Where to Look First: Your Guide to ART SG 2026 in Singapore

As Singapore Art Week unfolds, ART SG returns to Marina Bay Sands with its most expansive and conceptually ambitious edition to date. Bringing together more than 100 galleries from over 30 countries, the fair continues to solidify Singapore’s position as a cultural gateway between Southeast Asia and the wider international art world. This year marks a significant milestone: the first-ever co-presentation of S.E.A. Focus within ART SG, offering visitors a fully integrated view of regional practice alongside global contemporary art.

“As we launch the fourth edition of ART SG 2026, Singapore’s position as a dynamic hub for Southeast Asia’s art market has never been clearer,” said Magnus Renfrew, co-founder of ART SG, pointing to the fair’s growing ecosystem of galleries, collectors, institutions, and curatorial initiatives.

White Cube: Monumentality and Material Presence

Returning to ART SG, White Cube anchors its booth with a multi-artist presentation that balances conceptual rigor and physical intensity. Highlights include works by Ibrahim Mahama, Michael Armitage, Theaster Gates, and Raqib Shaw, whose tapestry The Pragmatic Pessimist imagines a mythic Arctic landscape shaped by ecological precarity. The booth underscores White Cube’s ability to stage museum-level encounters within the fair context, offering collectors a panoramic view of contemporary practice across geographies.

Johyun Gallery: Lee Bae’s Charcoal as Landscape

In the PLATFORM sector, Johyun Gallery presents a commanding installation of Lee Bae’s Brushstroke Series, extending the artist’s long-running investigation into charcoal as both material and philosophy. Suspended and monumental, the works transform drawing into spatial experience, emphasizing gesture, gravity, and time. Positioned at the intersection of painting and installation, Lee’s presentation is one of the fair’s most visually arresting moments.

INKstudio: Bingyi and the Cosmos

INKstudio brings a powerful solo presentation of Bingyi, whose large-scale works channel natural forces—wind, rain, and lightning—into painterly form. Rooted in Chinese ink traditions yet radically contemporary in scale and ambition, Bingyi’s paintings speak to transformation and cosmic connection. The presentation offers a contemplative counterpoint to the fair’s busier commercial booths, rewarding slow looking and sustained attention.

Gajah Gallery: Jitish Kallat and Southeast Asian Dialogues

Gajah Gallery plays a dual role at ART SG 2026, contributing both to the main fair and to S.E.A. Focus. Within PLATFORM, the gallery jointly presents Jitish Kallat’s Palindrome/Anagram Painting, installed with seating arranged like the hands of the Doomsday Clock. The work merges drawing, language, and systems thinking, inviting viewers into a meditation on time, crisis, and human agency. Kallat also features prominently in talks programming, reinforcing the artist’s intellectual presence across the fair.

S.E.A. Focus: The Humane Agency

For the first time, S.E.A. Focus is fully integrated into ART SG, curated by John Z.W. Tung with artistic consultation by Emi Eu under the theme The Humane Agency. Bringing together more than fifteen galleries, the platform spotlights Southeast Asian artists responding to ecological crisis, displacement, and social transformation with empathy and care.

“In these unprecedented times, artists play a vital role in responding to global challenges and imagining alternative pathways toward a more compassionate world,” said Tung, emphasizing the urgency of Southeast Asian perspectives within global discourse.

Standout presentations include Richard Koh Fine Art with Singaporean textile artist Samuel Xun, neugerriemschneider centering on Ho Tzu Nyen’s video installation Night March of Hundred Monsters, and Silverlens showcasing mixed-media works by Imelda Cajipe Endaya, whose richly layered surfaces address identity, labor, and environment.

Performance, Film, and Expanded Programming

ART SG 2026 significantly expands its live and time-based offerings with the introduction of a dedicated Performance Art sector, curated by X Zhu-Nowell of Rockbund Art Museum. Highlights include Brian Fuata’s live, site-responsive improvisations and John Clang’s participatory works blending ritual, astrology, and collective inquiry.

The fair’s FILM program, presented in collaboration with ArtScience Museum, unfolds under the poetic theme Would You Tell Me a Story Until I Fall Asleep? Screening daily through February 1, the program features works by Samson Young, Lêna Bùi, and Marcel Odenbach, using cinema as a space for intimacy, memory, and reflection rather than spectacle.

Why ART SG 2026 Matters

“We are delighted to welcome a diverse mix of galleries from Singapore, Southeast Asia and around the world,” said Shuyin Yang, fair director of ART SG. “This edition builds on the fair’s growing international reach while deepening our commitment to regional practice”.

With its emphasis on solo presentations, curated platforms, and cross-disciplinary programming, ART SG 2026 moves beyond the traditional fair model. Instead, it positions itself as a site of dialogue—between regions, mediums, and modes of practice—offering collectors, curators, and audiences a clear view of where Southeast Asian contemporary art stands today, and where it is headed next.

ART SG 2026 | At a Glance

Dates
VIP Preview & Vernissage: January 22, 2026
Public Days: January 23–25, 2026

Location
Sands Expo and Convention Centre
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Scale
100+ galleries
30+ countries and territories

Key Sectors
Galleries · FOCUS · PLATFORM · Performance Art · S.E.A. Focus

Programming
ART SG FILM (with ArtScience Museum)
Performance Art curated by X Zhu-Nowell
Perspectives Talks & panels
Off-site exhibition: Wan Hai Hotel: Singapore Strait

Don’t Miss
Lee Bae’s charcoal installation (Johyun Gallery)
Bingyi’s large-scale paintings (INKstudio)
Jitish Kallat’s PLATFORM work (Gajah Gallery)
The debut of S.E.A. Focus within ART SG
The fair’s new Performance Art sector