SG60 Round-Up
The Culture Story, National Gallery Singapore, Gajah Gallery, Whitestone Gallery, Art Galleries Association, STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery, and more
In a special edition of Art & Market’s monthly round-ups, we bring to you our selection of exhibitions to celebrate Singapore’s 60th birthday in August.
Artist’s Proof: Singapore at 60
Sydney Harpley, LEE KUAN YEW, 1982, bronze, 70 x 51 x 30 cm. Artist’s Proof. Image courtesy of Artist’s Estate and The Culture Story.
This month, The Culture Story is showcasing the private collection of art collector Chong Huai Seng, built over four decades. Curated by Kwok Kian Chow and produced by the Family Office For Art, Artist’s Proof: Singapore at 60 presents over 90 works by more than 50 artists. Inspired by a bronze bust of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew by RA Sydney Harpley in 1982, the exhibition honours the legacy of pioneers of Singapore art such as Sujak Rahman, Foo Tee Jun and Siew Hock Meng. It simultaneously celebrates the innovations of contemporary artists such as Hilmi Johandi, Khairulddin Wahab, and Suzann Victor. In total, the show features 10 art commissions and a new music commission by Chow and Lin, Joel Seow, John Clang, Koh Cheng Jin, Loi Cai Xiang, Milenko Prvački, Ming Wong, Shavonne Wong, Sonny Liew, Yang Zhongda and Zulkhairi Zulkiflee. During the exhibition’s duration, The Culture Story also hosted Voices and Vision, a two-day symposium where artists, curators and writers gathered to discuss the intersections of art and contemporary issues.
Artist’s Proof: Singapore at 60will be shown at Artspace@Helutrans, Singapore between 13 July and 17 August 2025. More information here.
Singapore Story: Pathways and Detours in Art
Installation view of “Vectors of the New” section, Singapore Stories; Pathways and Detours in Art, at National Gallery Singapore, 2025. Image courtesy of National Gallery Singapore.
National Gallery Singapore marks its 10th anniversary with the first major reorganisation of existing works in the National Collection, presenting a re-envisioned version of Singapore’s art history. Occupying the second floor of the Gallery’s City Hall Wing, the first phase of Singapore Story: Pathways and Detours in Art debuted in December 2024, which examined the trajectory of artistic developments from the 19th Century to the 1960s. It highlighted the cultural effects of colonialism and independence in Singapore’s history, featuring Chen Wen Hsi, Georgette Chen, Cheong Soo Pieng, Dora Gordine, Liu Kang, Annaratnam Gunaratnam, S. Mahdar, P. Ramlee, and more. The subsequent phase of the exhibition opens this month, and explores Singapore's post-independence through creative reinventions and community-based collaborations in the arts. It features works by Ho Ho Ying, Kim Lim, Eng Tow, Kwan Shan Mei, Shamsuddin H. Akib, Choy Weng Yang, Solamalay Namasivayam, Amanda Heng, Ho Soon Yeen, Susie Wong, Gilles Massot, The Artists Village and Plastique Kinetic Worms.
Singapore Stories: Pathways and Detours can be viewed in full at National Gallery Singapore from 18 July 2025 onwards. More information here.
A Thousand Histories
Installation view of A Thousand Histories; A Solo Show by Suzann Victor. Image courtesy of Gajah Gallery.
Building upon nearly three decades of engagement with light and lens-based works, Suzann Victor presents her newest solo at Gajah Gallery, titled A Thousand Histories. Curated by Anca Rujoiu, the exhibition restages Still Life (1992/93), an early installation work by Victor, which captures the slow and inexorable decay of brinjals attached onto a gallery wall. The work foreshadows the artist’s subsequent exploration of movement and slow time, demonstrated in Victor’s latest work. In it, the artist has constructed three large-scale kinetic lanterns composed of Fresnel lenses, a recurring material in Victor’s oeuvre and crafted in collaboration with Yogya Art Lab. The lanterns project various trajectories of slowly shifting images derived from colonial postcards and images from Southeast Asia, which drift in and out of clarity. Coinciding with Singapore’s 60th birthday, the show offers a critical deconstruction of monolithic national narratives, pointing instead toward a multiplicity of untold histories.
A Thousand Histories will be on view from 1 August to 7 September 2025 at Gajah Gallery, Singapore. More information here.
Sama Sama
Poster for Sama Sama. Image courtesy of Whitestone Gallery.
Whitestone Gallery presents Sama Sama curated by Wang Ruobing. Building upon the title, which means “all together” or “togetherness”, her curatorial vision identifies shared values of imagination, resistance and inclusivity within a diversity of mediums, themes and artists’ backgrounds. Simultaneously, the show also relies on its works as a reflection of common historical and cultural circumstances, through which a collective national identity is shaped. It introduces 60 contemporary works by 60 local and locally-based artists and collectives across generations, including Anthony Chin, Boedi Widjaja, Ian Tee, Sim Chi Yin, and Zarina Muhammad.
Sama Sama will be on view between 8 August and 28 September 2025 at Whitestone Gallery, Singapore. More information here.
Singapore Gallery Month 2025
Koeh Sia Yong, Lunch Break, Samsui women, 午休, 红头巾, 2024, Oil on canvas, 100 x 120cm. Image courtesy of artcommune gallery.
Art Galleries Association is launching its first community-led edition of Singapore Gallery Month, with over 30 galleries participating across the island. As this year’s event coincides with SG60, exhibitions such as Alliance Française de Singapour’s Singapore Refracted, Haridas Contemporary’s Small Things Bought Together, JW Project’s The Other Singaporeans, and artcommune gallery’s Roots and Resonance. They engage with the fluid boundaries of Singapore’s national identity, while shedding light on unseen colonial and postwar histories. Visitors can also enjoy public-oriented programmes such as a live performance by Lai Yu Tong, Mark Chua, Lam Li Shuen and Wu Jun Han at ShanghART Singapore, and a still-life drawing workshop by Andy Yang, organised by Intersections Art Gallery. Plural Art Mag has launched a collector’s guide which can be found at participating galleries. A Patron’s Pass is available for purchase, which provides exclusive access to collectors’ home tours, art collecting workshops and more.
Singapore Gallery Month will run from 15 August to 14 September 2025 at various participating galleries across Singapore. Purchase the Patron’s Pass here.
Material Moves: Revisiting Print and Paper through Han Sai Por, Goh Beng Kwan, Ong Kim Send and Chua Ek Kay
Han Sai Por. Photo by Toni Cuhadi. Image courtesy of STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery, Singapore.
Material Moves is a new group exhibition hosted at STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery featuring the works of Han Sai Por (b. 1943), Goh Beng Kwan (b. 1937), Ong Kim Seng (b. 1945) and Chua Ek Kay (1947-2008). Curated by Adele Tan, it looks at the artists expanding beyond their established practices and exploring new avenues of material innovation. Han’s works are experimentations with hand-moulded paper, relief intaglio collage and collagraphy, while Goh’s works show vibrant new colours and dynamic motion in his collage compositions. Similarly, Ong has used mulberry bark as a surface onto which he inscribes watercolour renditions of nostalgic scenes. These are shown alongside lithographs from Chua’s oeuvre. With an emphasis on the possibility for artistic renewal and reinvention, the curatorial premise takes an optimistic outlook on Singapore's future development in arts and culture.
Material Moves will take place from 16 August to 5 October 2025 at STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery. More information here.
