The Singapore Biennale is back, and this year, the city's the gallery. Opening October 31, the eighth edition of the Biennale goes with the theme, "pure intention", which is all about examining the ways cities like Singapore shift and change over time – whether by chance or design. To do that, it logically takes art beyond the white box of the museum and into familiar, everyday spaces, transforming them into vibrant stages for contemporary art. We're talking shophouses, strata malls, green corridors, and even a former girls' school, all reimagined as portals into new ways of seeing the city.
There are more than 100 artworks, projects, and programmes to check out over the next few months. That could get a tad overwhelming, so here's a quick guide to what the Singapore Biennale is all about, some highlight works to check out, and more resources to guide the way.
What exactly is the Singapore Biennale?
Held every two years and organised by the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), the Singapore Biennale brings together local and international artists for a city-wide exhibition. Each edition explores a theme – and this year's is "pure intention", inviting visitors to reflect on how art, ritual, and everyday life shape who we are. This year's biennale happily coincides with Singapore's 60th birthday, which gives more food for thought as you encounter art across diverse sites. islandwide.
Where does it take place?
This year’s Biennale spans five main locations:
- SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
- Tanglin Halt
- Orchard Road
- The Civic District
- The Rail Corridor and Wessex Estate
There are some unexpected venues to visit, including strata malls like Far East Shopping Mall and Lucky Plaza, and even a rare look into the former Raffles Girls' School Campus. Together, they form a trail of artworks that link history, nature, and daily experience.
What should I look out for?
By no means an exhaustive list, these are the artworks that stood out to us on a tour of the various sites that are part of the Singapore Biennale.
Metabolic Container by CAMP (India) – at SAM
Step into a 20-foot shipping container packed with boxes of everyday goods from Batam to Singapore – think sambal, crackers, perfume. But take note of the words on the packaging: as you travel deeper into the container, they shift, jumble, and mix to form new combinations, shifting from marketing speak, to 'nonsense, to pure poetry and emotion. It's a visual representation of the metabolic – or chemical processes – that every person, society, city goes through over time.
Levelling Schemes by Tan Zi Hao (Malaysia) – at Tanglin Halt
Those gray little bugs that cling motionless to your walls? Those are casebearers, insects that literally live on the dust, dirt, and dead skin in your home. This work puts them centrestage – in lines tracing the walls, magnificently backlit, and blown up under the microscope. It's an unsettling statement about the waste we unthinkingly produce in the pursuit of progress.
The Filipino Superwoman X H.O.M.E. Karaoke Living Room by Eisa Jocson (Philippines) – at Lucky Plaza
A karaoke lounge meets living room in this collaborative installation celebrating the humour, strength, and community of Filipino domestic workers in Singapore. Personal photographs adorn the tables while music videos (created by members of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics) and performance video works by The Filipino Superwoman Band play on the television. That's an actual band, who'll be performing live at the Singapore Art Museum on January 23, 2026.
entropy study and cloud gazing (americium) by Yuri Pattison (Ireland/France) – at Far East Shopping Centre
In Far East Shopping Centre, scale models of real estate towers – bought secondhand from China’s shuttered sales galleries – glow against a backdrop of actual condominiums and offices. Clicking Geiger counters light up the miniature windows, detecting radiation and hinting at the unseen forces that move our markets.
Meanwhile, a real-time animation of the open sky flickers across the screen, generated by a quantum number generator that links financial algorithms to the ancient practice of cloud divination. Come in the evenings, when sunset colours take over this space.
Temple by Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Vietnam/USA) – at National Gallery Singapore
From conflict and destruction, comes renewal and healing. Situated on the rooftop of National Gallery Singapore, Temple grabs attention with its vivid orange hue – the exact colour used to mark sites of unexploded ordnance (UXO) leftover from the American War in Vietnam. Strikingly, large percussive instruments made from defused UXO hang from the structure. These have been tuned to emit a 432 hertz frequency – known as the "universal frequency" that promotes relaxation and healing. Go ahead and sound the gongs, and soak in the healing vibrations that echo across the space.
How do I get started?
The Singapore Biennale website is the best place to start. Here's where you can filter programmes by date, venue, type, or price – drilling down to performance activations or talks that might interest you.
We also love the curated self-guided Biennale art walks you can explore based on four "intentions":
- Intention to Wander: for solo-wanderers, through peaceful green corridors
- Intention to Love: for couples, or with anyone you love, through nostalgic spots
- Intention to Explore: with friends, through the vibrant arts district
- Intention to Bond: for all ages, through old campuses and malls along Orchard Road
Is Singapore Biennale free?
Yes, it's mostly free! You will only have to buy tickets to enter SAM to view the Singapore Biennale artworks situated in its galleries.
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