About the Author

Co-founder and Artistic Director of Singapore’s first professional dance company, Singapore Dance Theatre, Goh Soo Khim (b.1944, Singapore) is a highly respected figure in Singapore’s dance scene and has been closely associated with the development of ballet in Singapore. Hailing from a family of well-known dancers, teachers and choreographers, Goh first trained at the Singapore Ballet Academy (SBA) before becoming the first Asian to be admitted to the Australian Ballet School in 1964. She assumed leadership of SBA in 1971 and was actively involved in the dance scene as educator, dancer and choreographer throughout the 1970s and 1980s culminating in the founding of the Singapore Dance Theatre in 1988. Goh was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1981 and the National Day Public Service Medal in 1989 for her contributions to dance. She was also named Her World magazine’s Woman of the Year in 2008. Goh was inducted to the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame in 2014.

The Private Museum Singapore is pleased to present Make Yourself at Home: A Glimpse into All Welcoming Scenarios, an exhibition at a special interim location, a private residence, since it moved out of its previous home. Having been preparing for its relocation to 11 Upper Wilkie Road, it was also a time for introspection, ruminating on what it means to be ‘The Private Museum’.

The conceptualisation of the exhibition began in part as an existential query into the meaning behind why The Private Museum was founded, and continues to pose similar questions to the public through a multi-focal approach. The exhibition is carved into two parts that correspond to the disciplines of art and design, offering a glimpse of the museum’s upcoming programmes at its new home, which is projected for its inaugural launch in the second half of 2023, on top of its ongoing developments in design and branding.

Revisiting the museum’s key platforms, the exhibition features selected works and practices by artists from Singapore and the Asia Pacific such as Kumari Nahappan, Natee Utarit, Ian de Souza, Andy Yang, and independent curator John Tung. Within the design and branding presentation are an interactive and research-driven showcase presented in collaboration with local design studio Currency as well as a dollhouse model of the museum’s new home, designed by the award-winning WOHA Architects, and produced by Integrus Model.

Drawing from the philosopher Jacques Derrida’s ethics of hospitality, Make Yourself at Home is a double entendre that not only reflects the roots of the museum as a hosting ground for open collaboration with art practitioners and home for private collections, but also the ‘hospitality’ that is shown when a host welcomes guests into their living abode or art space. The locale of the exhibition being in a home is itself an enactment of one such welcoming scenario, serving as an apt reminder of the importance of patronage.

“In order to constitute the space of a habitable house and a home, you also need an opening, a door and windows… a passage to the outside world / to the stranger” says Derrida of hospitality. The exhibition invites viewers to embark on their journey of reflection—whether as a first-time visitor or a devoted museum-goer—to really consider what the words ‘The’ ‘Private’ ‘Museum’ put together as an entity in the arts eco-system could be for them.

This exhibition will run from 7 January to 26 March 2023.

Download our exhibition leaflet for more information here.

Thoughts of Gulag is a solo exhibition by Singapore-based, British artist James Holdsworth. The show is supported by the United Nations Association (UNAS), and features 13 large oil paintings, together with charcoal & pastel drawings based on images taken from labour camps. Gulag is a term used to refer to the Soviet government agency that operated the forced labour and concentration camps during the communist era.

To Add a Meter to an Unknown Mountain: An Iconic Collection of Contemporary Chinese Photography features the works of four Chinese artists whose bold, conceptual art challenges the conservative society that they grew up in. As internationally renowned artists, CangXin, Ma Liuming, Liu Wei, and Zhan Wang are all important figures in the rising contemporary Chinese art scene that is taking the world by storm. In their respective styles, each of these contemporary Chinese artists expresses social critiques of the world as they see it. From the impermanent state of human actions to the harmony between nature and mankind, the photography in this exhibition highlights the relationships between man and nature, new and old, and modernity and tradition. In a rapidly urbanizing world, their work serves to capture significant moments of interaction between two starkly different worlds.

The Private Museum presents an exhibition which showcases the Catholic High School’s special collection of paintings by the late local artist, Chua Ek Kay, who is an old boy of the school. He is known for his combination of both Eastern and Western art techniques and theories in his works. A special selection from the Catholic High School will be featured in this exhibition with subject matters ranging from traditional Chinese paintings of birds and flowers, to old buildings and abstractions which reflects the evolution of Ek Kay’s artistic practice. The highlight of this exhibition will be the display of four Chinese ink paintings of the former Catholic High School campus at 222 Queens Street, now 51 Waterloo Street. Coincidentally, this is where The Private Museum is currently located. Ek Kay painted these works in 2005 with the sole purpose of donating them to the school and its new campus in Bishan. Ek Kay donated more works to the school subsequently, totaling to an impressive number of twenty-five Chinese ink paintings.

The Private Museum presents an inaugural collaboration between two Singaporean artists, Chow Chee Yong and Tang Ling Nah, who cross paths for the first time. Chow juxtaposes different locations with a single shot, creating an ambiguous “Void” that exists only within the photograph. On the other hand, Tang suggests the extension of space through her charcoal drawings of the city’s transitory spaces such as “Void Decks”, corridors and underground passageways. This exhibition attempts to document two artists’ individual journeys as well as their collaborative interactions. We question what is real and what is imaginary; as the photograph becomes a drawing, and the drawing becomes a photograph…

A primary essential element in calligraphy is time. What is time? I do not know. I only know eternity means that time no longer exists. Buddha is dead, Jesus is dead. Eventually all life form vanishes. Beings exist in the present, live and die between to be and not to be.

Fung Ming Chip, 2012

The Private Museum presents a special exhibition developed from the long-term relationship that began 15 years ago between Singapore-based collector, Christopher Franck, and Hong Kong-based artist, Fung Ming Chip. Franck’s collection of Fung’s works introduces the artist’s early experimentation with the medium of traditional Chinese calligraphy. The large-scale site-specific conceptual installation of his Chan & Heart Sutra Series is a development of Fung’s recurring theme of Heart Sutra in his earlier works. Fung’s latest work is a result of transforming an established art form into an entirely new style that challenges the values which shape human behavior and perception. In his continuous search of what calligraphy is, Fung pushes the boundaries of the medium and explores the element of time.

The Private Museum is proud to present Lim Tze Peng: A Private Collection, a special exhibition that developed from the long-term friendship between collector Daniel Teo and artist Lim Tze Peng. This solo exhibition of Singapore’s renowned artist, featuring artworks from Teo’s private collection, encompasses Lim’s early as well as recent works. A selection of sixteen paintings from Teo’s collection of twenty-seven artworks will feature Lim’s Bali Series, Singapore Street Scene Series, Calligraphy Series, and Still Life Series. The significant Nanyang Style, which was used distinctively by artists in Singapore’s early art scene, is apparent in Lim’s early Chinese ink paintings. The highlight is a recent large-scale painting of the Singapore River, spanning more than 3 metres wide. Lim Tze Peng: A Private Collection also showcases an oil painting which was a gift from Lim to the Teo family, underlining the special relationship shared between the Collector and the Artist.

The Private Museum is proud to present The Loss Index: Perishables and other Miscellanea by Singaporean artist, Ye Shufang, following the success of her previous exhibition, The Happiness Index, here in 2011. Shufang has created a series of new watercolour drawings and will also re-present her internationally-renowned agar-agar installations for the last time.

With an ongoing research focus on the ephemeral and the ‘ready-made’ from her 17 years of art practice, Shufang’s current series of drawings are an attempt to measure, categorise and understand a miscellany of vast infinite items, from baking moulds to emotions, classified in a system using grids, circles and colour spectrums. In her past artworks, the study of and the attempt to measure and record the impermanent are manifested in installations that adopt basic processes, ephemeral materials and ready-mades. Aside from the 2 new presentations of her past agar-agar installations, Shufang will also be showing an agar-agar and rubber strips installation for the first time.

In celebration of Singapore’s 48th National Day, The Private Museum presents Hong Zhu An: The Limitless Void, a solo exhibition by internationally-renowned Singapore-based artist, Hong Zhu An. This selection of paintings presents Hong at his prime: an accumulation of his training in China and his experience of living in Australia, and eventually settling in Singapore, where he has lived in for almost 20 years. Hong’s primordial source of inspiration stems from the concept of Wuji (无极), the limitless void, from the I-Ching (易经), Book of Changes. The suggestion of both stillness and movement, Yin and Yang, is a balance of contrasts, which Hong gives prominence to in his work. The highlight of this most recent body of work is the predominantly Black & White paintings, as well as the use of calligraphy, a return to Hong’s original source of inspiration. The calm and peaceful paintings bring the viewer a step closer towards a meditative state of mind.

The Private Museum is proud to present the 2nd Kitakyushu Biennial: i (information) in Singapore, a parallel event of the Singapore Biennial 2013. i (information), the theme for this year, will display an array of re-mixes of fragments of information. It aims to present the manipulations of media- information in a rapid changing world within a private museum context.

i (information) will be a touring project, beginning as a screening event at ZKU Berlin in August. Opening exhibitions at Busan South Korea TOTATOGA archive center in September, main venues at the Soap Gallery Kitakyushu Japan from September to December and finally making its way to the Private Museum, Singapore from October to December.

The video and sound projects feature collaborative works from Charles Lim Yi Yong (Singapore), John Miller (USA), Mike Bode (Sweden), Takuji Kogo 古郷卓司 *Candy Factory Projects (Japan), and Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries (South Korea). These artists have responded to online trends with their unique perspectives.

For more information, please visit http://artonline.jp/

The Private Museum presents ZUL: SONICALLY EXPOSED, a new body of works created over the past 3 years since ZUL’s last solo exhibition in 2010. The established Singaporean sound artist will be presenting nine sound-reliefs, four sound sculptures, a sound installation and sketches, which are part of his working process, for the first time.

ZUL was formally trained as a sculptor and ventured into sound in 2006, creating multi-disciplinary works that combine visual and sound. He has conceptualized sound installations that define the denuded sense that few dare to explore. The artworks are bare; fixated on the amorphous medium produced. Each artwork also produces a different experience with the integration of the audience.

The Private Museum is proud to present HER IMAGE, a group exhibition that explores the representation of women in photography and video, to commemorate the International Women’s Day in March. Held in conjunction with the symposium Ways of Knowing: Asian and Middle Eastern Women in Photographs, the exhibition will explore themes on “Women, memory and history”, “Women in daily life”, and “Women artists and photo-journalists”. HER IMAGE adopts a cross-disciplinary approach in attempt to create a dialogue about woman condition in the contemporary world, with a rare focus on Asia and Middle East. The artworks portray experiences of women influenced by their particular historical, socioeconomical, and religious environments, in private and public spaces of non-Western countries.

Artists Amanda Heng (Singapore), Zann Huizhen Huang (Singapore), Noor Iskandar (Singapore), Oh Soon-Hwa (Korea & Singapore), Min Kim Park (USA), Shelly Silver (USA), and Jesvin Yeo (Singapore) will present color photographs and video works, styled from traditional photo-journalism, postmodern documentary photographs and narrative film. These artists possess backgrounds in different disciplines and use photographs or videos of women as a research method, presenting various perspectives in the social and human sciences as well as in the humanities.

For more information on the symposium, please visit www.womeninphotographsymposium.com

As part of the 49th National Day Celebrations, The Private Museum presents 舞: A Goh Soo Khim Collection, an exhibition showcasing the works collected by celebrated Singaporean ballet doyenne Goh Soo Khim. She has played a significant role in the development of dance in Singapore and has always been an avid art collector.

Evocative of the beauty and raw emotion of dance, this exhibition features eleven black and white artworks and a sound piece by Singaporean artists Chen Ke Zhan (b. 1959), Chua Ek Kay (1947 – 2008), Goh Beng Kwan (b.1937), Hong Zhu An (b. 1955), Zul Mahmod (b. 1975) and China artist Wang Lin Hai (b.1963). The collection is an expression of Soo Khim’s passion for the dualism of rhythm and movement, the very essence of dance. This dichromatic exhibition encapsulates the beauty and raw emotion of dance, extending beyond the dance stage and to the world of art.

The Private Museum presents Khoo Sui Hoe: An Overview Part I – The Artist Collection from 1980s to Present, the first of a two-part major exhibition of the Malaysian painter, Khoo Sui Hoe. Known for his inimitable surrealistic stylisation of masks, figures and landscapes, this selection comprises of 25 paintings from the Artist’s private collection.

A former graduate from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1961, Khoo was under the tutelage of Cheong Soo Pieng and Georgette Chen. Following his move from Malaysia to the West in 1982, this collection portrays Khoo’s evolving artistic practice and development which spans Singapore, Malaysia and United States.

This exhibition will continue to Khoo Sui Hoe: An Overview Part II – The Patron, Datuk Seri Lim Chong Keat’s Collection which consists of Khoo’s earlier works from the 1960s to 1980s. Highlights include significant works presented from the Patron’s perspective, including Children of the Sun as collected by distinguished collector and lifelong friend.

In conjunction with Singapore Art Week, The Private Museum is proud to present Khoo Sui Hoe: An Overview Part II – The Patron, Datuk Seri Lim Chong Keat’s Collection from 1960s to 1980s. Drawing from the single largest collection of Khoo Sui Hoe, the exhibition showcases a selection of 16 significant paintings, honouring the friendship and patronage of the artist’s foremost patron, Datuk Seri Lim.

The collection traces Khoos’s earlier artistic career which spans the South East Asian Peninsula. It encompasses his unadulterated artistic explorations of landscapes and figures, which Datuk Seri Lim termed as “Inscape with Figures”; inspired by the rivers and rubber estates of his hometown, Kedah, the abstraction of mountains in Cameron Highlands and the composition of clouds in Thailand.

The highlight of the exhibition is Children of the Sun, Khoo’s first monumental painting which was commissioned for the Singapore Conference Hall in 1965. Marking the 50^th year anniversary of its creation, the Children of the Sun returns to be exhibited in Singapore.

The Private Museum is proud to present Hong Zhu An: Pure Heart – A Bali Purnati Foundation Artist Residency by internationally-renowned Singaporean artist, Hong Zhu An. The exhibition features a selection of 15 new works from a series inspired by Hong’s recent Artist Residency in Bali at the Yayasan Bali Purnati | The Bali Purnati Centre For The Arts. This residency marks his second and most significant visit to Bali since his first trip more than 10 years ago. Through this residency, Hong  immersed in the tranquil nature and travelled through the rich textures of landscapes with road trips and site visits around the Northern, Southern and Eastern Bali.

Hong’s stay at the Bali Purnati – translated as Pure Heart, was a journey of self-awareness and introspection that led him to create this new series of inward and outward journey of Bali. The highlights of this exhibition are inspired by site visits to see Kokokan birds (herons) at Petulu Village, water palace at Taman Tirta Gangga, lotus ponds at Taman Saraswati Temple, cliffs at Uluwatu, walls on rock-cut shrines at Gunang Kawi, historical villages at Tenganan Village and temples such as Pura Besakih. This new body of works give insights to Hong’s experience in Bali that left an impact on him.

In celebration of Singapore’s 50^th anniversary of independence, The Private Museum is proud to present Influences and Friendships: A Chua Ek Kay Estate Collection. This special body of works offers a glimpse into Chua Ek Kay’s lesser-known art collection of prominent artists and friends, with 21 artworks in Chinese ink and Calligraphy, Oil and Woodcarving that reflects the inspirations and artists that influenced Chua in his artistic practice.

Highlights include Huang Binhong’s landscape painting paying its homage to the 10^th century painter Juran, one of the great Master artists of early Chinese monumental landscape paintings. Huang Binhong (1865 – 1955), a painter and art theorist, was one of Chua’s biggest influences. Inspired by the endless possibilities of ink, Chua fervently explored the extent of his brushworks. The collection of works traces Chua’s Shanghai School lineage from Wu Changshuo (1844-1927), Wang Ge Yi (1897-1988) and Fan Chang Tien (1907-1987), and a combination of monk artists, Lingnan School and Chua’s contemporaries.

Through the visions from these artists and friends, the viewer is able to reach into the window of his art practice. The intertwining of creativities from around the world allowed Chua to create his inimitable style that incorporates a balance of both Western and traditional.

In conjunction with Kitakyushu Biennial 2015 The Fifth, The Private Museum presents the 3^rd Kitakyushu Biennial in Singapore: KIMI KIM JALAN JALAN: TAKUJI KOGO + YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES. The exhibition consists of several collaborative artworks using multiple screens by international acclaimed artists, Takuji Kogo (Japan) and Korean based art duo, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, made up by Young-Hae Chang (Korea) and Marc Voge (USA).

The highlight of the exhibition is KIMI KIM JALAN JALAN, an anime inspired multilingual satirical monologue made in Japanese, Korean and English through the collaboration of the artists’ cultural backgrounds. Inspired by the multilingualism in Singapore, this narrative consists of fragments of images, sounds and texts of Singapore, performed in the style of an ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response). KIMI KIM JALAN JALAN is a collaboration specially produced for this exhibition.

STATEMENTS is a collaborative piece created with text animations of the World War II surrender speech by the Japanese Emperor Shōwa, combined with the audio segment of Michael Jackson’s declaration countering accusations of child molestation in 1993. The project was first shown at the Kitakyushu Biennial 2007 and Metro Pictures, New York, in 2013, and at the Kiev Biennial 2015.

KITAKYUSHU BIENNIAL 2015 THE FIFTH is the 5^th Kitakyushu Biennial, a bi-annual exhibition organized by the Art Institute Kitakyushu and directed by *CANDY FACTORY PROJECTS, a Japanese based platform for international collaborative multimedia based art projects curated by Takuji Kogo. This year, the Kitakyushu Biennial travels from Berlin to Sweden, Japan and finally Singapore at The Private Museum.

The web project will launch at the KITAKYUSHU BIENNIAL 2015 THE FIFTH

http://artonline.jp/

In conjunction with the Singapore Art Week and to commemorate renowned Singaporean sculptor, Anthony Poon (1945 – 2006) on the 10^th anniversary of his passing, The Private Museum is proud to present From Maquettes to Sculptures: An Anthony Poon Estate Collection.

This is the first major exhibition of Poon’s sculptural maquettes from the artist estate collection following his last retrospective exhibition in 2009. The exhibition showcases a selection of 25 maquettes; of which some were materialised into iconic public commissions and others remained as unrealised ideas in the artist’s estate collection.

Tracing the Cultural Medallion recipient’s artistic practice as a sculptor, the highlights of the exhibition include significant commissions such as Affinity commissioned for the HDB Hub, Aspirations for the Old Hill Street Police Station, Crimson Eagle for Tampines Junction, Joyluck for Singapore Turf Club, Sense Surround for St Regis Hotel and Waves Columns for International Plaza.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, The Private Museum is proud to present The Loss Index II by Singaporean artist Ye Shufang. A gasp, a slow release, breathing, stopping… Breathing patterns, the sound of breathing, the act of breathing become very apparent when one is struggling to breathe. It takes only a few quick seconds to realise and recognise when breathing has stopped; with all its finality. But the realisation of the magnitude of loss is felt very slowly. It is an acutely painful, cruelly slow and unpredictable realisation.

The Loss Index II is a new series of artworks and Shufang’s third exhibition at The Private Museum, following The Happiness Index (2011) and The Loss Index: Perishables and Other Miscellanea (2013), where the artist presents her attempts at creating indexes to measure emotions.

This exhibition will feature a new installation using honey as material to explore the theme of loss.

In conjunction with the Voilah! French Festival Singapore, The Private Museum is proud to present Chernobyl Today by Singapore-based French photographer Christophe Malcot to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl’s nuclear power plant catastrophe in 1986.The photography exhibition showcases a selection of 38 black-and-white photographs; 12 of which are in the unusual 100x40cm format.

Taken in 2015, Malcot’s black-and-white photographs paint a story with a sweet-and-sour after-taste that cannot leave anybody unmoved; a cautionary tale of sorcerer’s apprentice gone awfully wrong; a story of degeneration and regeneration; a story of hope as nature, unhindered by man, slowly reclaims its rights and takes over hubristic and now derelict man-made structures.

The Private Museum is proud to present Han Sai Por: Secret Landscapes – A Bali Purnati Artist Residency by one of Singapore’s leading sculptors and cultural medallion recipient, Han Sai Por. The exhibition marks the museum’s second collaboration with Yayasan Bali Purnati, as well as the artist’s inaugural solo acrylic-medium focused exhibition.

Nature has been always one of Han’s core influences in her practice. With vigour and tenacity, she immersed herself in the rich textures of natural landscapes and traversed in the untamed terrains of the mystical Indonesian island of Bali. Han’s new body of works captures the essence of Balinese topography—allowing the viewer to delve into the depth of her art practice.

The highlights of the exhibition include artistic interpretations of various geographical visits: the volcanic regions of Mount Batur and Mount Agung, the pristine beaches of Amed, Ketewel and Bias Tugel, the crashing waves of Water Blow Nusa Dua, and the expansive rice terraces of Jatiluwih.

In conjunction with the Singapore Biennale 2016: An Atlas of Mirrors, The Private Museum is proud to present Ahmad Abu Bakar & Suriani Suratman: Tanah Air (Homeland)—the first collaboration between visual artist Ahmad Abu Bakar and ceramic artist Suriani Suratman, in which they explore the theme of Tanah (Land) & Air (Water) and its significance to the notion of homeland. The exhibition features a new body of clay works where the artists share a dialogue on the prominence of the natural elements, Tanah and Air.

Ahmad explores the nuances of homeland, expressing his relationship with the land as a component of his identity and embracing it as an inherited gift. His series of three distinct bodies of works, fittingly titled Tanah Ku Sayang, hints at his affection for his adopted motherland where he looks into the complexity of identifying with land in relation to nationality. Suriani addresses the importance and necessity of water in the form of rain and river—the primary source of life and creation. Her works interpret the expression tadah tangan—to cup the hand and contain—and examines expression in movement as a symbolic suggestion of one rejoicing when the rain comes.

Their probe into the interplay of Tanah and Air is an attempt to uncover the allure of the semantic duality of homeland. Through the use of clay as a unified medium of artistic expression, the exhibition reflects the artists’ exploration of the shared historical origins of the region and the conception of Homeland as a mirror to their identities drawing parallel with An Atlas of Mirrors.

In conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2017, The Private Museum is proud to present 21^st Century Calligraphy: Selections from the Nanshun Shanfang Collection. The exhibition features 19 Chinese calligraphy works from 5 established Chinese calligraphers such as Wang Dongling, Sun Xiaoyun, Wang Tiande, Wei Ligang, and Guan Jun.

Wang Dongling’s artworks illuminate the essence of gestural abstraction through his bold experimentations of embodied action and performance in Chinese calligraphy. Wang Tiande’s artistic practice explores the ambivalent relation between contemporaneity and the traditional. Wei Ligang’s background in mathematics contributes to his unique approach of the deconstruction and re-construction of Chinese characters in his artworks. Sun Xiaoyun’s emphasis on her brushstrokes and aesthetics, along with Guan Jun’s neoclassical style, portray distinctive interpretations of historical transcripts by renowned Chinese poets such as Du Fu and Su Dong Po.

Viewers will gain the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the wide array of calligraphy styles-reflective of their various artistic development and practices in breaking the conventional approach of Chinese calligraphy-displayed through this collection.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, The Private Museum is proud to present Oh Soon-Hwa: Coastal Regions (Delta). This solo exhibition marks the second showcase of works by Singapore based photographer Oh Soon-Hwa at The Private Museum and a return to her running series exploring the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

The series of photographs is an investigation into the impacts of the recent climate changes affecting the landscape of the coastal regions: An Giang, Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Soc Trang, Ben Tre and Can Tho; where drought, salt intrusions, soil erosion and a rise of sea level have been observed. The imagery of changing landscapes and portraits of the people in the community encapsulates the intricacy of the situation in the Delta.

Soon-Hwa’s introspection leaves room to mull over how men’s seemingly altruistic desire to control nature, in a bid to ensure their livelihoods, can be overturned by the unpredictable course of nature; resulting in the communities facing the challenges of an uncertain environmental landscape instead. The resilience of the residents in enduring the shocks and stresses of the changes—both on an individual and state level—are brought to light in her documentation of the transforming land and lives.

The Private Museum is proud to present LINES, a group exhibition which celebrates the museum’s new initiative, the emerging artist platform to support and encourage the development of emerging artistic talents in Singapore.

A manifestation of ongoing conversations between the 8 emerging artists and the curators, LINES features painting, print-making, photography, video art and installation. While exploring the idea of distinctions, the spoken exchanges probe into themes of cultural ideologies, social landscapes, identities and the human psyche. The exhibition encapsulates the nuances of the artists’ thoughts and processes through their works.

Featuring new works by Ben Yap, Brenn Tan, Izzy Tan, Jackson Kang, Odelia Tang, Quinn Lum, Rafi Abdullah and Tristan Lim.

In celebration of Singapore’s 52nd anniversary of independence, The Private Museum is proud to present Benny Ong: Walking the Thought. This solo exhibition marks the first showcase of works by the renowned fashion designer and textile artist, Benny Ong at The Private Museum.

Along with other textile works centred on Buddhist themes, the exhibition revisits a series of Ong’s older works from his inaugural textile exhibition titled, Re-woven: A Celebration of Lives opened at the Singapore Arts Museum a decade ago. Ong’s artistic practice traces back to the roots of his spiritual. The body of textile works is a reflection of the artist’s interpretation of the Buddha’s teachings based on inner contemplation, peace, dualism, compassion and meditation.

Although the series of textile works was inspired by the values and teachings of Buddhism, the exhibition reveals a deeper layer of Ong’s artistic practice. Through the use of succinct imagery, Ong bridges his spiritual beliefs with art making— compelling the viewer to get a closer glimpse of the thought process behind his artistic practice.

In collaboration with
Mike Bode
Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries
Charles Lim Yi Yong
John Miller
Keiichi Miyagawa
Aura Rosenberg

The Private Museum is proud to present Takuji Kogo: *CANDY FACTORY PROJECTS 2017.

*CANDY FACTORY PROJECTS is a Japanese-based platform for international collaborative art projects led by visual artist and curator, Takuji Kogo. It is mobile; continuously relocating its office into different institutions, organising curatorial projects, exhibitions, web projects and publications.

The exhibition features a selection of video works and sculptural installations by internationally acclaimed artists including Takuji Kogo (Japan), Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries (South Korea), Mike Bode (Sweden), John Miller (USA), Charles Lim Yi Yong (Singapore), Keiichi Miyagawa (Japan) and Aura Rosenberg (USA). Research conducted by the artists probed into the relationship and consequentiality of national borders across different countries.

During Kogo’s one-month artist visit in Singapore, his latest work titled, Singaporean Arcade will see new development and will be introduced at the exhibition’s screening event. The new work is an exploration into the multi-linguistic environment of Singapore through the artist’s perspective. From 2016-2019, *CANDY FACTORY PROJECTS will be touring different venues in Asia and Europe including the Aichi Triennial (Japan), The Private Museum (Singapore), the ZKU (Berlin) and more.

In conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2018, The Private Museum and Richard Koh Fine Art are pleased to co-present the exhibition, Optimism is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces by leading contemporary Thai visual artist, Natee Utarit.

The exhibition features a selection of 7 artworks from the artist’s Optimism is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces series, which began in 2012 and has been featured in various galleries and museums in Asia. Consisting of a total of 12 works, these works are composed of multiple panels forming a diptych, triptych, or polyptych, following the tradition of classical religious paintings with elaborate frames and settings.

The body of works takes its inspiration from paintings that have traditionally adorned the altars of Christian churches. The Altarpieces is Utarit’s critique of Western modernism; a satire of modernism and capitalism addressing its seduction of local customs and traditions.

After its debut at Ayala Museum in February 2017 and its second stop at National Gallery of Indonesia in October 2017, the travelling exhibition finds a third new home in the intimate space of The Private Museum.

In celebration of International Women’s Day and in conjunction with Singapore Design Week 2018, The Private Museum is pleased to present In Flux by New York-based Singaporean artist, Dr Wee Hong Ling, from 16 March to 6 May 2018. This solo exhibition follows the most recent development of Wee’s artistic practice, featuring three distinct series of ceramic works (Brooklyn, Moxie and My Family Portrait) and, importantly, the inaugural showcase of blacksmithing works by a Singaporean female artist.

Brooklyn is a series that acknowledges both Singapore and New York as Wee’s homes. From one island to another, Brooklyn references her mediation between continents and her abiding state of flux. By contrast, Moxie, a series of large vessels with daring cantilevers, engages the viewer to ruminate on the artist’s internal qualities of fortitude and persistence as requisites of creating sizable ceramic works.

In this exhibition, Wee also revisits My Family Portrait, the sole figurative sculpture from her body of work that has never been shown. In Flux presents her interpretations in clay and steel juxtaposed against the old childhood photograph.

For the second blacksmithing work, Heaven and Earth, Wee experiments with time and chance by exposing nine forged discs to the elements, including the first snow of winter in New York, to develop a skin of rust. Heaven and Earth, inspired by Chinese cosmology, can be seen as the artist paying homage to her mother tongue and heritage.

As a whole, In Flux is an artistic endeavour by Dr Wee Hong Ling to challenge perceptions and break social stereotypes. Personal and endearing, the works mirror her mindset regarding the continual state of uncertainty that she experiences in the physical, metaphysical and humanistic worlds.

The Private Museum is pleased to present You, Other; I, Another, a group exhibition curated by Dr Susie Lingham. This marks The Private Museum’s new initiative in collaborating with Guest Curators to facilitate and support independent and experimental curatorial practice, and to present different perspectives on our world. The exhibition will feature works by nine artists including Regina De Rozario, Mithun Jayaram, Mumtaz Maricar, Siew Kee Liong, Leroy Sofyan, Vincent Twardzik Ching, Victor Emmanuel, Susie Wong and Yeo Chee Kiong.

Relation is reciprocity. My You acts on me as I act on it. […] Inscrutably involved, we live in the currents of universal reciprocity. *

To and from every I there is a You, a They, a We, an Us, an Other. To whom is another, Other? Or is it more precise to say: when is the other Other to another? Otherness is an oscillation; is in oscillation. The binary-dynamic of finding the self in the other has always been tipped at moments, and shifts to finding the other in the self—recognising difference within oneself is ongoing, and unnerving, for every ‘I’.

Within the structures of any society, how is the other conditioned into being ‘Other’? How is otherness represented? Who represents otherness? In what way do we feel ‘other’, and how do we feel for and with ‘the other’ who differs from our self-sensed otherness? The Other demarcates the line of belonging; what we identify against.

The Other fascinates; confounds; is feared and rejected; is reviled; is ignored, dismissed; is mistreated, marginalised, alienated; is tolerated. Then again, some specimens of otherness are denied even ‘existence’ because quite anomalous, and uncategorisable: perhaps the Other is a Hydra, not a community.

Otherness differentiates on a spectrum of ‘difference’—in kind, by degree, by decree, by choice, inevitably. In You, Other; I, Another, nine artists’ works diverge off various individual realities of lived Otherness, or concepts of difference—expressed in diverse materialities and modes. From the rhythms of the natural world to the measures of culture and custom, and stemming from the personal, the familial to societal—all manner of Other manifest here reciprocally, “inscrutably involved.”

___________________________________________________ * Martin Buber, I and Thou, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Touchstone, 1996), p 67.

The Private Museum is pleased to present Echoing Fragments by Singaporean abstract collage artist and painter, Lim Tiong Ghee. This exhibition marks the first venture by the museum to send a Singaporean artist to Yogyakarta under its Artist-in-Residence programme. This two-week trip to Yogyakarta was part of an ‘Artist Visit’ supported by Cemeti – Institute for Art and Society.

In the course of Lim’s travels, he visited cultural monuments such as the famous sacred temples, Borobudur and Prambanan, now commemorated as UNESCO World Heritage sites. In addition, his sojourn in Yogyakarta’s thriving artist community yielded many exchanges with the artist studios and art spaces. The batik craft centres and museums in the cities of Solo and Yogyakarta were key locales during his short tarriance in Indonesia.

This exhibition features a body of collage paintings that is part of a decades-long exploration of imprinting his personal experiences into collages. In the brief two weeks of his visit, the collage artworks birthed from the journey emphasises on the batik elements’ interaction with floral motifs, weaving what appears to be the cultural and the physical into a realm of its own through the use of negative space never before seen in his works. The luminous projection of colours present in these works also reflects the envelopment of warmth in the Indonesian atmosphere.

Yogyakarta is known for its significance in Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms, with Borobudur and Prambanan standing testament to the rich cultural narratives surrounding the province. Not disregarding the prolific symbolisms present in both beliefs, Lim’s works further expound on various forms, figures and textures commonly depicted as religious motifs in the two beliefs.

The body of works presented here is the culmination of Lim’s interactions with the culture and people of Yogyakarta and Solo as well as his own introspection of the differing essences between his homeland and its neighbour. Immersed in the social landscape of Indonesian culture, Lim melds his feelings in reciprocation to the aura of amiability encountered throughout the trip, expressing it as a continuum in Echoing Fragments.

In commemoration of the 5th anniversary of the passing of late Singaporean artist, Teng Nee Cheong (b. 1951-d. 2013), The Private Museum is pleased to present EMBODIMENT|SENTIENCE, featuring a selection of charcoal works between the 1970s and the 2000s—from the collection of the Artist’s Estate.

A Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts graduate and recipient of the Ministry of Culture Special Award in 1978, Teng is known for his distinct visual aesthetics in the use of vibrant colours and Southeast Asian cultural motifs, drawing symbols from spiritual faiths such as Buddhism, Hinduism and even Balinese mythology.

Renowned for his impressive oil and pastel paintings, Teng’s intimate charcoal works have hardly been in the limelight, much less exhibited comprehensively. Far from just preliminary sketches, this exhibition marks the first extensive showcase of the artist’s charcoal drawings—a result of more than three decades of working with life models in his studio and abroad.

The exhibition explores themes such as dualities, sensualities, desires and perceptions of the human body through the artist’s inquisitive lens and the stark lines encapsulated by the alluring nudes. Deeply-personal and perhaps even provocative, EMBODIMENT | SENTIENCE attempts to lightly trace Teng’s art practice compelled by his fascination with and reverence for, the human figure.

In conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2019, The Private Museum is pleased to present Of Dreams and Contemplation: Selections from the Collection of Richard Koh. As part of The Private Museum’s Collector Platform, this exhibition features contemporary works of international artists from the private art collection of veteran gallerist, Richard Koh of Richard Koh Fine Art.

Presented as a whole for the first time, this is the inaugural showcase of 33 carefully-selected artworks from Koh’s collection spanning more than 20 years. A gallerist by profession, Koh’s distinctive way of collecting is informed by his quiet reflection and interactions with the art world. This collection is an exploration of his journey in the world of art and life, in public and in private, within Southeast Asia and internationally.

Of Dreams and Contemplation reflects a multitude of Koh’s ruminations, personalities and interests through the works of 30 artists. Often referred by Koh as ‘Landscapes of Memory’, each work evokes a specific memory, a tangible reminder of a fleeting moment in his life. Mostly abstract and monochromatic, the works offer rare insights into Richard Koh’s private contemplations—inviting the viewer to interpret and delve deeper.

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2019, The Private Museum (TPM) is pleased to present From Lost Roots to Urban Meadows by Singapore-based artists, Madhvi Subrahmanian and Nandita Mukand. As part of TPM’s Women Artists series, this joint exhibition follows the most recent developments of the artists’ practices, featuring installation and sculptural works informed by their ongoing explorations into nature and how it responds to our everyday life in the city.

Subrahmanian reflects on the fluid interconnectedness of nature and urban cultures. Bringing together conceptual and sensory experiences, her works are often participatory and/or immersive in nature. Her contemplative process attempts to trace the imprints of the intangible through her investigations into city structures, space layouts, archaeological sites and the displacement of objects by shape-shifting shadows. Drawing upon her interest in metaphysics and its abstract concepts such as being, knowing, identity, time, space; and neuroplasticity, Mukand’s practice observes the deep intricacies of nature, mingled and merged with the working of the urban mind. Through the amalgamation of synthetic and organic materials, her works ruminate upon citified mindsets and illuminate urban veils that separate us from nature.

Through the inquisitive lens of both the artists, From Lost Roots to Urban Meadows seeks to challenge our perceptions of nature and life – inviting the viewer to delve deeper and engage in new conversations about our urban existence—with or without—nature.

In celebration of Singapore’s 54th year of independence, The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is pleased to present Flashes of Brilliance: Selected Works of Chen Wen Hsi from the Collections of Johnny Quek and the Lewis Sisters. As part of our museum’s Collector Series, visitors will be able to view previously unseen works by the late Singaporean pioneer artist, Chen Wen Hsi.

In this special edition, the exhibition brings together two private collections, from Johnny Quek—close friend and long-time patron of Chen—and the Lewis sisters, Jennifer Lewis and Geraldine Lewis-Pereira. The selected works will be accompanied by stories from the collectors as well as rare insights into Chen’s artistic process.

Despite the relatively short history of modern Singapore, little remains today from our yesteryears. However, two things have endured: the size of our island and the brilliance of its pioneer artists. Drawing parallels to our city-state, we will be shining the spotlight on Chen’s small-scale ink works for the first time, unlike past retrospective surveys of the esteemed artist.

We invite viewers to rediscover Chen Wen Hsi through the lens of private collectors and the untold stories behind their collections.

The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is pleased to present Repeat, Repeat, Repeat; revising the phenomenon of printing—a group exhibition curated by Zaki Razak. This marks the second edition of the TPM Guest Curator series—collaborating with Guest Curators to facilitate and support independent and experimental curatorial practice, and to present different perspectives on our world. The exhibition will feature works by seven artists including Miguel Chew, Weixin Chong, Mona Choo, Urich Lau, Nadia Oh, Shin-Young Park, and Yeo Shih Yun.

There have been numerous exhibitions based on traditional printing methods and the expanded practice of artists who adopted painterly approaches; explored a certain degree of experimentation; challenged the convention in what is permissible; and demonstrated sophisticated control of process. What seems more substantial is the repeating pattern of thematic exhibitions, which emphasized on the possibilities of print. There seems to be a similar sentiment towards an often-repeated source, the rockstar of printmaking, Albrecht Dürer. His works are the first to be considered the most refined and celebrated due to their meticulous and dynamic forms which never fail to feed on our sight.

One definite consensus made is not to realise a medium-based approach exhibition but to break open the closed system of perception of printmaking and to instil a point of discussion on the phenomenon of printing; responding to the essence of the tradition or the emergence of the mechanism of multiplication and repetition; the context of its evolution and revolution; and what its consequences are in this day and age. The artists’ visual responses in forms and formation are meant to be symbolic visual cues to the journey of printing towards a knowledgeable ascent—to bring a certain degree of consciousness. What was before and after the invention of the Gutenberg printing machine and how did printed matter change or affect the human condition?

The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is delighted to present Clear Light by Australian artist, Ian de Souza. The exhibition marks the artist’s debut showcase in Singapore after more than four decades of practising art.

Born in 1939 in then Malaya, de Souza grew up in a period of turbulence. He spent his early years in Singapore and Malaysia under colonial British and Japanese rule before moving to New South Wales, Australia at the age of 16. Between the 1960s-70s, the artist toured the world as a musician, performing alongside pop icons such as the Bee Gees, before becoming a full-time artist in 1980.

Clear Light is a response from the artist to his lifelong pursuit of passion, knowledge and technical mastery, and the realisation that comes from years of thoughtful introspection. In this homecoming exhibition, visitors will get to experience de Souza’s latest series of paintings – which explore the artist’s contemplations on life as well as a revisit of his Eastern heritage, spirituality, and harmony.

The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is pleased to present I am a CON artist: Continuous Contemplations of Justin Lee. The exhibition is a special collaboration between artist, collector and space, locating itself in two spaces with a main exhibition and special showcase happening in conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2021.

Alongside a selection of past works from The Teng Collection, a new body of works will also be exhibited, building upon Justin Lee’s continuous contemplations on his identity as an artist and member of civil society. The artist employs visual and cultural references to provide social commentary on the perennial issues of consumerism and individualism, which in today’s digital age of instant gratifications and everyday glorifications become exponentially magnified.

Composed of paintings, text-based artefacts, performance and interactive art installation, the exhibition confronts its audience not only with the ceaseless forces of rapid globalisation and hyper digitalisation, but also challenges them to examine their individual complicity in glorifying and immortalising one’s self in the everyday.

Through this special collaboration, TPM expands beyond its scope as a home for private collectors by merging its artist and collector platforms to present the interconnectedness and intimate relationships that form between artists, collectors, art spaces, and their audiences.

Featuring Justin Lee’s monumental installations from The Teng Collection, the one-week special showcase reflects the artist’s expanding oeuvre that explores the themes of identity and socio-cultural norms in Singapore across a variety of mediums. The showcase forms part of the exhibition I am a CON artist: Continuous Contemplations of Justin Lee, happening in conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2021.

In conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2020, The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is pleased to present Emerging: Collecting Singapore Contemporary – Selections from the DUO Collection. As part of TPM’s 10th anniversary celebrations, the museum revisits its foundation of bridging the private and the public; this exhibition is the first in a series of five featuring an array of private collections in Singapore.

The DUO, whose collectors prefer to remain anonymous, started building their collection five years ago with a focus to support emerging artists in Singapore and Southeast Asia, though they have been collecting widely for more than a decade.

Emerging is the inaugural showcase of selected works collected in the past five years featuring 16 Singapore-based artists. These works reflect some of Singapore’s emerging urgencies in recent years by responding to themes of identity, migration, urbanisation, the environment, places and spaces. The exhibition seeks not only to stimulate new conversations on Singapore contemporary art through the lens of private collectors, but also to expand on their role in the art eco-system as imperative patrons of the arts.

The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is pleased to present Silhouettes: Collecting Singapore Modern – Selections from the Collection of Su-Yen Wong and Fermin Diez. As part of TPM’s 10th anniversary celebrations, the museum revisits its foundation of bridging the private and the public; this exhibition is the second in a series of five featuring an array of private collections in Singapore.

Initiated in 2007, the couple’s private collection of selected artworks by first- and second-generation Singapore artists is laser-focused, involving careful deliberation and intensive research. The collection allows viewers a glimpse of everyday life in Singapore in its early decades of growth and development.

The exhibition features select modern masterpieces by the likes of Cheong Soo Pieng, Chua Mia Tee, Lim Cheng Hoe and more. These paintings capture the places and people from a bygone time, the snippets and silhouettes of an idyllic Singapore now past.

In response to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, we have launched a virtual experience of the exhibition as part of our commitment to bringing art closer to you, the public and our patrons, in the comfort of your homes. Experience the online exhibition here: https://theprivatemuseum.wixsite.com/silhouettes

The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore presents Mediations: A Selection of Works by Ulrich Sante, a digitised exhibition experience in collaboration with the German Ambassador to Singapore Dr Ulrich Sante. Building on our mission to bridge the private and public by facilitation an exchange of ideas across cultures, Mediations celebrates the bilateral ties forged between Singapore and Germany, and importantly offers a glimpse into the converging worlds of art and diplomacy.

This digital project emerged as a result of the COVID-19 crisis which prompted us to rethink how we engage with our audiences and adapt to new norms of virtual experiences. Bringing the exhibition experience to the residence of the German Ambassador, this short film will feature a rarely-seen body of selected artworks by Dr Sante, who, beyond his diplomatic duties, is not only a keen appreciator of the arts, but a passionate contemporary visual artist at heart. Viewers will also be able to witness Dr Sante in conversation with Singapore Ambassador-at-Large Professor Tommy Koh.

Since his inaugural exhibition 18 years ago in Brussels, Dr Sante’s artistic practice focuses primarily on working with everyday found materials such as wood, metal and bricks in creating sculptural works. Throughout his practice, the artist explores mankind’s relationship with nature, which, on one hand may seem at odds with each other, but can also be complementary and in harmony. His works can be found in private collections in Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Lithuania, Austria and the United States.

The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is pleased to present Search and Discover: The Joy of Collecting – Selections from the Yeap Lam Yang Collection. TPM revisits its foundation of bridging the private and the public in this year’s final and largest exhibition that forms part of the museum’s 10th anniversary programming, featuring an array of private collections in Singapore.

Co-curated by Aaron Teo and Beverly Yong, the exhibition features 65 carefully selected works by 35 artists from the Asia-Pacific region from the Yeap Lam Yang collection, spanning over three decades. While the works are categorically small—the exhibition’s curatorial theme intentionally limits the size of the works to 60 cm by 60 cm—there is nary a “smallness” in their significance. Each work is precious and treasured, each a symbolic step into the collector’s foray into the art world as a patron and supporter of the arts.

Search and Discover: The Joy of Collecting unravels the process of exhibition-making and reveals the joy of collecting; discovering and revisiting artists, a rekindling of old relationships, and a forging of new ones. Yeap Lam Yang’s apt reminder that “there is good art everywhere waiting to be uncovered” is an invitation to all viewers to chart their individual, personal journeys in search and discovery of art and artists, new and familiar.

“Building, structure, edifice. Home, office, organisation. Community, city, country. Shelter, safety, comfort. Identity, memory, history. 99-year lease, freehold, 3+3+3, Master Plan.”

The Private Museum Singapore (TPM) is pleased to present 3+3+3: On Condition—a group exhibition curated by Andrea Fam. This marks the third edition of TPM’s Guest Curator Platform—collaborating with guest curators to support and experiment with independent curatorial practice through the presentation of different perspectives of our world. This interdisciplinary exhibition will feature both new and ongoing works by five artists and architects including artist duo Finbarr Fallon & Claire Goh, Geraldine Kang, Michael Lee, Mervin Loh and Isabella Teng Yen Lin.

Our governing bodies, architects, invisible labour, civilians, new and temporary residents have seamlessly infused their own histories and intimate memories into the foundational and poignant blueprints of our small island nation. Borrowing its namesake from the commercial lease agreement under the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), 3+3+3 explores these unseen psycho-spatial associations and the complexities of our urban planning while musing on the ephemeral nature of space and place-making in our land-scarce city.

Through preparatory sketches, utopian models, performative engagements and satirical ‘white papers’, this exhibition is an open-ended invitation to reflect on our ever-evolving relationships with our urban environment. Engaging our different senses, these works contemplate notions of nostalgia and transience while considering the overlooked inhabitants of Singapore.

Having served as an independent arts platform for the past 11 years, 3+3+3 marks TPM’s last exhibition in our home at 51 Waterloo Street. Such is the life of built spaces in our metropolis—though they bestow us with character, identity and heritage, we confer them with impermanence and dispensability, provocating the question, “If buildings retain the lived histories imbued into them, shouldn’t we consider their embodied human spirit?”