The twelfth edition of Southeast Asia's largest celebration of arts and culture returns this year, as Singapore Art Week 2024 sees over 150 art events pop up across the island.
Made possible by the National Arts Council, the annual week-long event is extended for an additional two days, running from Jan. 19 until Jan. 28, to give enough time for people to visit the scores of exhibitions spanning the country.
However, ClassicaLite is here to steer you away from the crowds as we recommend five notable art events to experience outside the mainstream shows right below.
ARTWALK Festival
Synonymous with the country's week of rejoicing art is the multidisciplinary arts festival called ARTWALK, held yearly in the neighborhood of Katong-Joo Chiat.
The fest traces its beginnings back to 2014 in the ethnic district of Little India and now boasts over ten years of commemorating Singapore's heritage with a variety of art shows including mural exhibitions, workshops, and live performances underscored by cultural music.
The free admission event will open on Jan. 19 and will run up to Jan. 28 at various times, featuring local musical collectives and artists such as the Poncho Group and Genesis Keefer among others.
ARTWALK will also showcase a fashion-centered exhibition dubbed "Porcelain" as held by Lasalle College of the Arts students.
PRIX Pictet Human
Next on the list is the field-renowned photography and sustainability award event, Prix Pictet, which is holding its inaugural exhibition in Singapore.
The show in question is dubbed "The Human Cycle" and comprises art pieces from 12 photographers picked as the "cream of the crop" during the tenth edition of the award.
The exhibition itself is an exploration of the challenges that plague indigenous people, including issues surrounding conflict zones, economic collapse, abrupt migration, and even gang-initiated violence.
Declared last year, the winner of the current iteration of the prestigious award is Gauri Gill, an Indian photojournalist whose work focuses on engagements with indigenous groups living in the western Rajasthan desert, in Northern India, and the Maharashtra state of the country.
The event can be found in the Art Gallery at the School of the Arts along Zubir Said Drive, which started on Jan. 8 and will run until Jan. 24. Admission is free.
Heman Chong: Meditations on Shadow Libraries
Featuring a collection of nine artworks, Singaporean artist Herman Chong's solo exhibition, which is the result of his over two-decade-long obsession with libraries, is curated by the co-curator of the Taipei Biennial 2023, Brian Kuan Wood.
Among the works in Chong's showcased arsenal are a library of unread books, addresses to Singaporean buildings no longer standing, photographs of leaves found inside library texts, and irregularly cropped images of books depicted in paintings hung at The Met, with plenty of other thought-provoking works.
This show is most recommended for patrons who enjoy the more conceptually-leaning type of art and will welcome those who are interested in scheduled viewings starting on Jan. 17 to March 10, at the STPI Creative Workshop & Gallery along Robertson Quay Street.
Admission to this exhibition is also free.
The Migration: Arts Residency
In the first-ever edition of this event, the artists featured are comprised of veterans of the craft like Valerie NG, Kumari Nahappan, and Jeannie Ho.
Their collaborative work "Between Systems: In Practice" is the result of their two-month-long residency as organized by the creative leads of SERIAL CO_ alongside insights contributed by the artists Jake Tan and Ernest Wu.
The show itself contains multi-disciplinary art featuring digital techniques as performed through visual programming, generative AI integrations, and three-dimensional visualizations.
The trio pulls from their wealth of experience with mediums including sculpture, painting, installation art, and photography. This event will also hold a one-time in-depth workshop for students of the craft on Jan. 20, starting at 2:00 pm until 3:30 pm.
Running from Jan. 17 until Jan. 28, the exhibition is likewise free to attend, although would-be participants of the workshop are required to register on their website.
Immortal Words
Last on the list is Singaporean contemporary artist Boedi WIdjaja's bio-art installation held at the Black Box, located across the span of Waterloo Street.
Designed in collaboration with the geneticist Eric Yap, the exhibition is a melding of art and science as the duo endeavored to encode words of oral and written traditions from Southeast Asian tribes into DNA.
Would-be viewers will be able to collect these artworks in the form of a capsule, which contains the DNA, as distributed through vending machine dispensers akin to that of Japan's famed "gachapon" machines.
Also held in Black Box, is the simultaneously held exhibition surrounding artificial intelligence, with another one held in the nearby Centre for Photography and Film, Objectifs.
The DNA exhibition will run from Jan. 19 to Feb.20 on a scheduled showing. Admission to the show is free.
