Singapore Art Week opens as forums, museums, public art take over city

Visitors attend S.E.A. Focus 2026 during Singapore Art Week at Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore. Captured from Instagram

SINGAPORE — Singapore Art Week (SAW) 2026 officially kicked off on Wednesday with a full day of forums, exhibition previews and an opening party at the National Gallery Singapore, setting in motion a 10-day visual arts season.

Organized by Singapore’s National Arts Council, SAW unites museums, galleries, art fairs and public art projects across the country. Now in its 14th year, the event runs through Jan. 31 and features more than 100 exhibitions, talks, performances and programs, highlighting the its role as one of Southeast Asia’s key hubs for contemporary art and regional exchange.

The opening day began in the auditorium of the National Gallery Singapore with Singapore Art Week Forum 2026, the event’s main conference platform. Under the theme “FORCE•FIELDS,” this year’s edition focused on the systems that shape contemporary artistic practice, from institutional frameworks to broader social and political forces.

British art historian Claire Bishop of the City University of New York Graduate Center, right, speaks during the Singapore Art Week Forum 2026 at the National Gallery Singapore, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Pyo Kyung-min

At the opening session, Singaporean Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Baey Yam Keng urged the audience to rethink the phrase “force field.” In the context of art, he said, it describes the “often unseen systems” that shape where and how artists live and work. Artists are “not passive observers” of those forces, Baey added, and their work can strengthen trust and understanding across communities.

“By overcoming the force fields that divide us and breaking down the barriers between us, art can strengthen the glue that holds our societies together,” Baey said.

The forum’s keynote was delivered by British art historian Claire Bishop of the City University of New York Graduate Center, who spoke passionately to a packed auditorium.

Bishop introduced what she described as an “ancestral avant-garde,” examining how artists engage with intergenerational knowledge in a time of global crises. While acknowledging the complexities of cultural borrowing, she questioned rigid notions of cultural purity, arguing that shared challenges demand broader forms of listening and responsibility.

Visitors explore booths at ART SG, Singapore’s international art fair, during Singapore Art Week at Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore. Captured from Instagram

Can’t-miss shows

As discussions wrapped up, attention shifted from the forum to the exhibitions that will anchor the week.

At the National Gallery Singapore, guests previewed “Fear No Power: Women Imagining Otherwise,” a major exhibition bringing together works by five Southeast Asian women artists. The show examines how women artists in the region have confronted power, resistance and hope, echoing many of the questions raised earlier in the day.

In another wing of the museum, visitors also were given a peek at “Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,” billed as the largest presentation of French Impressionist works ever shown in Southeast Asia.

The program then moved deeper into the city. At STPI, a media preview introduced “The Print Show Singapore,” a program centered on printmaking and hands-on production. Its emphasis on process and material offered a quieter counterpoint to the busy art fairs set to open later in the week.

As daylight faded, the atmosphere shifted sharply. The National Gallery Singapore, usually defined by its calm and measured pace, took on a completely different color during the official opening reception.

Electronic music filtered through the halls as conversations spilled across indoor and outdoor spaces, making the museum feel less like a formal, intellectual space and more like a fun social hub. Artists, curators, collectors and visiting art professionals moved freely between galleries, turning the space into a place of spontaneous encounter rather than its usual quiet setting.

Beyond the opening day festivities, the week ahead is designed to move people across the city through distinct zones of attention.

Visitors view illuminated installations projected onto the National Gallery Singapore during the Light to Night Singapore festival, as part of Singapore Art Week in Singapore’s Civic District. Captured from Instagram

One focus of the week is the museum circuit. Alongside the National Gallery Singapore, the Singapore Art Museum continues its “Material Intelligence” series with an exhibition featuring Indonesian artists Elia Nurvista and Bagus Pandega. The show looks at food, ecology and the environment, pairing Nurvista’s research-driven work with Pandega’s kinetic installations that respond to plant data.

ArtScience Museum will showcase an exhibition by contemporary artist Lawrence Lek that examines entanglements between humans and machines.

Another pillar of the week is the fair and market program, where international galleries meet regional artists and collectors. ART SG and S.E.A. Focus anchor that side of the calendar, with S.E.A. Focus spotlighting contemporary art from Southeast Asia alongside the larger international fair. Auctions and collector previews add to the commercial aspect of the week.

Public programs form a third strand of activity. Light to Night Singapore, a National Gallery festival known for large-scale projections and installations, turns the Civic District into a nighttime art destination.

Running alongside Art Week, the Singapore Biennale extends the program beyond museums and fairs, placing artworks in everyday spaces across multiple neighborhoods.