Singapore Art Week Forum

Opening hours
Tickets
Address
Contacts

The Singapore Art Week Forum 2025 gathers international artists, curators, and museum and urban practitioners to rethink the relationship between art and the public.

What are the ways in which artists, cultural workers, and institutions have made concrete impacts on communities? How can they re-organise and change, in order to comfort and to disturb? In what ways can museums and cultural institutions think of the public as constituent parts of themselves?

The Singapore Art Week Forum is a joint initiative by the National Arts Council, National Gallery Singapore and Singapore Art Museum and features a keynote and two panel discussions.

Admission ticket includes refreshments and light snacks during the event, as well as access to the SAW Opening Reception.

Get a student concession ticket at $25 with the discount code "STUDENT" at checkout. Student ID (with photo) is required at registration on the event day. Student concession tickets do not grant access to the SAW Opening Reception.

Attendees with accessibility needs can reach us via the "Contact Organiser" function to make necessary arrangements.

Present your pass at National Gallery Singapore and Singapore Art Museum for free access to all exhibitions on 15th and 16th January.

Programme Details:

9.30am | Registration

10am | Opening remarks by Guest-of-Honour
10.30am | Keynote

Theaster Gates, Artist, USA—moderated by Patrick Flores, Chief Curator, National Gallery Singapore

What are the ways in which socially engaged practices can not only represent the stories of communities on a larger platform, but also extend continued care to these communities? Celebrated Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates discusses how artistic projects can enact meaningful impact on the wider public through his over two-decade-long practice.

| Lunch break (note that lunch is not provided; only light refreshments will be served)

2pm | Panel 1: Connecting Spaces

Art Labor, Artists, Henriette Vamberg, Managing Director & Partner, Gehl, Denmark, Lilian Chee, Associate Professor (Architectural Design and Visual Cultures), National University of Singapore and Sharon Chin, Artist, Malaysia—moderated by Selene Yap, Curator, Singapore Art Museum

What does it mean to make space for communities, physically and socially? And how do we embark on such an endeavour while consulting with local communities, bearing both built and natural environments in mind, in a way that ensures strong commitment to long-term engagement? This panel brings together artists and urbanists to present perspectives on the connection between audiences, social discourse and community development, and explores how institutions and artists ethically consider, define and work with their stakeholders.

| Tea break

4pm | Panel 2: Creating Communities

Grégory Castéra, Curator-at-large, KANAL-Centre Pompidou & Founding Member, AFIELD, France, Hilde Teerlinck, CEO/Artistic Director, Han Nefkens Foundation, Spain and Sharmini Pereira, Chief Curator, Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art Sri Lanka—moderated by Ong Puay Khim, Director, Collection, Public Art & Programmes, Singapore Art Museum

How can collectors and philanthropists support communities and artists in ways that are most meaningful, collaborative and effective? Could museums and cultural institutions begin viewing the public not as an external third party, but as constituent parts of themselves? By presenting a range of approaches and spotlighting the crucial role of patronage within the arts ecosystem, this panel hopes to illustrate the vibrant potentialities of building a shared space for artistic development in concert with collectors and philanthropists.