Singapore, 26 October 2023 – Singapore Art Week (SAW) returns from 19 to 28 January 2024. Art Takes Over Singapore with over 130 visual arts experiences across the island, from the heartlands to the urban core. Now in its 12th edition, SAW is the longest running art week in the region. Art enthusiasts and collectors from around the world are invited to learn about Singapore’s diverse arts scene while discovering new perspectives towards art made in Southeast Asia.
Organised by the National Arts Council (NAC) and supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), audiences can look forward to a showcase of Singapore’s visual art all in one place. There is something for everyone, from international art fairs and quality museum exhibitions to world-class private collections and gallery openings, street art, brand activations, as well as exciting lifestyle and community art activities across the island. SAW 2024 will redefine what the visual arts is and can be for Singapore and the region, bringing people of all ages and backgrounds even closer to art and artmaking.
Ms Lynette Pang, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of NAC said, “SAW is Singapore’s pinnacle visual arts season and an important moment for Singapore’s fast-growing arts scene to take centre stage. For the Singapore and global arts community, SAW presents innovative programmes and exhibitions across different mediums to spark conversations and artistic exchanges. Local and international audiences can look forward to a wide range of art experiences and activities from the city centre to the heartlands that is reflective of our distinctive and vibrant arts scene and culture. We invite everyone to engage with and be inspired by the creative expressions at SAW 2024.”
Singapore art takes centre stage
SAW 2024 celebrates Singapore’s art history while illuminating fresh and creative intersections in the arts through its Open Call Projects and presentations by Singapore’s cultural institutions. The public can look forward to multimodal presentations that seek to address conversations about what it means to live in and be a part of the world today. Highlights include:
- Indonesia-born Singaporean contemporary artist Boedi Widjaja’s Immortal Words designed in collaboration with geneticist Associate Professor Eric Yap playfully illustrates the intricate connections between art and science. Besides new and existing artworks that will be on exhibition, words of oral and written tradition from Southeast Asian languages and beyond will be encoded in DNA, with vials of DNA-encoded ink dispensed through gachapon[1] machines for visitors to take home.
- Open studio sessions where established Singapore artists will showcase new works. Audiences will be given exclusive access to artists that have shaped Singapore’s visual art history, through open studios, presentations and talks. This includes pioneers such as modern artist Teo Eng Seng, poet and calligrapher Tan Swie Hian.
- One of the marquee events of SAW and an annual highlight in the Singapore cultural calendar – Light to Night Singapore 2024 will illuminate the Civic District with a series of immersive projections, art installations, and engaging programmes in response to the theme “Reimagine”. Light to Night Singapore is organised by the National Gallery Singapore, in collaboration with five of the Civic District’s most iconic cultural institutions: Asian Civilisations Museum, The Arts House, Victoria Theatre & Victoria Concert Hall, and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. Also 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. Spanning the 20th century, the exhibition will feature over 200 artworks and 70 artists, including iconic artists such as Latiff Mohidin, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and traces how the artists challenged conventions and fostered solidarities.
- Casting a spotlight on Singapore talents, Singapore Art Museum (SAM) will present Ho Tzu Nyen: Time & the Tiger, the first mid-career survey exhibition of the acclaimed Singaporean artist’s practice, spanning two decades worth of paintings, films, theatrical performances, and video installations. Co-organised with Art Sonje Center, Seoul, the exhibition will feature a new commission, T for Time, a two-channel video installation that reflects on the embodied and heterogeneous experiences of time. SAM will also present Simryn Gill and Charles Lim Yi Yong: The Sea is a Field, featuring a collaboration between SAM curators and artists as they chronicle the space that separates the artists’ homes between Port Dickson and Singapore. All three artists have participated in numerous institutional and international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, with Ho and Lim representing Singapore in 2011 and 2015 respectively.
Arts aficionados can look forward to the unveiling of more private collections during SAW 2024, through showcases such as The Pierre Lorinet Collection and a group exhibition by The Private Museum that features notable Singaporean pioneers such as the late performance artist Lee Wen and contemporary mixed media visual artist Vincent Leow.
Bringing together the best of Southeast Asian visual art
With Singapore as an arts hub in Southeast Asia, SAW 2024 is a pivotal meeting point for Singaporean, regional and international artists, curators, collectors, and audiences. The upcoming edition will feature new programmes and collaborations, as well as the return of international platforms.
For the first time, NAC is collaborating with Hyundai Artlab’s VH AWARD to bring the The 5th VH AWARD exhibition to Singapore. The VH AWARD is Asia’s leading award platform that aims to support emerging media artists from Asia since 2016. Curated by Objectifs, the inaugural exhibition in Southeast Asia shines a spotlight on works by international artists and filmmakers engaged with the context of Asia and its future who have pushed beyond the boundaries of art and technology. Visitors can expect to view works by the Grand Prix recipient, Subash Thebe Limbu, and four other finalists Zike He, Riar Rizaldi, zzyw, and Su Hui-Yu. The exhibition will travel to Museum MACAN in Jakarta, Indonesia following its Singapore presentation.
At Gillman Barracks, The Institutum will present Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics curated by Dr Zoé Whitley of London’s Chisenhale Gallery. This is the first-ever exhibition in Singapore that explores works from private collections of prominent modern and contemporary artists from across the African and Asian diasporas. In addition to multidisciplinary Singaporean artist Robert Zhao Renhui, who will represent Singapore at the 60th Biennale Arte, the exhibition features artists such as British Afro-Caribbean artist and educator Sonia Boyce, who won the Golden Lion Prize when she represented Britain at the Biennale Arte 2022 in Venice; and film artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Vietnam) and sculptor and installation artist Do Ho Suh (South Korea), whose works have been presented and acquired all over the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
ART SG, the leading international art fair for Singapore and Southeast Asia, announces its second edition and return to Singapore from 19 to 21 January 2024, with an exceptional line up of regional and global exhibitors, alongside an ambitious programme of large-scale installations and insightful conversations.
S.E.A. Focus, the homegrown leading platform for Southeast Asian contemporary art, will also return for its sixth edition from 20 to 28 January 2024 to showcase the finest established and emerging artistic talents from the region. Commercial galleries across Singapore will be presenting new exhibitions by artists from around the world, and visitors can also look forward to presentations featuring renowned artists at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands.
Mr Yap Chin Siang, Deputy Chief Executive, STB said, “SAW 2024 will see the city come alive with innovative art experiences by different artists, institutions, fairs and curators showcasing the best of the visual arts, as well as lifestyle offerings that further enliven this dynamic arts season. Events during this season such as Light to Night Festival, ART SG and S.E.A. Focus strengthen Singapore’s reputation as a regional arts hub and reinforces our position as a compelling leisure destination. We invite international visitors and locals to be part of this vibrant arts season in January and be inspired by the diverse range of arts experiences in many different locations around Singapore.”
More information on the participating artists can be found in the Annex, with further details on SAW 2024 revealed closer to date. For the latest updates, visit https://www.artweek.sg/ and follow @sgartweek on Facebook, Instagram and Telegram.
For media enquiries, kindly contact:
|
Foo Shi Min Associate Tate Anzur DID: +65 9383 7173 Email: SAWPRteam@tateanzur.com |
Faith Leong Manager, Strategic Communications & Marketing National Arts Council DID: +65 6346 9424 / 9173 0246 Email: Faith_LEONG@nac.gov.sg |
[1] Vending machine-dispensed capsule toys that originated in Japan in the 1960s.
ANNEX
Additional Information on Artists and Arts Practitioners involved in SAW 2024
Notes:
- This is not an exhaustive list and serves as a first look at the range of artists and arts practitioners to be expected at SAW 2024.
- The Cultural Medallion and Young Artist Award are pinnacle awards that recognise exemplary Singaporean artists for their distinctive bodies of work, artistic excellence and their contributions to the development of Singapore’s diverse arts and cultural landscape.
- The Cultural Medallion is Singapore’s highest arts accolade, honouring individuals whose artistic excellence, contribution and commitment have enriched and distinguished Singapore’s arts and culture scene.
- The Young Artist Award is Singapore’s highest award for young arts practitioners, aged 35 and below, whose artistic achievements and commitment have distinguished them from their peers. It encourages young practitioners to continue pursuing excellence in the arts and to inspire others.
|
Artists and Arts Practitioners |
|
|
Name |
Write-Up |
|
Boedi Widjaja |
Boedi Widjaja's practice contemplates on house, home and homeland through long-running, interdisciplinary series developed in parallel. His approach is often autobiographical and oblique. Drawing as method is a defining element in his practice; expressed through diverse media from experimental photography and architectural installations to bio art and live art, with an emphasis on process and bodily engagement. Widjaja received the inaugural QAGOMA and Singapore Art Museum co-commission for his Black–Hut series, presented at the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial (2018-19) and the 6th Singapore Biennale (2019-20). His works have been included in international group shows such as Cladogram: KMA’s 2nd International Juried Biennial (2021), Katonah Museum of Art, New York, in which he was awarded First Prize; MAP1: Waterways (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, 57th Venice Biennale; Jerusalem Biennale (2017); Yinchuan Biennale (2016); From east to the Barbican (2015), Barbican, London; Infinity in flux (2015), ArtJog, Indonesia; and Bains Numériques #7 (2012), Enghien-les-Bains, France amongst others. |
|
Charles Lim |
Charles Lim Yi Yong studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London. A former competitive sailor, Lim's practice stems from his bodily engagement with the natural world, mediated and informed by field research and experimentations with various media. Since 2005, he has developed a body of work entitled SEA STATE that explores Singapore's political, biophysical and psychic contours through the visible and invisible lenses of the sea. Lim has participated in numerous institutional and international exhibitions, including Documenta 11 (2002), Manifesta 7 (2008), Shanghai Biennale (2008) and Singapore Biennale (2011). |
|
Ho Tzu Nyen Young Artist Award (2009) |
Drawing from historical events, documentary footage, art history, music videos, and mythical stories, Ho Tzu Nyen's films and video installations investigate the construction of history, myths and the plurality of identities. Since 2012, Ho's The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia has framed many of his projects and installations. Ho is one of the most internationally recognised contemporary artists from Singapore, having represented the Singapore Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011). His works have been collected internationally by institutions including The Guggenheim, Tate Modern, Gwangju Biennale Foundation, and Singapore Art Museum. |
|
Simryn Gill |
Simryn Gill was born in Singapore, raised in Malaysia, and educated in India and the United Kingdom. Gill is a tinkerer, altering mundane objects and sites with poetically critical sleight of hand. Gill has had numerous solo exhibitions, including at Art Gallery of New South Wales (2002); Tate Modern (2006); and Lund Konsthalle (2017). Notable group exhibitions include the Singapore Biennial (2006); Documenta (2007, 2012); Istanbul Biennial (2011); Venice Biennale (2013); Dhaka Art Summit (2018); and Sydney Biennale (2018). Gill lives and works in Sydney and Port Dickson, Malaysia. |
|
Tan Swie Hian Cultural Medallion (1987) |
Born 1943 in Indonesia, brought up and educated in Singapore, Tan Swie Hian graduated from the Department of Modern Languages and Literature, Nanyang University, Singapore, in 1968. A cultural icon, he has authored 66 publications of various genres, held 26 solo shows worldwide and won 30 national and international accolades, including The Meritorious Service Medal, The Cultural Medallion (Singapore), Gold Medal of Salon des Artistes Français, Member-Correspondent of l’Institut de France, Officier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur (France), Gold Medal of Korea-Japan World Cup International Calligraphy Exhibition (Korea), Marin Sorescu International Poetry Prize (Romania), First Honorary Citizen of Huangling County where the Yellow Emperor Mausoleum is located (China), and The Davos Crystal Award (Switzerland), The inaugural World Chinese Art Golden Brush Award by Rodin International Artists Foundation (USA 2023). Tan Swie Hian is the top-grossing living artist in Southeast Asia. |
|
Teo Eng Seng (Singapore)
Cultural Medallion (1986) |
In 1986, Teo Eng Seng was awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore’s highest Art award by the Singapore Government. Currently, the National Gallery Singapore is organising his solo exhibition for 2024. This is the highest honour for any artist. Eng Seng is a well-respected artist and Art educator. He was conferred the International Order of Merit (IOM) in 1999, IBC Cambridge (England). |