Singapore Biennale 2025: pure intention

Over 100 artworks, multi-location projects and public programmes invite audiences to experience Singapore through art

Singapore Biennale Love Was Taught Last Friday Love Was Taught Last Friday. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

Opening on 31 October 2025 and running until 29 March 2026, the Singapore Biennale 2025 (SB2025) transforms the city into a vast platform for contemporary art. Guided by the theme “Pure Intention,” this eighth edition, organised by the Singapore Art Museum, moves beyond traditional gallery walls to embed art directly into Singapore’s urban fabric. As a key event celebrating Singapore’s 60th anniversary (SG60), it invites everyone to experience the city’s evolving identity through over 100 site-responsive artworks across five key locations: the Civic District, Wessex Estate, Tanglin Halt, Orchard Road, and the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) at Tanjong Pagar Distripark.

Art in Nature and Community

Singapore Biennale With Hate from Hong Kong With Hate from Hong Kong. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

The Biennale uses natural and residential areas to explore history and community. The Rail Corridor and Wessex Estate host works that reflect on landscape and memory. Here, Aya Rodriguez-Izumi’s Gate: 3 is a vibrant installation created through communal beading workshops. From December, Apichatpong Weerasethakul & Guo-Liang Tan’s Two Who Remember the Sea will place solar-activated cinematic pieces among the woodlands, while Emily Floyd’s Field Library offers an outdoor space for play and reading.

Singapore Biennale The laugh laughs at the laugh The laugh laughs at the laugh. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

In Tanglin Halt, art integrates with the iconic public housing blocks. Adrian Wong’s With Hate from Hong Kong turns a shophouse into an old film set, exploring cultural lineage through his grandfather’s work in cinema. Nearby, Joo Choon Lin’s The laugh laughs at the laugh is a kinetic installation that uses a built-in maintenance cycle to poetically examine rhythms of renewal and decay.

Revisiting History in the Civic District

Singapore Biennale Light Keeper Light Keeper. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

The historic Civic District and Fort Canning Park are activated with artworks that prompt new encounters with the past. At Fort Canning, Ayesha Singh’s large-scale sculpture Continuous Coexistences (Singapore) plays with architectural outlines against the skyline, questioning how our built environment evolves.

Singapore Biennale HNZF IV HNZF IV. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

Inside the historic Fort Gate, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork’s HNZF IV uses military scrap to create a fountain whose peaceful water sounds are amplified into noise, exploring the tension between peace and violence. Nearby, Kapwani Kiwanga’s Flowers for Africa: Rwanda, a triumphal arch draped in wilting eucalyptus, invites reflection on memory and national identity. The collective lololol offers a GPS-enabled sound walk, Light Keeper, transforming the park into an immersive journey of discovery.

Reimagining Urban Life

SB2025 reframes Singapore’s urban spaces, revealing layers of life beyond commerce. On Orchard Road, malls become cultural hubs. At Lucky Plaza, Eisa Jocson’s The Filipino Superwoman X H.O.M.E. Karaoke Living Room, created with domestic workers, offers a celebratory space of resilience and community. In the same mall, Tan Pin Pin’s installation contrasts footage of a polar bear in captivity with dashcam videos of the city, highlighting the dissonant rhythms of modern Singapore.

Filipino Superwoman X H.O.M.E. Karaoke Living Room. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

At Far East Shopping Centre, Yuri Pattison’s entropy study pairs discarded architectural models from China with a real-time cloud animation, reflecting on financial speculation and the human desire to predict the future.

The former Raffles Girls’ School at 20 Anderson Road is transformed into a vibrant hub. It hosts a diverse range of works, from Kei Imazu’s paintings layered with colonial maps to Angelica Mesiti’s video work on synchronised movement, extending its artistic dialogue onto the school field with outdoor sculptures.

The Museum as a Central Hub

SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark serves as the Biennale’s ticketed core venue. The experience begins outside with CAMP’s Metabolic Container, a shipping container stocked with everyday goods, acting as a living image of regional trade. Inside, Paul Chan’s inflatable nylon figures, Khara En Tria, perform a mesmerising choreography.

Singapore Biennale Metabolic Container Metabolic Container. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

In Gallery 1, historical works from the National Collection dialogue with contemporary pieces to challenge linear narratives of progress. A standout is Pierre Huyghe’s Offspring, an AI-driven installation that uses light, smoke, and sound to create a constantly changing environment. The integration extends to the museum café, where RRD’s Gastrogeography explores connections between Singaporean and Mexican food cultures through art and design.

Island-Wide Engagements

The Biennale extends beyond its main venues with smaller interventions across the island. Huang Po-Chih’s Momocha offers specially brewed kombucha through vending machines, making cultural hybridity an edible experience. Debbie Ding’s posters in MRT stations prompt commuters to reflect on urban life, while Izat Arif’s terrazzo benches at various sites provide both seating and sculptural food for thought.

A full programme of artist talks, workshops, and performances further animates the Biennale, encouraging deep public engagement.

📅 31 Oct 2025 to 29 Mar 2026
📍 Multiple venues

The Singapore Biennale 2025: Pure Intention is a monumental invitation to see the city anew. By weaving contemporary art into its neighbourhoods, histories, and daily rhythms, it creates a collective experience that not only celebrates Singapore’s past but also inspires reflection on its shared future.

It is the year-end November & December holidays. We have compiled a list of November-December School Holidays 2025 Activities for Kids. Click on the image below to find out more.

For other upcoming events, visit Events in Singapore.

☃️❄️ CHRISTMAS ❄️⛄️

From Christmas markets to carolling sessions to “snow fall“, here’s a list of Christmas Events & Activities where you and your family can soak up the X’mas spirit in Singapore! Don’t forget to check out what’s happening at the Shopping Malls this School holidays.