The Essence of Singapore Art Week 2026
Starting the year with a best foot forward
Singapore Art Week (SAW) will return from 22 to 31 January 2026, kickstarting the annual art calendar. Now in its 14th edition, the 10-day festival transforms the island into a canvas for art through an array of programmes, landmark showcases, art fairs, and activations. While traditional art exhibitions remain the key staple, many offerings take a different turn into unbounded territory. Tay Tong, Director of the Arts Ecosystem Group (Visual Arts) for the programmes, says, “SAW is more than a celebration of art—it is a testament to the transformative power of creativity that connects people, ignites discourse, and shapes exciting new possibilities.” Independent art spaces, cultural workers, and institutions contribute their unique voices in this dynamic ecosystem.
Mit Jai Inn and Joel Keong. Image courtesy of ART:DIS.
Eugene Soh and Yeo Shih Yun. Image courtesy of ART:DIS.
A distinctive feature of SAW are pop-up activations of public spaces. The theme of access is embedded in Next Stop: Together!, which introduces monumental, site-specific works across eight MRT train stations as well as a travelling Art Bus that will be parked at different locations. It is organised by ART:DIS, a leading non-profit organisation dedicated to creating learning and livelihood opportunities for persons with disabilities in the arts. Working together with the National Arts Council (NAC) and local partners, the project connects transportation with the spirit of inclusivity, and what it means to arrive together. Commuters can look forward to collaborative and solo presentations by Joel Keong and Mit Jai Inn, Isabelle Lim and Toni Cuadi, Hong Shu-ying, and UOL X ART:DIS Art Prize 2025 Grand Winner Christian Tan, among others. Beyond offering a moment of thoughtful pause and reflection in one’s journey, the project shows how togetherness in diversity sparks new forms of connection and understanding.
Along the route, Moonstone Lane. Photo taken by Marvin Lee. Image courtesy of OH! Open House.
Detail from Torlarp Larpjaroensook, Cosmos of Nostalgia, 2025. Image courtesy of the artist.
Moving from transit to arrival, the idea of “destination” exhibitions holds strong with SAW programmes that turn the lens on local heritage sites. The 12th edition of OH! Open House flagship art walk invites visitors on a journey to explore unexpected Singapore stories. Orbiting the theme “Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same”, the OH! Moonstone Art Walk unfolds across Moonstone Lane, a little-known neighbourhood that has had many past lives as plantations, kampungs, factories, and shrines. Today, it is a residential enclave. Artworks by Ang Song Nian, Jarupatcha Achavasmit, Milenko Prvački, Robert Zhao, and artist duo Vong Phaophanit and Claire Oboussier nestle into sites like a 1950s family home, a passion-driven toy shop, as well as overlooked nooks to be discovered between homes and places of worship.
Where SAW shines is in the number of site-responsive works to explore across the island. On the cusp by NTU Museum and Auditoria by sound artist Louis Quek and creative producer Esther Goh, pull audiences to different parts of Singapore. The former is situated within Nanyang Technological University’s campus with artworks at the North Spine Plaza and the iconic Yunnan Garden. Auditoria will be staged in 42 Waterloo Street (42WS), a historical bungalow that now houses a performing arts venue. Both projects draw from the histories of their environments to reflect on how they can be imprinted in memory and bodily senses.
Susanna Tan, 待山 (Tai-san): Every island a mountain, 2025, found wooden boards, fallen tree branches, pins, dimensions variable for each board. Image courtesy of Comma Space.
Yumi Nishimura, A Narrative Attitude That Generates Flat Characters 1, 2025, iron transom, section of a wooden building block (plank), oil paint, aluminium magnets, nails, embroidery cord, Matsubagai (found object), 32 x 24.6 x 2cm. Image courtesy of Comma Space.
Installation view of Song-Ming Ang, Untitled, 2024 at s t a r c h Singapore. Photo by Third Street Studio. Image courtesy of DECK.
SAW is also a time when independent art spaces showcase new works by local artists and this edition is no exception. One such project is Salt Tongues / Far Shores Near, organised by Comma Space and hosted at Objectifs Centre for Film and Photography. It builds upon a prior residency and exhibition Murmuring Shores / On the Brink in 2024 at Onomichi City University. Salt Tongues / Far Shores Near continues the exchange between Singapore-based artists and their Japanese counterparts, reflecting on the two port cities of Onomichi and Singapore and their connections to maritime trade, translations, and sociological movements.
Over at DECK, which recently opened a new space called Shop–House, is The People’s Graphic Score by Song-Ming Ang. It takes the form of a video and immersive installation shaped by the public’s contributions of images, words, and wandering thoughts. Together, these inputs compose an anthropological snapshot of modern concerns and curiosities. The People’s Graphic Score is informed by Ang’s interest in crowd-sourcing as an artistic methodology and experimental music.
Sonic Shaman 2024. Image courtesy of Sonic Shaman.
Each year, SAW brings the international art community into town, engaging critical discourse and the art market. Singapore Art Week Forum 2026: FORCE · FIELDS is a one-day symposium with renowned speakers such as Claire Bishop, Adriano Pedrosa, and Diana Campbell, among others. ART SG 2026 welcomes a host of international galleries as well as collaborations with Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) and TVS Initiative for Indian and South Asian Contemporary Art. Outside the fair, the RAM curatorial collaboration also takes shape in Wan Hai Hotel: Singapore Strait, an immersive group exhibition set within a heritage hotel. In tandem, STPI’s The Print Show & Symposium brings together leading artists and professionals to shape conversations about the future of print. Singapore Art Museum and TheCube Project Space from Taipei are co-presenting Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless, a blockbuster trans-disciplinary “music festival” where diverse practices, traditions, and trans-city collaborators converge.
Collectively, these efforts build upon the momentum of past art weeks and present the best that the Singapore art community has to offer. Featuring artists and curators at various stages of their careers, SAW 2026 is a snapshot of the evolving ecosystem. This year’s programme continues to move towards a broader understanding of how art is defined, the spaces art inhabits, and the potentialities of what art can do and be.
This article was presented in partnership with Singapore Art Week 2026. For more information about the projects mentioned, as well as the full SAW programme, click here.
Look out for Art & Market’s selection of five must-see SAW events in the next article.