Read in English / 阅读语言 
ไทย 
简体中文
Singapore Biennale 2025: pure intention
Singapore Biennale 2025 (SB2025) returns with more than 80 participating artists and over 100 works under the theme “pure intention.” The biennale uses art as a lens to read Singapore’s transformations—across society, the city, and its people. Each artist is invited to respond to memory, ritual, and everyday experience with sincerity rather than pretense, revealing hidden layers of meaning. The theme asks audiences to look more closely at the ordinary, where new interpretations and significance emerge in the present day.
This year is especially significant as the biennale is presented in conjunction with the SG60 campaign marking Singapore’s 60th year as a nation (with early experiments already explored in the Metaverse).
This edition is curated by Duncan Bass, Hsu Fang-Tze, and Selene Yap—three curators from the Singapore Art Museum (SAM)—together with Ong Puay Khim, Director of Collections, Public Art and Programmes at SAM, supported by a network of international curatorial collaborators.
Now in its eighth edition, the Singapore Biennale again turns the nation into an exhibition ground. Works will appear across key sites including the Rail Corridor, Wessex Estate, Tanglin Halt, the Civic District, Orchard, and at SAM in Tanjong Pagar Distripark—embedding art within daily life, from colonial-era buildings and shopping malls to residential neighbourhoods and green corridors (see the full venue list at the end).
This year features more than 100 works, with organisers noting that over 30 are newly commissioned. From the current artist list, Southeast Asian participation appears particularly strong.
Three Thai artists join this edition: Tanatchai Bandasak, Sorawit Songsataya, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (in collaboration with Singapore’s Guo-Liang Tan)—notably, all three work prominently with film art.
Singapore Biennale 2025 Highlights
To guide readers through the scale of the Biennale, the highlights have been carefully organized according to each exhibition area. This structure allows audiences to navigate the event as it unfolds across Singapore’s diverse districts, from historic civic landmarks to contemporary art hubs.
🔹 Rail Corridor and nearby
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) and Guo-Liang Tan (Singapore)
An outdoor installation inspired by theatrical backdrops in Apichatpong’s films—emerging as a kinetic work that moves within nature. - Emily Floyd (Australia)
Field Library, a colourful sculptural work that doubles as a reading space and community hub, set amid the greenery of Wessex Estate. - Joo Choon Lin (Singapore)
An immersive performance installation at Tanglin Halt Market that challenges how audiences perceive movement and change.
🔹 Civic District
- Gala Porras-Kim (Colombia/USA/UK)
A work reflecting on labour and rest, through the poetry and gatherings of migrant workers on Sundays. - Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Vietnam/USA)
Temple on the Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden at National Gallery Singapore, constructed from disarmed wartime remnants from Quảng Trị, Vietnam—an acoustic space for reflection on land, history and repair. - Kapwani Kiwanga (Canada/France)
Flowers for Africa: Rwanda, a fresh-flower reconstruction based on historical documentation to mark Rwanda’s independence. - Asian Film Archive (Singapore)
A 20th-anniversary, cross-disciplinary programme featuring three new installations and experimental film screenings that probe decay and the potential for renewal.
🔹 Orchard and strata-titled malls
- Eisa Jocson (Philippines)
A karaoke-video project with Filipino domestic workers at Lucky Plaza—inviting audiences to sing along to stories of struggle and aspiration. - Tan Pin Pin (Singapore)
A moving-image work that maps Singapore’s time and memory, linking past, present and future. - The Packet (Sri Lanka)
An internet café installation titled Water Under The Bridge/A Bridge Under Water, gathering new and archival works within a retro cybercafé setting. - Riar Rizaldi (Indonesia)
Mirage: Agape at 20 Anderson Road, tracing convergences between scientific and spiritual knowledge. - Hothouse (Singapore)
PRIMAL INSTINCT, bringing new works by Salad Dressing, Tini Aliman and Elizabeth Gabrielle Lee onto a redesigned lawn.
🔹 SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
- Singapore art history collection
Historic paintings and prints by Liu Kang, Lim Mu Hue, Lim Yew Kuan and Wu Peng Seng placed alongside contemporary works to create a cross-generational dialogue. - Pierre Huyghe (France/Chile)
Offspring, an installation shaped by local climate conditions and audience movement, combining light, haze and algorithmic sound so no encounter is the same. - Hyphen— (Indonesia)
Figures, dedications, and civilisations, reinterpreting Indonesian dioramas to examine politics and the making of civic consciousness.
🔹 Roving projects
- Akira Takayama / Port B (Japan)
In collaboration with architecture students from National Gallery Singapore, a pop-up board game centre travels between public libraries—Woodlands, Jurong and Tampines—as well as 20 Anderson Road.
Singapore Biennale 2025 — Visitor Information
Singapore Biennale 2025 runs from 31 October 2025 to 29 March 2026. Most city venues are free to visit, except for the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, which requires tickets. Prices: Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents SGD 15 (about USD 11); international visitors SGD 25 (about USD 18). Children under 6, and students and teachers in Singapore, enjoy free admission.
Early-bird tickets with 20% off are available from 17 September to 30 October 2025 via the official Singapore Biennale website.
Full list of exhibition venues
Civic District area
● Fort Canning Centre
● Fort Canning Lighthouse
● Fort Canning MRT Station
● Fort Gate
● National Gallery Singapore
● Oldham Theatre
● Old Married Soldiers Quarters
● Raffles House Lawn
Rail Corridor area
● Tanglin Halt
● Blenheim Court
● Various outdoor spaces and green spaces
● Harbourfront MRT Station
Orchard area
●Far East Shopping Centre
● Lucky Plaza
● Orchard MRT Station
● 20 Anderson Road
and Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Complete artist list (as of September 2025; the organiser notes there may be additions closer to opening)
1. Tini Aliman (Singapore/Germany)
2. Allora and Calzadilla (USA/Cuba)
3. Faysal Altunbozar (Türkiye/United Kingdom)
4. Fiona Amundsen (New Zealand)
5. Anusapati (Indonesia)
6. Anisha Baid (India)
7. Tanatchai Bandasak (Thailand)
8. CAMP (India)
9. Paul Chan (Hong Kong/USA)
10. field-0 \[Jingru (Cyan) Cheng and Chen Zhan]
(China/United Kingdom)
11. Kah Bee Chow (Malaysia/New
Zealand/Sweden)
12. Chu Hao Pei (Singapore)
13. Shenuka Corea (Sri Lanka)
14. Cui Jie (China)
15. Dat Vu and Truong Que Chi (Vietnam)
16. Cian Dayrit (the Philippines)
17. Diakron and Emil Rønn Andersen (Denmark)
18. Debbie Ding (Singapore)
19. Tristan Duke (USA)
20. Emily Floyd (Australia)
21. Forum Lenteng (Indonesia)
22. Gabriela Golder (Argentina)
23. Griya Seni Hj. Kustiyah Edhi Sunarso,
Hyphen—, Tom Nicholson with Ary “Jimged”
Sendy, Aufa Ariaputra, Nasikin, Omar
Aryarindra (Indonesia)
24. Devadeep Gupta (India)
25. Huang Po-Chih (Taiwan)
26. Alana Hunt (Australia)
27. Pierre Huyghe (France/Chile)
28. ikkibawiKrrr (South Korea)
29. Kei Imazu (Japan/Indonesia)
30. Izat Arif (Malaysia)
31. Eisa Jocson (the Philippines)
32. Jesse Jones (Ireland)
33. Joo Choon Lin (Singapore)
34. Özgür Kar (Türkiye/the Netherlands)
35. Ju Young Kim (South Korea/Germany)
36. Kapwani Kiwanga (Canada/France)
37. Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork (USA)
38. Rizki Lazuardi (Indonesia)
39. Elizabeth Gabrielle Lee (Singapore/United
Kingdom)
40. Kang Seung Lee (South Korea/USA)
41. Seung-taek Lee (South Korea)
42. Lim Mu Hue (Singapore)
43. Lim Yew Kuan (Singapore)
44. Liu Kang (Singapore)
45. lololol (Taiwan)
46. Angelica Mesiti (Australia)
47. Aiganym Mukhamejan (Kazakhstan)
48. Kate Newby (New Zealand/USA)
49. Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Vietnam/USA)
50. Ahmet Öğüt (Türkiye/the
Netherlands/Germany)
51. Yuri Pattison (Ireland/France)
52. Gala Porras-Kim (Colombia/USA/United
Kingdom)
53. Presiden Tidore (Indonesia)
54. Shahana Rajani (Pakistan)
55. Riar Rizaldi (Indonesia)
56. Aya Rodriguez-Izumi (USA)
57. RRD (Red de Reproducción y Distribución)
(Mexico)
58. Salad Dressing (Singapore)
59. Ayesha Singh (India)
60. Sorawit Songsataya (Thailand/New Zealand)
61. Emiria Sunassa (Indonesia)
62. Young-jun Tak (South Korea/Germany)
63. Akira Takayama/Port B (Japan)
64. Tan Pin Pin (Singapore)
65. Tan Zi Hao (Malaysia)
66. Brandon Tay (Singapore/China)
67. The Observatory and DuckUnit
(Singapore/Thailand)
68. Rirkrit Tiravanija (Argentina/Thailand/
Germany/USA)
69. Julian Abraham “Togar” (Indonesia)
70. Álvaro Urbano (Spain/Germany)
71. Yuyan Wang (China/France)
72. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) and
Guo-Liang Tan (Singapore)
73. Adrian Wong (USA)
74. Elsa Wong (Singapore/USA)
75. Ming Wong (Singapore)
76. Wu Peng Seng (Singapore)
77. Jiajia Zhang (China/Switzerland)
Also on the calendar is ART SG 2026, a key art fair taking place from 23–25 January 2026. Read our review of ART SG here.
Story: Tae Art Man
