What to see in Singapore’s galleries and studios as Art Week 2026 approaches

One gallery’s bold murals consist of letters twisted into abstract forms, graffiti turned into a language of energy and rhythm. In another, a luminous canvas hums with colour and texture, a quiet riot of abstraction. The energy in the air isn’t the buzz of an opening night but something more permanent and absorbing.

Themed “Pure Intention”, the biennale explores the idea of a city shaped by both planning and unexpected outcomes. According to the curatorial team, “It examines how intentionality informs the city’s urban, cultural and social landscapes, while inviting reflection on the complexities, contradictions and lived realities of transformation.”

So it follows that this isn’t a biennale confined to white-walled galleries. It unfolds in a variety of venues across the city, including the older, mixed-use shopping centres with tiny units and tangled floor plans that stand in stark contrast to Orchard Road’s gleaming flagship stores.

In Lucky Plaza – an Orchard Road mall in which migrant workers gather at weekends – Filipina artist Eisa Jocson has brought one unit to musical life in collaboration with the Singapore-based charity Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics. Her installation – The Filipino Superwoman X H.O.M.E. Karaoke Living Room – will be in place until the end of the biennale and is filled with videos featuring domestic workers singing and dancing outdoors, framed by greenery, that celebrate their lives, labour and joy.

Up the road, at the Far East Shopping Centre, Irish artist Yuri Pattison has filled a unit with models of stalled Chinese property projects. The work mirrors the city’s skyline, visible through the window, and is a poetic commentary on real-estate dreams that never materialised.