National Gallery Singapore

It's never too early to expose your little ones to art. Unlock their creativity with a multi-sensorial art adventure at National Gallery Singapore as it turns into a colossal warren of imagination. Themed Let’s Make a Better Place, the fourth edition of the Gallery Children’s Biennale decks the National Gallery Singapore with 11 art installations by artists around the world. Each installation spotlights one of four core values which include care, collaborate, imagine, and respect. These artistic concepts also highlight the relevant issues of today – in an easy-to-digest manner for kids, no less. Your young heroes can look forward to immersive experiences that go beyond imaginative play, inspiring them to take an active role in bettering the world.

Calling all art history junkies, this one’s for you. With over 300 works housed in the Supreme Court building, Between Declarations and Dreams looks back on the artistic impulses of Southeast Asian art, dating back all the way to the early mid-19th century. The curatorial narrative explores four main themes in chronological order – Authority and Anxiety, Imagining Country and Self, Manifesting the Nation and Re:Defining Art.

You don’t want to miss the largest exhibition by a Singaporean public museum yet, dedicated to ink master Liu Kuo-sung’s 70 year old artistic career spanning from the 1950s to the 2020s. Painter Liu spent his career discovering and advocating the modernisation of traditional Chinese ink painting through his art practice and writings. Showcasing 60 selected works that trace his journey and evolution as an artist, the exhibition highlights his innovations in modern Chinese ink painting and how he went beyond the brush to explore the physicality of ink and paper.

No stranger to the global art scene, Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta has encouraged many to see the world from the POV of the oppressed via large-scale sculptural installations since the 1990s. This week, she’s unveiling a gargantuan inflatable at the Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden atop National Gallery Singapore. Named Untitled, the thought-provoking sculpture invites all to interact with it. With malleable material, two interlocked figures, and a multiplicity of meanings, it offers a visually striking and conceptually rich experience – a juxtaposition to the visual density of a bustling metropolis. A non-traditional way to view art? We're sold.

Southeast Asia and Latin America may appear worlds apart, but they share a common history of grappling with the challenges posed by colonialism. Exploring this comparability is National Gallery of Singapore’s upcoming exhibition Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America – the very first extensive exhibition that offers a comparative exploration of both regions. There will be 200 paintings, sculptures, prints and sensorial installations by artists from both Southeast Asia and Latin America, showcasing how they, despite existing in distant worlds, similarly reclaimed their identities and built a sense of unity through art. Anticipate works from 70 renowned artists including Frida Kahlo, Tarsila do Amaral, Latiff Mohidin, David Medalla and many more yet to be announced. Stay tuned to their webpage for more information.