In a cultural moment defined by flux and fragmentation, three of Singapore’s most compelling art spaces—Singapore Art Museum, STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery and Appetite are staging exhibitions that speak directly to the spirit of the times. From archival interventions and diasporic memories to poetic surrealism and conceptual wit, these shows invite us to look deeper at how we make sense of our world—and our place in it.
Heman Chong: This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness
Singapore Art Museum, 10 May – 17 August 2025
With a title cheekily borrowed from Wikipedia’s disclaimer language, Heman Chong’s major survey at SAM sets the tone for what unfolds: a meticulous, mind-bending interrogation of language, memory and the limits of meaning in our endlessly networked world. Featuring 51 works spanning two decades—including six newly commissioned pieces—the exhibition unfolds across nine themed rooms: from Words and Whispers to Infrastructures and Endings.
Standout works include The Library of Unread Books (2016–ongoing), a living archive of unread tomes donated by the public; Calendars (2020–2096), a fictional chronology of Singapore’s vacant public spaces; and 106B Depot Road Singapore 102106, a memory-based architectural reconstruction of Chong’s childhood HDB flat. Whether it’s spy novels shredded into poetic rubble or a national flag rendered entirely in red text, Chong’s practice is conceptually razor-sharp, but never loses sight of the human. It’s a rare show that rewards both deep thinking and quiet feeling.
Outside In: Wifredo Lam’s Printmaking Legacy
STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery, 24 May – 13 July 2025
Marking the Cuban-Chinese artist’s first solo show in Southeast Asia, Outside In reveals a lesser-known yet vital aspect of Wifredo Lam’s practice: his vivid and visionary works on paper. Best known for his hybrid mythic figures that fused Surrealism with Afro-Cuban spirituality, Lam turned his focus to printmaking in the later stages of his career, working closely with master printer Giorgio Upiglio from 1963 until his death in 1982.
STPI, a gallery and workshop space seeded by Liu Thai Ker with the support of the ministerial cabinet, presents this Annual Special Exhibition in partnership with the Wifredo Lam Estate. It assembles over 60 prints, including collaborations with revolutionary poets like Aimé Césaire and Gherasim Luca. The show also features works from Lam’s Centennial Edition (1997–2002), drawn from plates approved by the artist himself. In these prints, word and image meet in a vibrant dance, collapsing geographic and cultural borders with radical elegance. This is STPI’s Annual Special Exhibition, and it delivers.
Appetite Presents: Dinda Yang Jauh and the Fragmented Present
Appetite, 29 April – 29 June 2025
Titled after a video-essay by Thai artist Korakrit Arunanondchai, this tightly curated group exhibition at Appetite curated by Tan Siu Li, gathers some of the most arresting voices of a younger generation of Southeast Asian artists. Across intimate scales and delicate materials, their works respond to an age of digital distraction, emotional dislocation, and shifting identities.
Ain’s haunting ash portraits, crafted from the residue of ceramic firings, reimagine fading family photographs to reflect on cultural rupture and inherited memory, particularly the fallout of Singapore’s 1965 separation from Malaysia. Aisha Rosli’s Epitaph series blurs the subconscious into form through layers of ink, oil and pastel, while Apichaya Wannakit’s oil paintings evoke dreamlike portals where memory, folklore and identity collapse into each other. Meanwhile, Dylan Chan’s sculptural works extract the poetics of domestic materials like parquet wood, teasing out themes of intimacy and solitude.
Quietly surreal and deeply personal, the show is a tender document of disquiet—one that lingers long after you leave the room.
Image credit: Wifredo Lam, nouvelle bonté, 1969, Etching with aquatint in colors on Velin Arches paper, 61 x 80.5 cm (edition)
Stay updated and social with Popspoken: LinkedIn | Instagram
