Singapore Art Week 2017 is upon us again and as usual the frenzy of events is building up. Fairs, exhibitions, vernissages, performances, talks, walks, tours ….how much can one accomplish in the twelve-day celebration of the visual arts that begins on January 11 and runs through January 22.
With locations ranging from spaces as diverse as galleries and museums to art precincts and non-profit spaces across the island, the 12 days long event hopes to reach out to both Singaporeans and international visitors with a myriad of quality art experiences which span the visual arts, from traditional to modern to contemporary practices to promote art appreciation.
Here is Artitute’s must-see/do list for the Week:
Art After Dark
Singapore’s visual arts cluster at Gillman Barracks will open its doors till late in celebration of Singapore Art Week with a host of new exhibitions premiering at its galleries. There will also be the launch of Gillman Barracks public art project, outdoor F&B pop-ups, and a showcase of live music acts throughout the night.
Aliwal Urban Art Festival
Aliwal Arts Centre sees the return of this annual celebration of Singapore cool, with a carefully-curated selection of art inspired by international street culture—from contemporary art to graffiti, punk to disco, skateboarding to street dancing.
Trade skills for assorted items at the Barter Workshop Market, cop works from Singapore artists, or party to some of the best bands, DJs, producers and turntablists from the island.
Organised alongside the one-day festival is No Regrets For Our Youth—an artistic yet functional urban gymnasium examining the cult of #gymlife, by Singapore art collective DXXXXD, whose members are interested in relations between contemporary visual art and the vernacular. Everyone is invited to get fit here!
4 – 15 Jan 2017, Aliwal Arts Centre, 28 Aliwal Street, Singapore 199918
ARTWALK Little India
After two successful editions, ARTWALK Little India returns with a new theme, Your Path To Remember. This year, the festival leads visitors into a space in time where memories and stories of the precinct come to life through animated tellings of traditional folktales and mythologies, captivating art installations, and immersive performances.
12 – 17 Jan 2017, Little India
Art Stage Singapore
Southeast Asia’s flagship art fair, opens its seventh edition from 12 to 15 January 2017 (Vernissage on 11 January) at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.
12 – 15 Jan 2017, Sands Expo & Convention Centre, 10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956
Singapore Contemporary
Curated over 6,000 square meters of state-of- the-art space, the 2nd edition will again present the popular ‘Artist Dialogues’, ‘China Encounters’, and ‘Gallery Projects’ sectors, as well as unveiling ‘Photo 17’—an exciting photography-centred sector that reflects growing Southeast Asian interest in contemporary photography.
Talk: Lines of Control: Borders and Contemporary Art
Renowned artist, curator and scholar Dr Iftikhar Dadi discusses how contemporary artists navigate the dilemmas of a globalised and fractured world through this talk on his project Lines of Control. Echoing ideas explored in Artist and Empire: (En)countering Colonial Legacies, this exhibition-led inquiry co-curated with Hammad Nasar examined the notion of border-making as a productive space—where nations are made through forging new identities, reconfiguring memory, re-writing history, and patrolling physical and psychological borders.
20 Jan 2017, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, National Gallery Singapore, 1 Saint Andrew’s Road, #01–01, 178957
The Singapore Biennale 2016 Symposium: Why Biennale At All?
The Singapore Biennale 2016 Symposium contextualises key ideas and questions about biennale modalities and art practices in Southeast, South and East Asia, in relation to the international contemporary art circuit. It will feature presentations and conversations between biennale directors, curators, art historians, writers, and artists. Scheduled to run over two days during Singapore Art Week 2017, the symposium asks: Why Biennale At All? and will be shaped to enable different modes of engagement with core issues relating to the making, scope, and experience of biennales in general, with a special focus on the region’s expositions.
21 – 22 Jan 2017, Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road, Singapore 178897
The exhibition brings together 15 local and 8 Japanese ceramics artists invited from Tokoname, an ancient and prominent center for ceramics in Japan, to promote cross-culture exchange and celebrate bilateral ties between the 2 countries through the medium of clay. From the 19th to the 22nd of January (11am – 6pm), the 58-year old Guan Huat Dragon kiln will be bursting with a range of artistic activities. The atmosphere will be friendly and educational—a fantastic getaway for general public and ceramics enthusiasts.
For more information about Singapore Art Week, visit https://www.artweek.sg/
