Narrating the City: Art, Memory, and Exchange at Singapore Art Week
Establishing itself as an epicentre of global art, Singapore transforms its city into a living canvas for both local and international audiences through a week-long programme known as Singapore Art Week (SAW). Taking place from January 23rd to January 31st, the festival presents a dense constellation of exhibitions, performances, and experimental platforms that colour the city with diverse artistic expressions. These initiatives not only energise Singapore’s cultural landscape but also strengthen its appeal as both an international destination and an increasingly significant art market. As Guo Teyi, Director of Singapore Tourism Board Leisure Events, notes, “SAW’s growing scale and reach reinforces Singapore’s position as a vibrant destination to discover international and Southeast Asian art. Art collectors, cultural enthusiasts, and visitors come not just for the programming, but to also experience Singapore’s unique blend of artistic innovation and cosmopolitan lifestyle.”
Amid its promise to spotlight Southeast Asian artists, SAW raises critical questions surrounding what constitutes a truly Southeast Asian collaboration. What themes define the region, and who is included — or excluded — in shaping Southeast Asian artistic production? One of the major showcases addressing these questions is the Southeast Asian staging of Wan Hai Hotel: Singapore Strait (translated as Circumventing the Sea), which transforms the lobby of the Warehouse Hotel, a restored heritage property. Presented by ART SG in collaboration with Shanghai’s Rockbund Art Museum and curated by X Zhu-Nowell, the exhibition features an exclusive roster of Southeast Asian artists. Through its site-specific approach, it dissolves the boundaries between exhibition space and hospitality, embedding contemporary art within the historical and commercial narratives of Singapore’s maritime past.
Offering a distinct curatorial perspective, Isang Dipang Langit: Fragments of Memory, Fields of Now foregrounds contemporary Filipino artists whose practices are rooted in memory, place, identity, and chapalang: a Filipino term translating loosely to “hodgepodge.” Co-curated by Gunalan Nadarajan and Roopesh Sitharan and commissioned by the National Arts Council (NAC), the presentation delves into the intersections of art and technology, examining how Southeast Asian artists navigate hybridity, displacement, and digital futures through speculative and experimental forms.
“Singapore Art Week is more than just a celebration of art, it is a testament to the transformative power of creativity that connects people, ignites discourse, and shapes exciting new possibilities,” remarks Tay Tong, Director of the Arts Ecosystem Group at NAC. This ethos of collaboration is palpable across SAW’s programming. Projects such as Ground Loops, part of the SAW Open Call, exemplify this spirit through a partnership between Singapore-based research lab Feelers and New York’s School for Poetic Computation. Bringing together artists from Singapore and New York, the project frames technology not merely as a tool, but as a shared language for contemporary artistic inquiry. Similarly, Reworlding, curated by Debby Ding, continues this technological discourse by tracing the history of virtual reality through the practices of female contemporary artists across Asia, foregrounding alternative genealogies of digital art.
Collectively, the breadth of programmes materialises SAW’s commitment to cosmopolitanism, diversity, and multiculturalism not as abstract ideals, but as lived practices embedded within curatorial strategies and cross-border collaborations. Rather than presenting Southeast Asia as a singular or static identity, SAW platforms fragmented, contested, and evolving narratives that reflect the region’s complexities. In doing so, it positions Singapore not only as a host city, but as a critical mediator: one that facilitates dialogue between local specificity and global exchange, and between tradition and technological futurity. Through these layered encounters, Singapore Art Week reaffirms art’s capacity to imagine new cultural futures while remaining grounded in the realities of place, history, and community.
