SINGAPORE BIENNALE 2025

At Singapore Art Museum, the works challenge notions of linear progress and urban development. Establishing a cross-generational dialogue, works drawn from Singapore’s National Collection, including selections from Lim Yew Kuan, Lim Mu Hue, and Ming Wong, sit alongside newly commissioned works by Álvaro Urbano, Cui Jie, and others; a polyvocal discourse that is expanded through a presentation by curatorial contributor Hyphen— which revisits the 1963 handover of West Irian and the figure of Emiria Sunassa, a pioneering modernist painter.

Along the city’s Orchard shopping belt, works by Eisa Jocson, Tan Pin Pin, Yuri Pattison, curatorial contributor The Packet, and others activate strata-titled malls and the distinctive cultural communities within. Artworks at a nearby school campus explore how hybrid forms of scientific, historical, and spiritual knowledge are created and shared, as seen through works by Diakron & Emil Rønn Andersen, Riar Rizaldi, Young-jun Tak, and contributions by Hothouse.

Throughout Fort Canning Park and the civic core, works in public spaces by Kapwani Kiwanga, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, lololol, and others reflect how layers of history, myth, and technology continue to shape our world. Oldham Theatre at National Archives of Singapore features a presentation by Asian Film Archive, while National Gallery Singapore hosts new and historic works by Tuan Andrew Nguyen and Seung-taek Lee.

In January, along the lush greenery of the Rail Corridor, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Guo-Liang Tan stage a kinetic installation that creates a cinematic encounter with wind and light. Emily Floyd presents a large-scale artwork that is both a play space and a library, opening a space for conversations on play and pedagogy.

pure intention addresses a perennial dilemma: how one might live meaningfully within systems engineered for efficiency. Across its sites, SB2025 gathers practices that do not resolve this contradiction but reveal its tensions, inviting audiences to pause, reflect, and reconsider how intention might be shaped or reclaimed in everyday life.

Participating artists

Adrian Wong, Ahmet Öğüt, Aiganym Mukhamejan, Akira Takayama/Port B, Alana Hunt, Allora & Calzadilla, Álvaro Urbano, Angelica Mesiti, Anisha Baid, Anusapati, Apichatpong Weerasethakul & Guo-Liang Tan, Aya Rodriguez-Izumi, Ayesha Singh, Brandon Tay, CAMP, Center for Political Beauty, Chu Hao Pei, Cian Dayrit, Cui Jie, Dat Vu & Truong Que Chi, Debbie Ding, Devadeep Gupta, Diakron & Emil Rønn Andersen, Eisa Jocson, Elizabeth Gabrielle Lee, Elsa Wong, Emily Floyd, Emiria Sunassa, Faysal Altunbozar, field-0, Finbarr Fallon, Fiona Amundsen, Forum Lenteng, Gabriela Golder, Gala Porras-Kim, Genpei Akasegawa, Griya Seni Hj. Kustiyah Edhi Sunarso, Hyphen—, Tom Nicholson with Ary “Jimged” Sendy, Aufa Ariaputra, Nasikin, Omar Aryarindra, Huang Po-Chih, ikkibawiKrrr, Izat Arif, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Jesse Jones, Jiajia Zhang, Joo Choon Lin, Ju Young Kim, Julian Abraham “Togar”, Kah Bee Chow, Kang Seung Lee, Kapwani Kiwanga, Kate Newby, Kei Imazu, Lim Mu Hue, Lim Yew Kuan, Liu Kang, lololol, Maha Maamoun, Ming Wong, Özgür Kar, Paul Chan, Pierre Huyghe, Presiden Tidore, Riar Rizaldi, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Rizki Lazuardi, RRD (Red de Reproducción y Distribución), Salad Dressing, Seung-taek Lee, Shahana Rajani, Shenuka Corea, Sohrab Hura, Sorawit Songsataya, Tabita Rezaire, Tan Pin Pin, Tan Zi Hao, Tanatchai Bandasak, The Observatory & DuckUnit, Tini Aliman, Titarubi, Tristan Duke, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Wu Peng Seng, Young-jun Tak, Yuri Pattison, and Yuyan Wang.

SB2025 is commissioned by the National Arts Council, Singapore, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and organised by Singapore Art Museum.