Singapore Art Week to mark 15 years by taking art to streets
A visitor browses a museum during Singapore Art Week 2026. Courtesy of ART SG
Southeast Asia moves into spotlight as city-state assumes ASEAN chairmanship in 2027
A poster for Singapore Art Week 2027, which will run from Jan. 21 to 31 / Courtesy of National Arts Council
SINGAPORE — For 11 days next January, art in Singapore will spill out of its museums and galleries. It will light up the facade of a skyscraper in the financial district, fill the historic Padang green, ride a bus through residential neighborhoods and greet commuters at 10 subway stations.
That citywide takeover sits at the heart of Singapore Art Week (SAW) 2027, which will mark its 15th edition from Jan. 21 to 31. With Singapore expected to take on the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in a year that also marks the bloc’s 60th anniversary, this edition will put Southeast Asian art and its creative ties across the region front and center.
SAW is organized by the National Arts Council (NAC), a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth that champions the arts in Singapore, with support from the Singapore Tourism Board. Launched in 2013 with just over 50 events, the annual season has since grown into the country’s most prominent visual arts event, now spanning more than 100 programs across museums, galleries, independent art spaces and public spaces.
“Over the years, SAW has grown alongside our visual arts scene, becoming more than a celebration of artistic talent,” Tay Tong, director of the NAC’s Arts Ecosystem Group (Visual Arts), said in a press release Wednesday.
“It is a space where artists and audiences meet, where unexpected encounters with art spark curiosity, inspire new perspectives and create meaningful connections.”
Artist Yanyun Chen in her studio in 2026. Chen will present “Mother Earth, Mother Bunker,” her new exhibition during the upcoming Singapore Art Week 2027. Courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf
Tay said Art Week has become more outward-looking as artistic practices in Singapore have diversified, bringing together voices from the city-state, Southeast Asia and beyond.
With the ASEAN chairmanship, he added, “this spirit of regional connection takes on added significance.”
Speaking at a media engagement event for SAW 2027 on Wednesday, Tay said Singapore’s role is not to speak for Southeast Asia, a region he described as “far too diverse, very complex and, of course, very interesting for that.”
“But perhaps Singapore can be a place that brings different perspectives into conversations, a place where artists, creators and audiences encounter one another,” he said. “Not simply a destination for art, but a place from which art, ideas and relationships can travel.”
Looking back on previous editions, Tay said it would be easy to point to more programs, more visitors and more partnerships.
“But perhaps maturity isn’t simply about becoming bigger,” he said. “Perhaps it is about relationships becoming deeper and lasting longer.”
A visitor looks around a presentation by Singapore art collective Post Museum during Singapore Art Week 2026. Courtesy of Post Museum
Region in focus
The regional theme will be hard to miss. “ASEAN-Unite at UOB Plaza,” a new projection project, will turn the downtown towers into a canvas for works by artists from across the bloc. “Entry Point: Everywhere, Already” gathers more than 100 works by 22 emerging artists from all ASEAN member states, many of them working outside the region’s major capitals.
Singaporean artist Amanda Heng, meanwhile, brings “A Pause” home to the Singapore Art Museum after presenting it at the 61st Venice Biennale.
Much of the program is designed to meet audiences where they already are.
“Expanded Horizons” places horizon-inspired artworks across 10 MRT stations. A mobile art bus showing works by artists with and without disabilities will stop across cultural precincts, residential heartlands and the central business district.
For the first time, up to 40 Singaporean artists will open their studios to the public.
The commercial side of the scene will be on display too. ART SG, which launched in 2023 and bills itself as Southeast Asia’s global contemporary art fair, returns for its fifth edition at Marina Bay Sands from Jan. 22 to 24, while the NAC-commissioned S.E.A. Focus marks its ninth edition.