2023, it was hailed as the beginning of a new chapter for the art scene in Singapore. This coming January, as part of Singapore Art Week, it will again play a critical role in connecting Southeast Asia to the global art world and spotlights exceptional contemporary art alongside dynamic large-scale installations, curated talks, and film programmes.
S.E.A. Focus 2024, a homegrown leading platform for Southeast Asian contemporary art, will also return for its sixth edition from Jan 20 to 28 to showcase the finest established and emerging artistic talents from the region.
Find out more about the full SAW line-up, participating artists, and events at www.artweek.sg.
