Time Out Singapore: Art Week 2016

29 Dec 2015: Gwen Pew and Andrea Cheong round up the best exhibitions, festivals, fairs and tours to check out during the nine-day extravaganza

Art Fairs

Art Stage 2016

Art Stage – the main event around which the rest of Art Week revolves – returns for the sixth year and is once again set to take place across four days. It features 143 galleries from 32 countries, many of which are from Asia. New elements visitors can look forward to this year include the Southeast Asia Forum, and artworks exhibited in the public areas of the fair.

Singapore Contemporary Art Show

Representing both renowned and emerging contemporary artists, the first edition of this art show is themed ‘A World of Art’. Fringe activities include artist encounters, which give visitors the chance to speak to 16 artists from around the world, as well as tours, live painting sessions and activities for the whole family.

Exhibitions

Prudential Eye Awards Exhibition

Running for the third year, this award aims to celebrate emerging artists in the Asia region. After reviewing over 100 nominations from curators, critics and art experts across Asia, the panel of judges has shortlisted three artists for each of the five categories. Their works are all on show at the ArtScience Museum, and the winners are announced on Jan 19.

Singapore Arts Club

This show features works by three local artists: Jack Tan presents an outdoor light installation, Sean Lee invites strangers to hop into bed to have their portraits taken together, and Joo Choon Lin stages a performance piece around an interactive sculpture.

Talks

Forum at NGS: Capturing the Moment

While many artworks are physical objects that you can hold and easily display, there are also those that are far more ephemeral or abstract in nature. Like performance pieces or works that degrade over time. This forum looks at the issues that institutions and collectors face when researching, documenting, archiving and conserving such pieces of art.

The talk is inspired by and runs alongside Tang Da Wu’s seminal 1980 exhibition, Earth Work, as well as a group show titled A Fact has No Appearance, the latter of which examines the impact of fresh ideas that arose in the South-East Asian art world during the turbulent ’70s.

2016 calligraphy exhibition, workshop and bilingual calligraphy forum

The practice of traditional calligraphy is alive and well today, and this inaugural bilingual calligraphy forum presents a series of lectures, discussions and demonstrations in appreciation of the craft.

Roundtable @ SAM

The second of five instalments of the series hopes to spark a conversation on ‘Art and the Big Ideas of a Small Nation’. This discussion is held as part of SAM’s current exhibition, 5 Stars: Art Reflects on Peace, Justice, Equality, Democracy and Progress.

Tours

Concrete Island Bus Tour

Inspired by JG Ballard’s novel of the same name and Tan Pin Pin’s 2003 film 80km/h, Concrete Island is a project by NUS Museum that was created as a response to those works.

It comprises an exhibition, a reading workshop, a mobile cinema programme, and a bus tour along the Pan Island Expressway, guided by architect Lai Chee Kian. Taken together, the event is an examination of Singapore’s urban history, movements, and the design of expressways.

Public Art Walking Tour

Learn more about the three new public art installations that were launched along the Jubilee Walk at the end of November: ’24 Hours in Singapore’ by Baet Yeok Kuan, ‘Cloud Nine: Raining’ by Tan Wee Lit and ‘The Rising Moon’ by Han Sai Por and Kum Chee Kiong.

Art in Motion

Back for the third edition, Art in Motion once again features 16 galleries that are part of the Art Galleries Association Singapore – including Chan Hampe Galleries, Gajah Gallery and STPI – where a series of exhibitions, book launches, panel discussions and other events are set to take place.

Festivals + Markets

Aliwal Urban Art Festival

What do skateboards, graffiti and DJs have in common? They’ll all be featured in the Aliwal Urban Art Festival this year, that’s what. For the first time, the event also has an exhibition segment entitled Cannot be Bo(a)rdered, where 16 artists from South-East Asia come together to explore youth culture through skateboard art. Other performers include The A Capella Society, DJ RZPZ and Take Two.

Art after Dark

Once the sun sets, hit up Gillman Barracks’ bi-monthly arts bash, which brings together visual art, music, performances, guided tours, talks, as well as lotsa food and booze. Eleven galleries are taking part in this edition.

The Local People x SAM Art Week Market

Eat, shop and drink to your heart’s content at The Local People x Singapore Art Museum Art Week Market. Expect over 100 locally based vendor booths, while homegrown musicians the likes of Jaime Wong, Amanda Tee, Jean Goh Seizure and Stanley Ho serenade you in the background. Top it off with drinks at The Local Soda Bar for a boozy end to your Sunday.