Towards Happiness, Prosperity & Progress: Reflections on the Singapore Spirit

Exhibition Information

Guest of Honour	Mr Low Eng Teong; Chief Executive Officer, National Arts Council
Period	2 October–7 December 2025
Location	11 Upper Wilkie Rd, The Private Museum,

Marking Singapore’s 60th year of independence, The Private Museum closes its year with a landmark exhibition bringing together 60 Singaporean and Singapore-based artists in a profound reflection of the Singapore spirit, in conjunction with Singapore’s 60th year of independence. The title draws from the closing words of the National Pledge, written in 1966 to unite a young and diverse nation. In this exhibition, “happiness, prosperity, and progress” are not fixed destinations but open questions. What do these words mean in 2025, and how do they resonate in our daily lives?

Shaped by a myriad of curatorial perspectives by six curators, the exhibition unfolds as a set of artistic conversations. Some works reflect on belonging, care, and vulnerability; others explore histories, stories, and names that shape how we understand ourselves. Everyday culture, sightseeing, humour, and local codes appear alongside more universal expressions of identity and memory. Themes of loss and reconnection surface too, asking what it takes to feel present again. Elsewhere, ideas of home, virtue, and lived experience open space for multiple ways of being Singaporean.

Together, these works do not define the Singapore Spirit but trace its many expressions. They suggest that happiness, prosperity, and progress are not endpoints, but ongoing practices revisited across generations, renewed through art, and shared by all who call Singapore home.

Towards Happiness, Prosperity & Progress: Reflections on the Singapore Spirit is the final instalment of The Private Museum’s 2025 programming—offering a fitting closure to a year of artistic and cultural exploration.

The exhibition will run from 2 October to 7 December 2025.

Programme Documentation

Programme Media

About the Collaboration

Andrea Fam

Andrea Fam is a contemporary art curator with over a decade of experience in art curation across Southeast Asia, She has championed meaningful narratives and creative expression through exhibitions, acquisitions, and consultancy projects.

Deborah Lim

Deborah Lim is an independent curator working at the crossroads of art and technology, where intersections and hybridity shape new ways of seeing and experiencing culture. Her practice brings together diverse disciplines—art, design, fashion, and digital innovation—creating exhibitions that illuminate the possibilities and tensions that arise when boundaries are blurred.

At the ArtScience Museum, Singapore, she curated large-scale international exhibitions including Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses (2025), Goddess: Brave. Bold. Beautiful. (2024), Notes from the Ether: From NFTs to AI (2023), and Sneakertopia: Step into Street Culture (2023). Earlier at Chan + Hori Contemporary, She managed projects for clients such as the Singapore Tourism Board and National Arts Council, spanning public art festivals, travelling exhibitions, and commissions.

John Tung

John Z. W. Tung is an independent curator and exhibition-maker. In his former position as an Assistant Curator at the Singapore Art Museum (2015 – 2020), he curated and co-curated 9 exhibitions, alongside serving as a co-curator for the Singapore Biennale 2016, ‘An Atlas of Mirrors’, and the Singapore Biennale 2019, ‘Every Step in the Right Direction’. Three of the artwork commissions he curated for the biennales were finalists for the Benesse Prize, with one work winning the prestigious award. He is also the editor of the Singapore Art Museum’s first publication to chronicle its exhibition history, Singapore Art Museum: An Index of Exhibitions (1994 – 2018). His appointments as an independent curator include Festival Curator for the 7th & 8th Singapore International Photography Festival (2020 & 2022), Associate Curator for the Open House programme, For the House; Against the House (2021, 2022 & 2023), and the Curator of the first exhibition to examine the significance of the ground-breaking Singaporean artist initiative 5th Passage – 5th Passage: In Search of Lost Time. Projects he has produced include The Forest Institute (2022), a large-scale architectural art installation dedicated to secondary forest ecologies, and The Gathering: 千岁宫 (2022), a pop-up Chinese garden-teahouse experience in Chinatown, Singapore. He was also curator of the 2024 edition of SEAFocus, Serial and Massively Parallel.

Kirti Upadhyaya

Kirti Upadhyaya is a Singapore-based curator, researcher, and arts worker. She is interested in exhibition-making and programming, with a particular focus on making the arts more accessible and engaging for diverse audiences.

She has curated a variety of exhibitions and programmes, including OH! Open House’s Kampong Gelam: Palimpsest, Days (2023 to 2024) — and counting: The distance between us (2021), Art in Your Own Home (AIYOH) (2019), Singapore Calendar (2018-2019), and along the lines of— (2023) by Berny Tan.

Kirti Upadhyaya graduated from The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK, with a BA in History of Art (Hons), and from the School of the Arts, Singapore, with an International Baccalaureate (Diploma Programme, 2008-2012).

Michael Lee

Michael Lee is an artist based in Singapore. He researches urban memory and fiction, especially the contexts and implications of loss. He transforms his observations into diagrams, models, environments, events or texts. Among his curatorial projects is “what it is about when it is about nothing” (2015) held in Mizuma Gallery, Singapore. He is currently observing the mood of Singapore’s art scene.

Michelle Ho

Michelle Ho is a curator at the Singapore Art Museum and oversees its Thailand collection. Her past exhibitions include Not Against Interpretation: Untitled (2013), The Collectors Show: Weight of History (2013), Amanda Heng: Speak to Me, Walk with Me (2011), Natee Utarit: After Painting (2010), and The Artists Village: 20 Years On (2008). In 2013, she was a guest co-curator for Omnilogue: Your Voice Is Mine, an exhibition at the NUS Museum. She is also a co-curator of the upcoming 2013 Singapore Biennale. She holds a Masters in Curatorship and a BA in Comparative Religion from the University of Sydney, Australia.

Programme Outreach

8 November 2025, 11.30am–12.30pm

15 November 2025,
11.30am–12.30pm

22 November 2025,
11.30am–12.30pm

29 November 2025,
11.30am–12.30pm

–

As part of our ongoing partnership with Friends of the Museums Singapore to offer weekly guided tours, The Private Museum is excited to unveil new tour dates for Towards Happiness, Prosperity & Progress: Reflections on the Singapore Spirit from October to December 2025!

Each docent-led tour will take you on an in-depth journey through the exhibition, and includes an introduction to The Private Museum as well as greater insight into the history of the Osborne House.

Admission is free and registration is mandatory.

For more information, please feel free to write to us at info@theprivatemuseum.org or (65) 8068 1151. We can’t wait to welcome you to The Private Museum!

#theprivatemuseum #theprivatemuseumsingapore #museumtours #outreachprogrammes #privatecollectionsinapublicmuseum

Saturday, 15 November 2025, 2–4pm

–

Create your own personalised bracelet with June Koh (@mypreciousgem_sg) in this beginner-friendly workshop, Jewellery Essentials: Stringing Basics with Semi-Precious Stones.

Participants will be introduced to fundamental jewellery stringing techniques before designing a unique bracelet using semi-precious stones such as Agate, Aventurine, and Jasper. Each piece will be finished with a choice of gold, silver-plated, or stainless steel findings. The session will conclude with a guided tour of The Private Museum’s current exhibition.

Saturday, 22 November 2025, 2–3.30pm

–

Immerse yourself in the world of Gongfu tea at The Private Museum! Join Qi Pottery’s (@qipottery) founder, Kim Whye Kee, for a hands-on workshop The Art of Gongfu Tea with Singapore Clay where you’ll master the essentials—from warming the vessel and awakening the tea leaves to the precise art of the pour—all using authentic Singapore vintage clay teaware.

In an intimate setting of just three per group, you’ll take turns brewing and serving, experiencing the ceremony from both sides of the teapot. Through this session, you will get to delve into the world of Nanyang oolong tea blends from renowned local tea shops Pek Sin Choon and Camellia Tea Bar, where diverse leaves come together in perfect harmony.

Sunday, 30 November 2025, 3–5pm

–

Get into the holiday spirit by crafting your very own stunning Christmas wreath! As part of our year-end outreach programme lineup, The Private Museum is delighted to once again present a Christmas wreath workshop with Bees & Fleurs. In this hands-on session, participants will be guided through the process of creating a beautiful wreath using fresh greenery, seasonal decorations, and personalised touches. By the end of the workshop, every Adult participant will bring home their very own wreath. Each adult who registered for the workshop may bring one child (aged 10 years old & below), and Adult-Child pairs will work together on a single wreath.

Programme Publication

The e-publication features six curatorial essays by Andrea Fam, Deborah Lim, John Z. W. Tung, Kirti Upadhyaya, Michael Lee, and Michelle Ho, as well as thematic explorations of the exhibition, and a selection of exhibition installation and artwork images.

Join us and explore what happiness, prosperity & progress means to you, and trace the Singapore spirit and its many expressions in the Museum’s last show commemorating SG60!