Meet The Emerging Artists Defining Singapore Art Week 2026
Amidst all the glitzy fairs and blue chip shows at Singapore Art Week, here are some rising talents to know and keep an eye out for.
Yes art season is upon us again with the 14th edition of Singapore Art Week kicking off from today till January 31, and there are plenty of blockbuster shows that’ll be on everyone’s lips, from Ghanaian superstar Ibrahim Mahama’s first solo show in Singapore (Digging Stars) to the much anticipated Singapore edition of Wan Hai Hotel, as well as tentpole events like the mega art fairs ART SG and S.E.A Focus.
While we’ve covered the big names previously, here we’ve narrowed our focus to the breakout stars and indie projects that are redefining what Singapore art looks like right now. From a badminton court like none other you’ve ever encountered before to kinetic sculptures hijacking street corners, these smaller-scale shows are no less important in our books than the established ones. Ultimately, it is this influx of curious ideas and raw energy that keeps our local scene breathing—and evolving—well beyond the white cube.
Here, 13 emerging stars share what you can look forward to at their shows:
NATALIE KHOO
Artist Natalie Khoo
By day, Khoo is the resident film programmer at Asian Film Archive, but her creative practice is driven by her past training in archaeology. Now, rather than digging for physical artifacts, she excavates film, sound, and code to see what’s buried beneath the surface. She treats the moving image like a weathered relic—layering and “remixing” visuals until they morph into immersive worlds where ancient myths and digital glitches coexist.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
“I’m presenting City of New Ruins, a collaborative work developed with a multidisciplinary group of artists — Ang Kia Yee, Annabelle Tan, Darius Ou, Kai McLaughlin, Kiong Wei Zhong, Kirti Upadhyaya, Marcus Mohan, Syafiq Halid, Tristan Lim, and myself. The work also features a live performance by Aditya Mirchandani and Tara Tan.
For this work, the artist and a team of creators have built a walk-through “ghost city” inspired by the quiet, empty towers of Forest City in Johor Bahru.
The project grew out of my film Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, which I directed last year and is still in progress. Since then, it has evolved into an adjacent act of world-building. This project was imagined collectively, shaped by artists from different disciplines and inspired by Forest City (the multi-billion mega housing project in Johor that’s now more infamous for being a ghost town) — a strange mirror of Singapore that sits just across the causeway.
Turning her film project into a physical world, she uses sand, concrete, and live performances to show what happens when big dreams of expansion don’t go as planned.
When we visited, it felt uncanny: busy in parts, eerily empty in others. Older buildings seemed exhausted, their facades greying, storefronts still vacant, while glossy new developments promised futures yet to arrive. City of New Ruins becomes a poetic restaging of that experience — a dream remade from another dream. Through architecture, sound, poetry, performance, moving image and graphic design, the work invites the visitor to become the final collaborator.
An emoji that sums it up:
👽
Where and when can people catch it?
“City of New Ruins runs from 22–31 January, open daily from 12pm–8pm, at 37 Tanjong Pagar Distripark, #04-01B. Alongside the main installation, visitors can also catch two special live performances on 23 January (8.30pm–9pm) and 31 January (4.30pm-5pm), which expand on the exhibition’s themes through poetry, movement, and sound.
An artist panel will also take place on 31 January from 5pm–7pm, bringing together all participating artists for a conversation around the work and its ideas. More details here.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
She invites the public to explore an eerie, futuristic playground that feels like a mirror version of Singapore caught between the past and the future.
“We hope visitors enter the world and leave something of themselves behind. We invite them to slow down — to pause, listen, dig, read, and wander. Rather than offering neat conclusions, the work asks how we might continue dreaming, living, and caring for one another amid the ruins we inherit or recreate. It’s an immersive world we’ve built, and one we hope people will step into fully. What do you see, hear, and feel when you’re inside it?”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
“I’m most excited to see art that embraces ‘collective authorship’ in unexpected ways—basically, projects where the lines between artists blur. I’m also drawn to works that are tender or emotional in their vibe, or those that present layered, peculiar objects and different ways of being. I’m especially looking forward to the Objectifs show to unfold by feeling, the view from here is perfect, Auditoria by Louis Quek and Esther Goh, and The strange archive by Adrian Tan.”
DYLAN CHAN
Artist Dylan Chan
Chan, 28, is both an artist and curator, and his work looks at where queerness, identity and material come together. He’s drawn to the relationship between the body and its surroundings — especially within domestic spaces — and how objects quietly influence the way we move, feel and exist. By layering personal and shared stories, he reflects on intimacy, queerness, and the subtle tensions that live between private and communal spaces.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
“I am curating two shows - both exhibitions are located at Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film - but if you’re looking for my artworks, they can be found at ART SG, showing with the gallery JW Projects.
Chan’s one of the busiest folks this art week - in addition to curating two shows, he’s also showing his own artworks at ART SG fair - pictured here is an example from his signature Parquet series, which turns the familiar wooden floors of our homes into a canvas for memory. By using this common material, he captures the quiet, intimate traces of daily life and the emotional marks we leave behind on the surfaces around us.
The first show is titled To Unfold by Feeling, the View from Here is Perfect; it’s part of the annual Objectifs Curator Open Call and is a group show featuring four local artists: Daniel Chong, Jo Ho, Marvin Tang, and Priyageetha Dia. The premise of the show is to question our relationship with images, and the four artists explore this through various thought tangents.
The other show is Exposure_Exposure, co-curated with (fellow rising artist) Daniel Chong. Also a group exhibition, it showcases works by Chok Si Xuan, PG Lee, Ian Tee, Grace Tan, and Sookoon Ang. This show features a series of outdoor installations scattered around Objectifs’ outdoor premises. To me, the exhibition evokes the photographic concept of double exposure, where these sculptures and installations are superimposed onto—or integrated into—our landscapes.
Finally, the work I will be showing at ART SG is a new set of photo-structures from my ongoing Parquet series, alongside two new image explorations.”
An emoji that sums up this work: 👀✨🪵
Where and when can people catch it?
“Both exhibitions run from 20 January to 1 March at Objectifs, 155 Middle Road, while ART SG runs from 23–25 January at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Avenue.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
“I hope visitors take the time to explore the themes present in the shows and to be fully present in the act of looking.”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
“I’m definitely looking forward to the Singapore premiere of (sound festival) Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless, along with Rituals of Perception by the Tanoto Art Foundation.”
CHOK SI XUAN
Artist Chok Si Xuan
Through her curious installations, Chok explores how people’s interactions are “increasingly mediated by layers of technologies”; she’s fascinated by how devices, apps, and software can bring us closer or push us further apart, shaping the dynamics of our relationships. Inspired by cybernetics and post-human culture, her art - typically created with secondhand electronics mixed with materials like silicone, steel, and fabrics - challenges us to rethink the role of technology in our lives.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
“columnar (2026) is a new sculpture in my ongoing series that explores banyan trees and their parasitic yet symbiotic relationship with their host. With their ability to envelop and slowly consume a host tree, questions around the negotiation of space, energy, time and resources come into play. Observing this compelling network of relationships, I created an outdoor kinetic sculpture in response to the banyan’s growth patterns.
Inspired by the way banyan trees slowly wrap around and take over their hosts, Chok’s outdoor kinetic sculpture mimics the tree’s complex growth to explore how living things compete for space and energy.
An emoji that sums up this work:
🌿
Where and when can people catch it?
“Exposure_Exposure is on view at Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film (outdoors), 155 Middle Road, from 20 February to 1 March.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
“By reproducing these relationships through synthetic materials and organic forms, the work reflects how engineered environments and natural systems are constantly negotiating with one another. Situated outdoors, I hope visitors might notice new things about their surroundings, and how humans and nature are in continual conversation with the built environment.”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
“Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless at Singapore Art Museum, Elia Nurvista and Bagus Pandega: Nafasan Bumi ~ An Endless Harvest at Singapore Art Museum, OH! MoonStone at Moonstone Lane, Auditoria at 42 Waterloo Street andTo Unfold by Feeling, the View from Here Is Perfect at Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film.”
HANS CHEW AND GENEVIEVE LEONG
Artists Genevieve Leong (left) and Hans Chew
Hans Chew is a ceramic artist whose works deal with themes of foreignness, discord, and nostalgia, while Genevieve Leong’s practice attempts to make the intangible corporeal, using text, images, and found objects to give physical form to things we usually can’t see or touch. Together, they’re presenting a show titled Touchpoints.
Each sculpture in this joint show is the result of a playful back-and-forth between the two artists.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
Hans Chew (HC): “We were invited by the art and design platform Supper House to create an exhibition together. Even though we’ve admired each other’s work for a long time, this is our first official collaboration. We both work with ceramics but in very different styles, so we wanted to see what would happen if we merged our two worlds.
The final installation is a mix of ceramics and everyday found objects. It’s the result of a “back-and-forth” process—each of us making a move or adding an object, and the other person responding to it until the sculpture felt complete.”
An emoji that sums up this work:
HC: “🧩 or 🤝”
Visitors are invited to guess who did which part of the artwork.
Where and when can people catch it?
HC: “The exhibition is held at Journey East—a one-of-a-kind furniture store in the #03-02 Tan Boon Liat Building, 315 Outram Road.. It runs from now to 1st February and is open daily from 10 am–6 pm.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
HC: “The shapes we’ve made are loosely inspired by a bouldering wall. We chose this partly because the Supper House ‘box’ where the work lives reminded us of a bouldering wall, and partly because we wanted to play with that physical urge to reach out and touch something—even though you can’t actually do so in the gallery.
When you come across this strange landscape, we hope you feel a sense of curiosity about the “conversation” happening between our objects, and find yourself reflecting on how our two different styles either click together or stand apart.”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
HC: “We are excited to visit To unfold by feeling, the view from here is perfect (curated by Dylan Chan) and Exposure_Exposure (curated by Daniel Chong & Dylan Chan) at Objectifs. They have an exciting line-up of artists and we look forward to encountering their works.”
TISYA WONG
Artist Tisya Wong
Ever wonder how much our gadgets actually control us? This is the central question in Tisya Wong’s practice. She explores the “mirror” between human behaviour and the objects we use, using everyday devices to poke at the absurd habits and social rules we follow without even thinking.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
“I’ve been working on a new installation with CCTVs, titled We’re Monitoring the Situation. The work examines how power behaves under constraint. To me, the phrase reflects a state of limbo. There’s an irony in how it implies some form of action being taken, while also allowing inaction to continue.”
Wong’s installation has a bunch of CCTVs humourously surveilling one another, in a nod to how the powers that be make grand - but ineffectual - statements.
An emoji that sums up this work:
“⚠️ or 👁️”
Where and when can people catch it?
“It’ll be part of an exhibition titled Chapalang, alongside other amazing works by Southeast Asian artists who work with technology in ways you won’t expect! The show runs from 22nd Jan to 1st Feb at ArtSpace @ Helutrans at 39 Keppel Road.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
“Everything—so long as it’s not parts of the artworks! :-)”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
“It’s that time of the year when everyone comes together, so what I’m most excited about is the atmosphere—there’s so much happening, and so much to be inspired by!”
HAFIZAH JAINAL
Artist Hafizah Jainal
Hafizah Jainal (also known as Hafi) is a Singaporean illustrator and visual artist whose work focuses on the intersection of identity, heritage, and personal history. For Singapore Art Week 2026, she is part of the exhibition The Cloth Remembers, where her work uses storytelling and traditional textiles to explore ancestral memories and cultural narratives.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
“I will be showing my work Kehidupan Bagai Kain Tertetas (Life is like a ripped piece of cloth). I was deeply inspired by the narrative traditions of story cloths (these refer to textiles that used to visually narrate personal, historical, or cultural experiences), and I wanted to examine the ongoing negotiation between identity, memory, and self. It considers how one navigates the contemporary world while remaining rooted in personal histories, cultural practices, and ancestral knowledge.”
In this work, she layered digital illustrations onto a worn batik cloth inherited from her grandmother, reworking the damaged fabric to show how personal heritage can be transformed into new stories for the modern world.
The work involves layering my digital illustrations onto a piece of batik cloth that was passed down to me by my grandmother—the fabric itself has been worn and torn with age. Through reworking the damaged textile, the process extends the lifespan of the cloth and reframes its meaning, honouring the past while transforming it into a vessel for renewed expression and continued storytelling.”
An emoji that sums up this work:
“✨”
Where and when can people catch it?
“They can catch my work at aNERDgallery on 29 Perak Road, from now till February 28, as part of the group show The Cloth Remembers.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
“I would like them to ponder their own personal histories and be curious about them!”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
I am looking forward to checking out the works at Light to Night and Comma,!
RYAN LIM ZI YI
Artist Ryan Lim Zi Yi
Ryan Lim Zi Yi is known for turning the everyday into art. Using images, sculptures, and text, he captures quiet, often overlooked moments from our surroundings and transforms them into installations that feel both familiar and new. His work invites us to pause, notice the small things, and find beauty in what usually goes unseen.
True to his signature ethos of magnifying what is normally considered mundane, Lim’s new series Monuments documents the overlooked objects found on city pavements—like discarded puzzle pieces or footprints in concrete—and turns them into sculptural “monuments” that archive the quiet, everyday histories of urban life.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
“Over the past two months, I have been an artist-in-residence at Shop-House by DECK, a newly opened art space in Singapore. During this time, I have been developing a new body of work that explores image-making through carvings and impressions. I will be presenting these pieces in a solo exhibition titled Monuments, which offers an alternative archive of the urban environment through these sculptural images.
At the same time, I am also presenting Tremors (2023) in a group exhibition, Zhai Sheng Ji: Chapter 5, curated by Wang Ruobing and Pang Hailong.”
Where and when can people catch it?
“Monuments will be presented at Shop-House by DECK, 4 Lorong 24 Geylang, from 17 January to 28 February 2026. Zhai Sheng Ji: Chapter 5 will be at 82 Tiong Poh Road, #01-07, until 31 January 2026.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
“For Monuments, I hope visitors will take the time to reflect on the unspectacular events and moments they have encountered in their lives, using them to evaluate our relationship with the structures we live in today.”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
“My fellow residents—Ang Song Ming, Alvin Ng, Hien Hoang, Camilla Marrese, and Gabriele Chiapparini—are also presenting exhibitions and programmes at the different galleries within Shop-House, so I am very excited to experience what they have been preparing.”
DANIEL CHONG
Artist Daniel Chong
By mixing the absurd with a deep sense of longing, this artist-curator uses humour to tackle serious themes. Daniel Chong creates playful, whimsical installations—like a giant “bitten” biscuit or resin “milk” spilling over jeans—to catch your eye and make you smile. While these works use familiar, everyday objects, they are designed to disrupt our expectations, using playfulness as a way to unwrap the complex social and political issues of our time.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
“I’ll be part of two exhibitions this year, both at Objectifs. The first is an artwork titled Binding what cannot be killed, part of To unfold by feeling, the view from here is perfect, curated by Dylan Chan inside the Chapel of Objectifs. Tldr; the work is me trying to navigate and understand the circulation of images that can generate such a hateful time, and my attempt to find a solution to it.
This installation uses sculptures inspired by Norse mythology to search for ways to resist and “bind” the suffocating online spread of contemporary fascism.
The second exhibition is Exposure_Exposure, which is curated by Dylan and me (a show set in the outdoor margins of Objectifs, it uses chance public encounters to explore the tension between literal visibility and the social pressure to “gain exposure,” especially during the hundreds of events that vie for attention during art week).
An emoji that sums up this work:
🌀
Where and when can people catch it?
“Both shows are at now open at Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film, 155 Middle Road, till March 1.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
“For my own work, I hope visitors approach it with curiosity and a willingness to sit with its uncanniness. I want to prompt reflection on the chaos of our digital age and the ways we navigate, organise, and make sense of it.”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
“The 6th VH AWARD by Hyundai Motor Group. Wan Hai Hotel: Singapore Strait, organised by ART SG and Rockbund Art Museum. Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless at Singapore Art Museum. Elia Nurvista and Bagus Pandega: Nafasan Bumi ~ An Endless Harvest at Singapore Art Museum.”
ASHLEY HI
Artist Ashley Hi
Operating at the intersection of art and technology, this artist and researcher challenges the idea that tech is just about “faster and more efficient.” As part of the collective Feelers, Ashley Hi treats technology as a research subject, but instead of writing academic papers, she transforms her findings into immersive artworks, performances, and educational workshops. Her practice looks critically at how digital tools interact with local history and culture, seeking ways to use technology that feel nourishing, joyful, and deeply human.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
“Our show is titled Ground Loops. In electronics, a “ground loop” is a technical glitch that happens when different parts of a system aren’t quite in sync, causing unwanted hums or static in audio and video. While most people try to fix this “noise,” we actually find it beautiful. To us, that interference shows what happens when different backgrounds—whether geography or culture—come together and rub against each other. It’s a sign of connection, not a mistake.
We’re bringing together artists and teachers from Singapore and New York for an exhibition and workshops. Together, we’re looking at how we can use things like language, archives, and modern technology in more creative, critical ways.”
Artist Melanie Hoff is one of the participating artists in Ground Loops. Her work, Dance Poem Revolution, is a riff on the classic Dance Dance Revolution machines so popular in the 2000s. Her version sees participants being able to create poems of their own - words will scroll by on the screen and the player selects the words they want by stepping on the corresponding buttons on the floor panel.
An emoji that sums up this work:
“➿”
Where and when can people catch it?
“You can catch Ground Loops at *SCAPE, Lvl 5 The TreeTop, as part of COMMA Creative Arts Festival and Singapore Art Week 2026 from 22–31 January.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
“We want people to see how artists can take archives—everything from personal memories to historical data and computer code—and transform them using tools like AI, ritual, and movement. Often, we think of technology as something that just moves faster and faster toward a single global goal. We hope to show that digital tools can also be used for “speculation”—a way to dream about our history and culture in ways that feel more joyful and human.”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
“Reworlding, Chapalang, Auditoria, Exposure_Exposure, City of New Ruins, Wan Hai Hotel, and NOX.”
MERVIN WONG
Artist Mervin Wong
What are you showing this year, and what’s the story behind it?
“I’m involved in two projects this Singapore Art Week. First, I’ll be performing a live audiovisual set at Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless, where I’ll be sharing new music that I’m currently working on and plan to release soon.
The second project is ALTAR by Sorry No Cure — a local arts collective I’m part of... It’s a multi-sensory installation that transforms the space into a dream-like environment using sound, visuals and atmosphere... we wanted to explore the idea of dreams not as an escape, but as something layered and emotional — something you experience with your whole body.
As part of ALTAR, we’re also presenting two live performances that extend this world. The first is DREAM, happening on 23 January from 8pm to 10pm, featuring performers Josh Tirados and Kansh from the Singapore Butoh Collective. Kin Leonn and I will also perform a special immersive audio set.
The second performance, AWOKEN, takes place on 31 January from 7pm to 10pm. It brings together artists from different scenes — pop, indie, hip-hop and electronic — including Nathan Hartono, Cayenne, Mary Sue, Isaac Chiew, TZECHAR, Darren Dubwise, Jonathan Koh, Evan Low and myself.
What makes this special is the collaboration. We wanted artists from different musical worlds to come together and create something new, working closely with producers from Singapore’s underground scene. The music performed will be original, and we’re hoping to continue developing and releasing these collaborations in the future.”
An emoji that sums up this work:
🌌
Where and when can people catch it?
“My set for Sonic Shaman takes place on 24 January, from 6pm to 6.40pm, at Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, The Spine, 39 Keppel Road. ALTAR (the installation) runs daily at Kampong Java throughout Singapore Art Week.
The two live ALTAR performances are DREAM on 23 January, 8pm to 10pm, and AWOKEN on 31 January, 7pm to 10pm - both take place at Flock at 52-56 Kampong Java Road.
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
“Personally, I hope the project shows that there’s a deeply collaborative and soulful side to the local music scene, and that when artists come together across genres, something meaningful and unexpected can emerge.”
What SAW 2026 shows are you personally most excited for?
“Mother Abyss by TZECHAR, part of Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless, happening on 23 January at 8pm. I SAW CHAOS – MAJILIS, featuring Strange Weather, Y-DRA/MAJILIS and Wahono, happening on 24 January at 6pm at Kampong Java.
QUEK JIA QI AND AARON LIM
Artists Quek Jia Qi (left) and Aaron Lim.
Artists Quek Jia Qi and Aaron Lim (right) make public art that’s playful and interactive, creating projects and events where people can help shape the experience as it happens. Drawing on Quek’s focus on learning through community and Aaron’s knack for participatory design, their work turns everyday spaces into opportunities for noticing, experimenting, and connecting. Together, they create fun, curious invitations that get people talking, playing, and sharing moments with one another - as exampled by their SAW 2026 joint show Bring Your Own Racket.
What are you showing, and what’s the story behind it?
“For Singapore Art Week 2026, we are presenting Bring Your Own Racket (BYOR), a bright orange, elongated net-like sculpture that borrows the visual language of the city and reframes it as a public invitation to play. Set in the CBD, the work creates a gentle interruption in a district built for efficiency, a line in space that asks people to slow down, look up, and notice one another.
We guarantee this is like no badminton game you’ve ever played before - but the idea behind the artists’ installation is ultimately still to urge people to have fun, especially in an area known for prioritising work.
BYOR emerged from our desire to bring play and connection into the Central Business District, a place shaped by speed, productivity, and quiet seriousness. We were curious what happens when a familiar play structure appears in the middle of everyday movement, where people are not arriving as art audiences but as office workers, commuters, residents, and passers-by. Could an artwork create permission to pause, meet, and try something together?
We see BYOR as part of a wider lineage of participatory art that uses play to open up public interaction. At forty-six metres long, the work carries the presence of infrastructure but redirects it toward shared experimentation, simple actions, invented rules, and small moments of connection in the flow of the city.”
An emoji that sums it up:
🏸
Where and when can people catch it?
“It takes place at Tanjong Pagar Green (outside Tanjong Pagar MRT Exit A) from January 20 - February 20, and we also have play test sessions on January 24 and 31 (4.30pm - 6.30pm), where we’re inviting the public to bring their own “racket” or any object they’d like to use as a racket.”
What do you hope visitors will take away from it?
“We hope visitors leave with a renewed sense that play can be small, social, and spontaneous. BYOR invites people to consider how play might enter public space, how we move with others, and what interactions feel possible in the CBD. The installation uses familiar cues to feel welcoming, then reframes them with humour and surprise, creating permission to play in new ways.”
What SAW 2026 shows are you guys personally most excited for?
“We’re especially excited for works that reimagine how we encounter one another and connect with the city, from access and togetherness to material memory and new spatial imaginaries. We can’t wait to catch Next Stop: Together! by ART:DIS (Arts & Disability) Singapore, Rotan Rattan: Meditations by Chen Yanyun and Dave Lim..
Other shows on our list include City of New Ruins, Exposure_Exposure (curated by Daniel Chong and Dylan Chan), Ground Loops by Feelers x School for Poetic Computation, and Public Art Momentary Pulses: Art in the Central Business District by Singapore Art Museum.”