The best things to do in Singapore this week (Jan 21-27)

The Civic District comes to life once more with vibrant artworks and performances during Light to Night Festival 2019. This year's bumper edition spans six weeks from January 18 to February 24, making it one festival, but with two unique experiences. The Singapore Art Week edition (Jan 18-27), which focuses art inspired by personal narratives and memories, and the Singapore Bicentennial edition (Jan 28-Feb 24) that sees artists, writers and performers reinterpret our country's past and retell Singapore's story in their own special way. This year's theme, Traces and Echoes, is the first to incorporate Singapore's historical narrative in celebration with the Bicentennial. National Gallery Singapore teams up with precinct partners to present close to 50 programmes that showcase art and history through all the five senses, capturing the hearts and minds of guests from day to night. Explore The Odyssey (Jan 18-27, 8pm-midnight), a new commission co-developed by Brandon Tay and Safuan Johari with 14 other multimedia illustrators and digital artists to form part of Singapore's biggest façade light show, Art Skins on Monuments. Go on an epic voyage through the Civic District's seven façades as an explorer sojourns the worlds of duality in search of his identity. Be a part of his journey by activating an interactive wall using sound and movement at National Gallery Singapore’s Padang Atrium. While you're there, take a trip down memory lane by flipping through personal and archival

The Marina Bay precinct, as well as the Civic District, Singapore River and Fort Canning, are looking a touch brighter than usual this month as it lights up for the annual sustainable light art festival. Spanning four weeks, this year’s showcase displays a plethora of installations that use energy-saving lighting and environmentally friendly materials as well as and four festival zones for everyone of all ages to enjoy.

Take your art appreciation even further at S.E.A Focus. As part of the Singapore Art Week, the inaugural event is serving art aficionados a boutique art fair and special pop-ups dotted around Gillman Barracks, focusing mainly on Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art via exciting collaborations between international and local galleries.

Hop between new exhibitions and exciting programmes by resident galleries and the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore at the visual arts precinct’s late-night open house event. While you’re at it, shop unique and quirky paraphernalia at pop-up stores, grab some tasty bites at the eateries on-site and groove to the live music on the dancefloor under the stars amid a range of impressive artworks.

Inspired by remnants of the past of the area surrounding the museum, the Asian Civilisations Museum opens its doors for everyone of all ages to immerse in the history of the Civic District. It explores the connections through a series of interactive artworks that makes you feel a sense of wonder. Visitors are able to walk into a giant time capsule by OH! Other Half, revisit old shipwrecks, play nostalgic games wish Mash Up Collective and Sebastian Chun, or enter a tunnel of dreams made by the students of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

In collaboration with the National Art Museum of China and China Cultural Centre, The Parkview Museum Singapore is holding an exhibition showcasing 237 New Year paintings of Yangliuqing from the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty until the late Qing Dynasty athe nd Republic of China. It aims to engage the Chinese audience in Singapore as the Lunar New Year rolls around with the hopes of reaching new heights of interaction and appreciation for the Chinese culture.

In conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2019, The Private Museum opens its gallery for an inaugural showcase of Richard Koh’s private collection which vasts from what he usually sells. The exhibition features 33 contemporary works from international artists from Richard Koh’s collection, spanning more than two decades. It gives viewers an insight into many of his ruminations, personalities and interests, and reflects an exploration of his journey through the world of art and life. Among these 33 works by artists whom Koh admires are Chinese artists from the 'apartment art' generation which include Lin Tianmiao and Huang Rui. This showcase also presents works by contemporary Southeast Asian artists Sopheap Pich, Natee Utarit and Kedsua Loogthong.

This group exhibition features creations by 14 contemporary artists across Southeast Asia. With the running theme of 'Light', artists are posed with the questions “How do artists express light? How does light and light engage and evolve through art?”. This exhibition answers the fractures and enchantments in this modern time. Featuring large-scale works, this exhibition explores how light engages with life. In Lightness showcases how light transcends time and transform perspectives featuring artists such as Ashley Bickerton, Erizal As, and Fika Ria Santika.

This immersive art installation by Haffendi Anu incorporates numerous sculptures and objects that stem from the artist’s interest in landscapes and cityscapes. When installed in a gallery, Anuar’s artwork creates a condensed landscape using mock relics and totems, reflecting the artist’s thoughts on the current state of Malaysia. Anuar uses various methods of presenting the post-election results using materials and imageries that allude to the architecture, monuments, and progress of modernization. In this showcase, Anuar attempts to encapsulate and articulate the post-euphoria feeling of post-election results as the country experiences the first-time shift in shared value systems.

Aimed to introduce the world of visual arts to fresh audiences in a more personal style, Singapore Arts Club invites two contemporary artists and a moderator of different generations with different practices to engage in a dialogue that extends beyond the art industry. With pioneer artists Ho Tzu Nyen and Stephanie Jane Burt for this edition of Audience with an Artist, gain a fresh perspective of what contemporary art is and what it means.

Residencies Open encourages the audience to partake and view artworks and curators-in-residence. It offers a rare insight into the personal sphere of artist studios. Through a showcase of discussions, performances, installations, and works-in-progress, Residencies Open explores the diverse contemporary art practices and different ways artists create a work of art. This edition features Francisco Camacho Herrera (Colombia/Netherlands), Daniel Hui (Singapore), Soyo Lee (South Korea), John Low (Singapore), Tan Kai Syng (Singapore), and John Torres (Philippines).

Sullivan+Strumpf presents the celebrated Australian artist Lindy Lee’s Recipient of the 2018 Melbourne Art Fair Visual Arts Award, a first solo exhibition in Singapore as part of the Art After Dark celebrations by Gillman Barracks in conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2019. Her works often reflect a meditative state and reveals themselves through time. In this exhibition, Lee explores her Chinese ancestry through Taoism and Ch’an (Zen)  Buddhism – philosophies that see humanity and nature as inextricably linked.

In conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2019, Yavuz Gallery is pleased to present London-based Singaporean artist Alvin Ong’s first solo exhibition. Ong’s works often synthesise histories, mythologies and folk-forms into non-linear narratives. This exhibition features Ong’s latest paintings – the erotic depictions of figures suspended between pain and pleasure. To Ong, the human body is unapologetically exposed in its cravings. He depicts the human appetite through grotesque elements with black humour.

For Singapore Art Week 2019, Pearl Lam Galleries showcases Conversation: Ben Loong X Zulkifli Lee moderated by Josef Ng, offering an insight into the artists’ personal histories and cultural influences. Lee is an expert handler of natural mediums in which he uses to produce abstract geometric patterns. Through this, he forms a bridge across traditional Islamic aesthetic principles and contemporary art theory. Singaporean artist Ben Loong takes on a more diaristic approach by recontextualizing industrial objects in-question of material culture and value systems. The conversation reflects on the exhibition ‘Frictional', so come down to listen to each artists’ engagement with their material and how it can be understood in the world of contemporary Southeast Asian art practices and methodologies.

Think you can chin-stroke your way through nine days of art and tell your Warhols from your Hirsts? Then you don't want to miss a myriad of exhibitions, tours, talks, film screenings and music performances showcasing everything that span the visual arts from traditional to contemporary practices during Singapore Art Week.  From January 19 to 27, immerse yourself in over 100 events taking places at multiple galleries, institutions, museums and non-profit spaces. Come with a curious mind (and camera) and catch the return of all-time favourites like the Light to Night Festival, Art After Dark, State of Motion, Art Week at SAM, ARTWALK Little India and IMPART Collectors’ Show. There are plenty of newcomers too, such as S.E.A Focus,  Sim Lim Square Art Residency, Home(work), Memories of Singapore River, Of Other Places, The MeshMinds Foundation and LASALLE College of the Arts presents: Art X Tech For Good, and Lucy Liu and Shubigi Rao: Unhomed Belongings. Can’t wait to start your Singapore Art Week trail? We’ve mapped out the master highlights to catch during nine-day art-stravaganza here. For more information and full event listings, visit artweek.sg. Time Out Singapore in partnership with National Arts Council

The Singapore Tourism Board teams up with Lasalle College of the Arts with the support of Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association to deck the vibrant precinct with the annual multidisciplinary public arts project set to the theme of 'Image and Sound of Fragrance'. Take a stroll down Little India and admire the colourful wall murals that line the area. Ignite your sense of smell and immerse in an exciting line-up of exhibitions and performances surrounding the rich scents of Little India including live storytelling by Kamini Ramachnadran, performances by various artists at UltraSuperNew Gallery, and mural paintings and artworks by students of Lasalle College of the Arts.

Feast your eyes – and broaden your mind – on a myriad of contemporary art that will have you chin-stroking your way through the Singapore Art Museum. Observe the thought-provoking art pieces of local artists at the President’s Young Talents exhibition and get into their creative minds through talks and performances. Get a taste of the upcoming Singapore Biennale with a teaser line-up of panel discussions, film screenings and live music performances by various artists.

What do you get when you merge the creative minds of contemporary artists? A dream-like world that showcases how the grand collection of visual iconography in Asia can be used to examine current socio-political issues. The ArtScience Museum transforms into such a world as the exclusive and private art collections of avid Singaporean and regional collectors deck the space for a limited period. To keep the conversation going, there is also a public symposium of talks and tours led by keynote speakers including art practitioners the Deputy Director of the Musée Nation d’Art Moderne at Centre Georges Pompidou, Catherine David, and Co-Founder of the Asian Art Archive at Hong Kong, Johnson Chang.

View art in the age of technology at Singapore’s first student-led immersive art exhibition. More than just a showcase of visual stunners, the display revolves around the sustainability of people and the planet. It’s a great opportunity for visitors to learn and witness the results when art meets technology through workshops, talks and performances featuring mash-ups with virtual reality (VR) painting, 360 films and 3D printing.

Curious about Southeast Asian horror? We dare you to explore the worlds of Southeast Asian horror film and Southeast Asian contemporary art, and discover the parallel histories and connections between the two genres. There are captivating exhibitions, tours, artworks, film screenings, panel discussions and live performances to better showcase the relationship between the region’s cultural and social histories of horror and the supernatural in the light (or rather – darkness).

Stay #woke and examine the local issues of domesticity and labour through multiple mediums like mark-making, sculpture and drawing at the community-centric installation. Wander through the exhibition and see everyday domestic in the form of art, bridging the connection between house workers and artists, as well as the nature of labour within the confines of home. Understand the art pieces further by signing up to the workshops and meeting various artists who are down to share their views of the themes of the exhibition.

The contemporary art space is all set for its first major interdisciplinary exhibition in conjunction with Singapore Art Week. Curated by Dr Wang Ruobing, local artists such as photographer, musician and architect Fauzy Ismail, Jeremy Less (Hell Low), See Kian Wee and Singapore-based Thai artist and photographer Juria Toramae come together to showcase their interactive installations, paintings, videos, photographs and sound works that surround the issue of gentrification and evolution of public spaces in Singapore. Some of the notable places include the old National Library, the Quarry, Singapore coastal lines and transient prayer spaces. These thought-provoking art pieces are made to strike up conversations and you can do so via the exhibition’s engaging programmes including dialogue sessions with artists, writers, architects, scientists, and a guided tour led by Dr Chua Ai Lin.

Inspired by the scenes of a boat-dominated Singapore River, this film showcase by Eric Lim with support by Filmat36 takes viewers back to in time through paintings and discussions with the city’s veteran artists including Lim Tze Peng, Tan Choh Tee, Low Puay Hua and other locals who’ve called the riverside home. The documentary is screened in Mandarin with English subtitles. Explore the intriguing topic further at the accompanied special exhibition Memories of Singapore River: Paintings by Local Artists at the Fullerton Hotel. The art pieces on display are brought in by art commune gallery. For some live-action art, check out outdoor sketch sessions by Singapore Watercolour Society and Urban Sketchers Singapore at the Singapore River.

In collaboration with Ikkan Art Gallery, Miaja Gallery presents Singapore-based artist Nandita Mukand’s solo exhibition, curated by Tanya Michele Amador. This exhibition mingles observations of how plants grow in the forest with the workings of the urban mind. Drawing upon diverse resources such as neuroplasticity, quantum physics, contemporary Buddhist texts and ancient Vedic literature, Mukand showcases paintings and sculptures using a myriad of both synthetic and organic materials. Weaving together objects found in nature such as seeds with paper and encased in resin, she intertwines her chosen ingredients with threads of cloth, signifying the ways in which today’s urban life is interconnected while mourning the contemporary belief systems that restrict our true potential.

If you’re looking for the next art exhibit that’s excellent, outstanding, superb, sublime and wonderful – or Dope, for short – then check this one out. Feast your eyes on the artworks and sculptures by 25 artists from all over the world at this uniquely original showcase. Whether they come from Brazil or the Philippines or our very own Lion City, every artist aims to stimulate good vibes with good art. Be sure to stop by this exhibition multiple times as a new curation of works are on display each month.

Creating a platform for talented young artists to showcase their works to galleries and art institutions, the Young Talent Programme (YTP) has formed a community of leading youths in the field of imagination and art for the next generation. At Reunite 2019, the winners of YTP and their artworks are revisited to provide audiences with a glimpse of where the respective artists and Singapore’s art scene are headed towards, and what to expect from them in the near future. This exhibit is part of ION Orchard’s 10th anniversary and Affordable Art Fair’s 10th edition celebrations in 2019.

If you have ever questioned your human existence, then this exhibition is sure to perpetuate that thought. The exhibition brings nine artists together to showcase what it means to introduce non-human entities into our understanding of human beings and society through their artworks. Themes like new technology, artificial intelligence and posthumanism are explored through various types of art such as digital prints on aluminum, installations comprising of computing parts and paintings of chimera-like figures.

Art Porters Gallery presents Domestication II, a solo exhibition by Singaporean-born, New York-based artist Su-en Wong. The Exhibition sees its continuation from Domestication, a group exhibition in which the artist was a part of during the Singapore Art Fair in 2014. Inspired by the concept of the self as the other, the artist touches on themes of power and individuality, as well as their respective binaries, by replicating herself as multiples in either an adolescent fashion or as the female nude – provocatively parodying the stereotypes of Asian women. She also addresses the theme of collection through a range of objects in glass display cases, a nod to Damien Hirst’s works.

Here's an unconventional twist to your regular theatre show where the audience themselves are the actors. Aimed to start conversations around human relationships and humanity at its essence, this performance-meets-social experiment brings together 11 different pairs using 11 different scripts to form 11 different relationships and to create 11 different stories. The performance begins at a bar where the audiences – technically actors – are welcomed with a stiff cocktail that’s exceptionally potent and mandatory for all. Once the ice is broken, participants are led into the performance space – a “black box” – where they sit in pairs on opposite ends of 11 confessional booths. Each pair, provided with a different script, will unfold 11 intriguing storylines of city-life – each shot through a lens of truth, hope, humour, vulnerability, loss and longing.

Skip your regular electronic stores and repair technicians, and head up to level six for some hybrid art – we’re talking creating visual art pieces with technology. The residency transforms into an open studio, workshop and exhibition – all at once – for the month of January. Witness artists come together on the opening night for panel sessions and guided tours to kick off the residency experience. For a free-and-easy viewing, the open studio is available from noon to 6pm for visitors to engage in conversations with each artist, allowing them to understand the processes and means of making art with the use of technology.

Heard of ‘visual pen-friends’? That’s what American artist Lucy Liu – who also happens to be the Hollywood star – and Singaporean artist Shubigi Rao are. Like pen-pals, the two critic individuals became friends through an exploration of their respective artworks without meeting in person. The exchange unravelled shared interests and themes that are incorporated into their practices. Both artists are known for analysing cultures, histories, identities and relationships through their works. Intrigued? Check out the visual dialogue presented by the two artists for the very first time at the National Museum of Singapore.

For an art experience that transcends borders of time and space, delve in the world of Chinese artist Cheng Ran. The solo exhibition showcases a variety of video works, as well as the artist's body of mixed-media installations that are inspired by western popular culture and literature. The first video installment of the Lament: Mountain Ghost draws inspiration from the ghostly imagery present in Qu Yuan's poem and features a man moving slowly as if performing a ritual. Through the mysterious ritualistic dance, the artist also presents his attitude towards a fast-changing city and the dilemma between ideals and reality.

Founded by Executive Director of Mizuma Galleries, Sueo Mizuma, as well as curator Hermanto Soerjanto and artist Angki Purbandono with the vision of creating a space that champions a cultural and art exchange, Rumah Kijang Mizuma opens its doors at the southern part of Yogyakarta in 2014. Bringing a slice of Rumah Kijang Mizuma, this exhibition at Gillman Barracks' Mizuma Gallery showcases new works by the Indonesian and Japanese artists that focus on their experiences with the art scenes, cultures and social lives of Yogyakarta, as well as the influence the studio has had on their views of art, art-making and life itself.

See how Koh Nguang How's creative mind works with his project of print accumulation that features news clippings, print ephemera, catalogues and documentation across the span of nearly four decades. The artist also has a dig at environmentally engaged art which is an eco-sensitive practice that draws attention to ozone depletion, global warming and climate change. This exhibition focuses on this practice of his, arguing for Koh's crucial, early artistic position on some of the most pressing environmental crises and traumas of our day. The exhibition also showcases archival works as well as new recreations of previously destroyed or unavailable work and material.

Boho-chic French resto Merci Marcel is setting up another round of art exhibition, this time featuring Singapore-based, French artist Gabriel Dufourcq. Known for creating legendary icons out of newspaper clippings and more, the month-long showcase features unique, one-of-a-kind artworks from the artist's Find a Word for It collection. His thought-provoking artworks are made to encourage guests to think of the media's influence on the general public's perception of political and contemporary icons. Art collectors can also bag the artist's pieces ranging from $1000 to $4000, with original artworks available for $10,000.  

See art in nature as NTU Centre of Contemporary Arts Singapore showcases the late Belgian artist Jef Gey's debut institutional exhibition in Asia. The artist is known for his belief that art should be incorporated into everyday life, and that his practice adopts an interdisciplinary and collaborative process of extensive research and knowledge-formation. The exhibition introduces thought-provoking artistic executions that raise questions regarding hierarchies and the adaptability of nature and society, and whether conceptual artworks can go further after an artist's passing. Besides elements from Gey's Quadra Medicinale series, the exhibition also showcases two painting from Geys’s Seed-bags series, a long-term project where he discovered that the images of veggies or flowers pictured on the bag did not match the actual plant he grew. Through the paintings, Geys challenged the accuracy and truth of commercial photography.

Championing the art of 'less is more', National Gallery Singapore and ArtScience Museum team up to debut the biggest minimalism exhibition in Southeast Asia from November 16 2018 to April 14 2019. Held within the confines of the two iconic museums, the experiential exhibition gives visitors the freedom to view, interpret and experience the immersive displays in a variety of ways – allowing for different ways to appreciate the aesthetics of Asian and Western minimalist art. A far cry from the bold and eccentric showcases that usually dominate the galleries, the exhibition tones it down a notch by illustrating minimal art that emerged from its birthplace of New York and how it has developed in the US West Coast and Asia through to the rest of the world. This contemporary take on avant-garde art considers the spatial, social and political contexts of the subject matter, and has influenced some of the best unconventional creations in music, performances, fashion and design history – think musician Steve Reich, artist Tony Smith and fashion designer Jill Sander, among others.  Feed your curious mind with captivating paintings, impressive sculptures, spatial installations and other masterpieces by key artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Frank Stella, Kim Lim, Mona Hatoum, Anish Kapoor and Ai Wei Wei, as well as special commissions by Sopheap Pich and Jeremy Sharma.  The exhibition's special programmes also invite visitors to tap into the wo

The culture of now has never been so prevalent in this digital age of technology where instant services and smartphones are glorified. Tracing back to its roots in the late 1940s leads us to what was a breakthrough in the world of photography, the Polaroid camera. Inspiring artists and photographers alike, the exhibition offers insight into the story behind Polaroid photography and how the process of being able to memorial a special and specific moment in time has impacted the social phenomenon we have today.

Delve deeper into the world of Chinese cartoons in Singapore and discover the correlation it has with the 1911 Revolution in China. Early Chinese cartoonists captured China at one of its lowest points in the late 19th century through satirical sketches, which then served as an activist for the revolutionary political movement against the corrupt regime, ending imperial rule in China. This transpired into the first Chinese cartoons appearing in our local newspapers representing political and social commentary. With over 150 Chinese cartoons, artefacts and images, trace the history as you get warp into the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Commemorating the global celebrations of Richard Feynman's 100th anniversary, ArtScience Museum is presenting a brand new exhibition, casting the spotlight on the astonishing, multi-aspect life and achievements of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Known for his pioneering work in quantum mechanics and the basis of modern physics, be inspired and awed as you're drawn deeper into the science through art, understanding how he paved the path for many of the technological advances that support us in our everyday lives today. The exhibit features Feynman's personal items, documents and letters from across the globe. Contemporary artworks that have drawn inspiration from Feynman's thought process are also presented to aid your understanding through visual representations of the six scientific topics at the core of his work, giving you a peek into the realm of quantum mechanics.

Trace the evolution of photography in Southeast Asia through the lens of the Peranakan community as you admire the collection of over 200 photographs, donated by Mr and Mrs Lee Kip Lee, that runs the gamut from old school monochrome images to dazzling digital displays. Through its exploration of the candid and intimate moments shared by early Peranakan families, the exhibition also brings forth issues surrounding identity and connectedness.

To mark – not commemorate – the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore, there'll be an exhibition set in the Old Ford Factory, which was where the British surrendered to the Japanese forces on February 15, 1942. Spread across four zones, take in the diary entries, identity cards and war campaign documentary paintings on display, then reflect on the solemn beginnings of our nationhood.