Exhibitions at Singapore Art Week 2019
Image adapted from: Singapore Art Week
Singapore Art Week (SAW): the one week where the whole Singapore comes together to appreciate art. Art critics and regular Singaporeans alike will thoroughly enjoy SAW’s solid lineup of over 100 visual art events and activities.
It’s just for 9 days (19 to 27 Jan) but it’s happening across all of Singapore’s nooks and crannies – some even in familiar spaces we all know and love. Little India, the Civic District, even Sim Lim Square? That’s where we’ll be for this year’s Singapore Art Week.
Light to Night Festival – Singapore’s biggest light facade show
Image credit: Singapore Art Week
Lounging at home in sweatpants and watching reruns of your favourite TV sitcom might pass for an enjoyable weekend, but eh…it’s completely and utterly predictable. With the Light to Night Festival 2019: Traces and Echoes running across 2 weekends, it’s sure to add some pizzazz to your usual routine.
There’ll also be a mini-fair setup with food and craft stalls at the Empress Lawn and Connaught Drive.
Image credit: @melxgoh
Unique outdoor installations, a Sensorial Trail, and Singapore’s biggest light facade show? Yep, we’ll be there.
To best admire these lit-up facades, follow the trail of Art Skins that light up the facades of the Civic District’s key monuments – the trail is aptly termed after the epic journey of The Odyssey. It’ll wind through iconic buildings like National Gallery Singapore and Asian Civilisations Museum.
Light to Night Festival 2019: Traces and Echoes
When: 18 Jan to 24 Feb 2019
Where: Various venues around the Civic District
Admission: Free
Find more details about Light to Night Festival 2019: Traces and Echoes.
Art After Dark – art exhibitions & live music
Image credit: Singapore Art Week
When the sun goes down and street lights flicker on, an inevitable shift comes over Singapore. We may already have an edgy nightlife scene but Gillman Barracks’ creatively-coined Art After Dark lets us see art under a whole new light – or rather, the lack of.
Art exhibitions and pop-up stalls are some things you can expect at this 1-night only open house event, along with live music performances from the likes of Vandetta and MAS1A. There’ll also be F&B offerings by Hopscotch, Super Simple, and The 1925.
Make sure to visit S.E.A. Focus too, a homegrown boutique art fair that’ll be featuring artworks from 25 international and regional galleries, all with a focus on emerging Southeast Asia artists.
Art After Dark
When: 7PM to Late, 25 Jan 2019
Where: Various venues in Gillman Barracks
Admission: Free
S.E.A. Focus
When: 24 to 27 January 2019
Where: Gillman Barracks
Admission: Free
Find out more about Art After Dark 2019.
Art Week at SAM – outdoor movie screening, community carnival, & art market
Art Week at SAM offers everyday moments where we can consciously appreciate art – from an outdoor movie screening of The Greatest Showman to a community carnival that has a life-sized board game. There’s also an art market where you can pick up unique art trinkets and handicraft items.
Debbie Ding’s Soil Works is one of the 5 exhibits of President’s Young Talents.
They’ve got extended opening hours on certain days too – till 10PM – so make some time for the President’s Young Talents exhibition. It’s free for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents
Art Week at SAM
When: 18 to 27 Jan 2019
Where: SAM at 8Q (8 Queen Street, Singapore 188535)
Admission: Free
Late-nights till 10PM: 18, 19, 25 & 26 Jan 2019
Find out more about Art Week at SAM.
ARTWALK Little India – art murals & performances
Working Class Hero was part of ARTWALK Little India 2017.
Image credit: @mienlaza
Little India is a jumble of contrasts: it’s modern with quaint shophouses, hectic with people working diligently at their everyday jobs. As a guided art trail through the turns and curves of Little India, ARTWALK Little India rightfully showcases all that.
While the walk draws attention to the vibrant wall murals, you can’t help but notice the colourful surroundings and everyday intricacies – things you wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. All wall murals are done by students of LASALLE. There’ll also be a storytelling session by Kamini Ramachandran, performances by Jyotika Joshi, and an exhibition at UltraSuperNew Gallery.
ARTWALK Little India
When: 18 Jan to 2 Feb 2019
Where: Various outdoor locations in Little India Precinct
Exhibition: UltraSuperNew Gallery, 107 Rowell Road, Singapore 208031
Admission: Free
Find out more about ARTWALK Little India.
State of Motion 2019: A Fear of Monsters – “Monsters” in art & film
Image credit: Singapore Art Week
This exhibition is one for the horror film buff – State of Motion 2019: A Fear of Monsters is all about Southeast Asia’s history with Pontianak, Oily Man, and the like. It comes as a warning that “audiences should be very afraid”, but if you can easily quell the fear, you’ll be pondering over the social construct of monsters in Asian culture.
It’s part art exhibition and part film history exhibition, with guided tours around on certain days.
State of Motion 2019
When: Various locations around Bras Basah and Bugis
Where: Film History Exhibition (23 Jan to 24 Feb 2019), Contemporary Arts Exhibition (25 Jan to 17 Feb 2019)
Admission: Tours are ticketed (buy tickets here)
Find out more about State of Motion 2019: A Fear of Monsters.
< > Sim Lim Square Art Residency – shopping centre exhibition
Image credit: Singapore Art Week
There’s no other one-stop tech mall we frequent as much as Sim Lim Square, and now even more so, since they’re hosting various artists for the 3-week Sim Lim Square Art Residency. As one of Singapore’s tech hubs – so often frequented by troupes of tourists – it’s one of the least likely spaces we expected to encounter art!
But it’s all about the intertwined relationship between art and technology here, with artists exploring Sim Lim Square’s diverse communities and resources.
Artist presentations, panel sessions, and guided tours are just some of what this residency experience will be showcasing. There’ll also be Open Studios where you can walk in to see what the artists are working on.
Sim Lim Square Art Residency
When: 7 to 27 Jan 2019
Where: Sim Lim Square, 1 Rochor Canal Road, #06-53/31, Singapore 188504
Admission: Free
Find out more about Sim Lim Square Art Residency.
Home(work) at National Design Centre – sculptures, drawings, & art workshop
Image credit: Singapore Art Week
Domestic chores and housework isn’t something we look forward to – we’d much rather give a cursory sweep, mop, and vacuum before proclaiming ourselves as “all done!” with a satisfying nap on the couch. But Home(work), an exhibition at National Design Centre, gives household chores a whole new meaning.
By looking at domestic labour through a macro lens, Home(work) positions sweeping and mopping as more than tedious household chores. Instead, such actions can also take on an artistic form – sweeping as similar to the motions of drawing.
Home(work)
When: 19 to 27 Jan 2019
Where: National Design Centre, 111 Middle Road, Singapore 188969
Admission: Free
Find out more about Home(work).
Lucy Liu and Shubigi Rao: Unhomed Belongings – visual art exhibition
Hollywood star Lucy Liu and Singaporean artist Shubigi Rao have bonded over art – who’d have thought this Charlie’s Angel would be working so closely with one of of our own leading artists? There’s plenty of common ground between Liu and Rao, with both sharing an interest in cultures, histories, and identities. It certainly shows in their art too, which often features repurposed objects.
One of the key artworks featured is Lost & Found, which features an array of discarded objects that Liu had picked up on her many travels. They’re all quirkily hidden within 200 handmade books – feel free to open these books to closely examine the objects.
Lucy Liu and Shubigi Rao: Unhomed Belongings
When: 12 Jan to 24 Feb 2019
Where: National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road, Singapore 178897
Admission: Free
Find out more about Lucy Liu and Shubigi Rao: Unhomed Belongings.
Memories of Singapore River – outdoor sketching & documentary screening
There’s a long history behind the Singapore River – just a mere 20 or so years ago, the rumbling sound of bumboats and yells of labourers would fill the air. But it’s hard to imagine all that now, when we see the tranquil waters and CBD workers dining alfresco.
Memories of Singapore River is a Mandarin documentary – with English subtitles – that transports us back to simpler times. Relive the hustle and bustle of life along the Singapore River through the eyes of renowned painters like Lim Tze Peng, Low Puay Hua, and Tan Choh Tee. There’ll also be an exhibition held at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore (Memories of Singapore River: Paintings by Local Artists) and sketch sessions by the Singapore River.
Memories of Singapore River
Hourly screenings at Asian Civilisations Museum: 19 Jan (4PM-6PM), 20 & 27 Jan (11AM-6PM), 25 & 26 Jan (2PM-9PM), 1 & 2 Feb (2PM-9PM)
Hourly screenings onboard Singapore River Cruise: 19 to 20, 23, 25 to 26 (7PM-9PM)
Where: Asian Civilisations Museum (Film Screenings) and The Fullerton Hotel (Exhibition)
Admission: Free for Asian Civilisations Museum screenings, ticketed for Singapore River Cruise
Find out more about Memories of Singapore River.
Things to do at Singapore Art Week 2019
From 19 to 27 January 2019, it’ll be 9 full days of nothing but art during the massive art takeover of Singapore Art Week 2019. Since there’s a lineup of more than 100 activities, it’ll be near impossible to cram every art exhibition, film screening, or hands-on workshop in – but at least you’ll have fun trying!
Use their interactive map to view the full list of Singapore Art Week 2019 activities.
Find out more about Singapore Art Week 2019 here!
This post was brought to you by Singapore Art Week.
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