Korean artists, curators expand footprint at Singapore Art Week 2026

An installation view of "Whispers of Summer Forests," marking Korean painter Whee’s first solo exhibition in Singapore, presented at The Columns Gallery Singapore at Gillman Barracks / Courtesy of The Columns Gallery

SINGAPORE — From a resort ballroom on Sentosa Island to a former port warehouse at Tanjong Pagar, Korean artists and curators are appearing across Singapore Art Week (SAW) 2026, reflecting their growing involvement in Southeast Asia’s contemporary art platforms.

Organized annually by Singapore’s National Arts Council, SAW is one of the region’s largest contemporary art events, bringing together exhibitions, performances and art fairs across the city each January. The week draws international curators, collectors and institutions and runs alongside the region’s leading art fair, ART SG, as well as S.E.A. Focus, a curated platform dedicated to Southeast Asian contemporary art.

This year, Korean participation appears across several official programs of SAW, spanning a group exhibition, a solo gallery show and large-scale public exhibitions. Rather than forming a single national showcase, these projects are distributed across different sites and formats, highlighting how Korean artists and galleries are engaging with Singapore’s role as a regional art hub.

One of the most visible Korean-linked exhibitions on the SAW calendar is "Moment & Face," presented at the Equarius Hotel Ballroom at Resorts World Sentosa until Jan. 30. Organized by Pitch by Pitch, the exhibition is supported by the Singapore Tourism Board and Resorts World Sentosa and takes place outside the city’s established gallery districts.

The group show brings together six Korean artists — actor-painter Ha Ji-won alongside Kim Ji-hoon, Nam Sang-woon, Eellos, JAY FLOW and REGO. By situating a Korean contemporary art exhibition within a resort complex rather than a museum or a gallery, the project reflects SAW’s broader effort to extend contemporary art into high-traffic, non-institutional spaces.

Clockwise from top left are Ha Ji-won, JAY FLOW, Nam Sang-woon, Eellos, Kim Ji-hoon and REGO, artists participating in the "Moment & Face" exhibition presented during Singapore Art Week 2026. Courtesy of Singapore Tourism Board

A more institutionally embedded presence can be found at Gillman Barracks, Singapore’s contemporary gallery cluster. There, The Columns Gallery Singapore is presenting "Whispers of Summer Forests: A Solo Exhibition by Whee." The exhibition, running through Feb. 28, marks Korean painter Whee’s first solo exhibition in the Lion City. The show introduces a series of abstract paintings inspired by landscapes and travel, situating Whee’s work within Gillman Barracks’ network of international galleries.

The Columns Gallery’s involvement in SAW continues at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, where "Isang Dipang Langit: Fragments of Memory, Fields of Now" is presented as part of the event’s public and urban programming.

Curated by Chang Dong-jo, founder of The Columns Gallery, the large-scale exhibition brings together 10 Philippine contemporary artists working across painting, sculpture, installation and performance.

Through an exclusive interview, Chang told The Korea Times that the exhibition was conceived with SAW’s international and regional audience in mind.

“SAW is a moment when international and regional audiences come together, so it felt like the right time to foreground Filipino artists whose practices move between local histories and global circuits,” he said. While Philippine artists have gained visibility in biennales and fairs in recent years, he noted that opportunities to encounter their works together in depth remain limited.

The exhibition takes its title from the phrase “isang dipang langit,” meaning “a sliver of sky” in Tagalog, which Chang uses as a framework to explore memory, displacement and resilience within a broader Southeast Asian context. Chang emphasized that the themes of the exhibition resonate beyond a single national context.

“This ‘sliver of sky’ is not only about the Philippines,” he said. “Issues such as migration, labor and urban life are shared experiences across the region.”

An installation view of "Isang Dipang Langit: Fragments of Memory, Fields of Now," a large-scale exhibition presented at Tanjong Pagar Distripark as part of Singapore Art Week 2026 / Courtesy of The Columns Gallery

Nearby at Artspace @ Helutrans within the Tanjong Pagar Distripark area, the 6th VH AWARD is being presented during SAW, featuring newly commissioned works by five finalists, including Korean artist Yeom In-hwa. Positioned within SAW’s official program, the exhibition brings technology-based media works into the same circuit as the week’s large-scale public exhibitions.

The work presented, "War Dance" (2025), extends Yeom’s long-standing interest in how personal experience intersects with larger systems. Addressing issues ranging from reproduction and family structures to migration and invisible labor, the artist described the project as an attempt to make visible what is often overlooked.

“The work speaks to the hidden infrastructures that shape Asian womxn’s lives,” Yeom told The Korea Times, adding that presenting it in Singapore, a city defined by transnational flows of labor and care, sharpened its urgency.

Commissioned for the VH AWARD, "War Dance" also marks an expansion of Yeom’s use of generative AI.

“The goal is not to observe the performers, but to perform with them,” Yeom said, using digitally rendered, deliberately resistant figures to question assumptions about gender, bodies and the systems that govern them.

The trajectory continues at ART SG, Southeast Asia’s leading international art fair held from Thursday to Sunday at Marina Bay Sands, where the focus shifts from exhibition-making to the art market. The Columns Gallery is participating in the fair’s Focus Digital sector, extending its SAW presence into a collector-facing context.

Busan-based gallery LEE & BAE is also taking part in ART SG, underscoring how Korean galleries beyond Seoul are using Singapore as a point of entry into Southeast Asian markets.

Chang, who both founded the gallery and organized the exhibit, said occupying both roles during the SAW makes the relationship between exhibitions and the market especially clear.

“As a curator, the responsibility is to create a framework that does justice to the artists,” he said. “As a gallery founder, there is also the practical side of thinking about how works circulate after the exhibition or fair.”