The Private Museum Singapore is pleased to present Déjà Vu: When the Sun Rises in the West, an evocative exhibition featuring the works of renowned Thai artist Natee Utarit. In continuation of the first exhibition at Silpakorn University in 2022 commemorating the artist’s return to his alma mater, this historic exhibition now journeys to Singapore, bringing with it a new myriad of selections from local and regional private collections.
Initiated in 2019, the Déjà Vu series proposes an alternative interpretation of history by reframing Western classical knowledge alongside Eastern and Buddhist concepts. This exhibition presents a hypothesis of a reimagined space and time, encouraging the audience to consider scenarios of “what if”—how different historical events might have altered our socio-cultural present. The Déjà Vu series draws inspiration from the artist’s experience in Naples, where a chance encounter with a marble sculpture at the Museo Archeologico sparked a profound connection. This moment of Déjà vu merged memories of Thailand’s Walking Buddha with the classical Western figure, leading the artist to probe further into the intersections between Eastern and Western cultures.
Natee Utarit’s exploration through the series is deeply personal, yet it resonates with universal themes of memory, identity, and culture. Through a diverse array of mediums—including painting, sculpture, embroidery, stained glass, and woodcut—the works serve as a reminder that history is not linear, but cyclical; that the past, present, and future are constantly intertwined in ways that shape our perceptions of the world. By challenging the boundaries of historical plausibility, the exhibition offers viewers a space to consider the possibilities that emerge when traditional narratives are turned on their heads, symbolically represented by the paradoxical notion of the sun rising in the west.
Déjà vu: When the Sun Rises in the West is the final instalment of The Private Museum’s 2024 programming—offering a fitting closure to a year of diverse artistic and cultural exploration. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with Richard Koh Fine Art.
The exhibition will be run from 18 October to 8 December 2024.
Download our exhibition leaflet for more information here.
Download our exhibition press release here.
The Private Museum is pleased to present As One Thing Flows To Another, curated by guest curator Ng Hui Hsien. The exhibition reimagines culture, heritage, and traditions in contemporary contexts—connecting an expansive range of artistic forms through multidisciplinary collaborations. It explores the works of eight visual artists, and features special collaborations with leading Singaporean music charity, The TENG Company as well as Photographer and Author, Dr Chua Yang, daughter of Cultural Medallion recipient Chua Mia Tee. The exhibition celebrates the 20th anniversary of The TENG Company and the launch of the second book in the Women Inspiring Women series by Dr Chua Yang.
As One Thing Flows To Another explores the eight graces within Chinese culture: music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, flowers, and tea. Each of these elements carries a long history and profound philosophies in Chinese culture, evoking images of leisure, serenity, and refinement. Historically, they served as cultural capital, conferring status on practitioners within the realm of the literati. During ancient China, the term “six arts” developed to encapsulate some of these elements, and later, the term “four arts” emerged. In more recent times, the umbrella term “eight graces” is used.
Such observations highlight the creative evolution of language and culture. Embracing the idea of change and departing from a historical understanding, As One Thing Flows To Another reimagines the eight graces in our contemporary context, drawing inspiration from their modern associations. In this exhibition, artworks intertwine and diverge in their characteristics, forming loose and free connections that weave together broad themes of nature, everyday life, and nationhood in contemporary times.
As One Thing Flows To Another invites visitors to experience moments of inspiration, humour, and contemplation, aiming to foster a renewed appreciation for the fluidity of cultural elements and the bending of conventions that shape our world.
The exhibition will be run from 10 August to 22 September 2024.
Download our exhibition leaflet for more information here.
Download our exhibition press release here.
In celebration of the museum’s first anniversary at the Osborne House, The Private Museum is proud to present Strange Connections: Art and Architecture by Richard Hassell. Renowned as the founding director of WOHA Architects, Richard Hassell played a pivotal role in shaping the museum’s new chapter within the historic building.
In May 2023, The Private Museum officially received the keys to the Osborne House, situated atop the hill at 11 Upper Wilkie Road. The century-old house has endured the passage of time, its walls echoing stories. From its colonial-era beginnings as a residence to hosting a myriad of occupants from different historical periods, and now a haven for the arts, the house is a vessel that encapsulates countless narratives.
The exhibition explores the intricate relationship between art and architecture, delving into the historical narratives of Osborne House dating back to the 1830s. As part of research for the museum’s reimagining, Hassell discovered strange connections between the building’s history and his own. The showcase reflects his ongoing investigation into emergent phenomena through playful visual constructions, encouraging contemplation of the interplay between the physical and the abstract, and the historical and the contemporary.
Hassell’s explorations in art began in his childhood, with his practice now spanning drawing, painting, and sculpture. His passion for the scientific, philosophical, and cultural elements of patterns, systems, and networks manifests in both his architecture and art. In particular, his exploration of complex tiling, made public in 2016, had led to exhibitions in Singapore, Taiwan, Europe and the USA.
Strange Connections invites visitors to an exhibition of art and architecture that delves into history, science, and the web of connections that link us all.
The exhibition will be run from 30 May to 28 July 2024.
Download our exhibition leaflet for more information here.
Download our exhibition press release here.
As part of Singapore Art Week 2024, The Private Museum Singapore is delighted to present Chronic Compulsions: Selected Works from Art Addicts Anonymous, an exhibition showcasing the groundbreaking collaboration between a local private museum, private collectors and seasoned curators.
This unique exhibition marks the 10th anniversary of the formation of Art Addicts Anonymous—a collectors’ circle that has evolved from a casual gathering of art lovers into a strong community of collectors who want to share their passion for art with society at large.
Chronic Compulsions unveils a remarkable selection of over 40 modern and contemporary works from 15 participating collections from Singapore, each piece bearing a personal connection to its collector.
As we celebrate a decade of passion and purpose, this exhibition is testament to the timeless nature of art and its transformative power. It represents the synergies between The Private Museum, Art Addicts Anonymous, and the arts community, injecting value and vibrancy into the Singapore art scene.
The exhibition will be run from 11 January to 24 March 2024.
Download our exhibition leaflet for more information here.
Download our exhibition press release here.
The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is delighted to present Rhythmic Resonance: A Collaboration Beyond Boundaries By Andy Yang & Ian de Souza showcasing works from Australian artist Ian de Souza and Singaporean artist Andy Yang.
This exhibition explores themes of collaboration, cultural exchange, and artistic cross-pollination, drawing from de Souza and Yang’s respective practices. Notably, their collaboration began during the pandemic when they exchanged and worked on a series of shared canvases between Singapore and Australia, forging an artistic connection without ever meeting in person. Upon the reopening of borders after the pandemic, Andy Yang’s visits to Fremantle in Perth, where Ian de Souza resides, marked significant turning points in their collaboration.
Their backgrounds in the world of music allowed them to appreciate the intricate interplay of rhythm and harmony. This musical connection echoed in their collaborative artistic process, where they approached their canvases like a dynamic composition, blending colours and brushstrokes like notes in a harmonious symphony.
Beyond their shared artistic interests, the two artists discovered an even deeper connection rooted in their common origins. Both Ian and Andy were born in Malaysia, which provided a profound sense of shared cultural heritage and identity.
Alongside the showcase of their respective artworks, the exhibition also features a series of unique collaborative artworks jointly created by both artists. Experience how meaningful exchanges can transform artistic practice, and be inspired by de Souza and Yang’s journey of collaboration, partnership, and creative growth.
The exhibition will be run from 2 November to 10 December 2023.
Download our exhibition leaflet for more information here.
Download our exhibition press release here.
The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is pleased to present Dancing with the Cosmos: Three Decades of Work from Kumari Nahappan, a solo exhibition surveying prominent Singaporean artist Kumari Nahappan’s three-decade-long artistic practice, curated by John Z.W. Tung. This showcase will be the first of the museum’s upcoming line-up of programmes at its new premise, featuring over 50 works which include Nahappan’s monumental site-specific installations, paintings and sculptures, some of which are re-creations of past iterations that have not been seen by the public since the mid-1990s.
Inspired by the Hindu cosmological notion of cyclical time, Dancing with the Cosmos organises the artworks not chronologically but by colour, allowing visitors to witness the diverse yet interconnected nature of Nahappan’s practice. Nature, rituals, time and space are themes that have long been part of Nahappan’s works and are also encapsulated throughout the exhibition. Each intimate space reflects specific colours that take prominence at various periods of Nahappan’s practice, representative of a diversity of themes and a recurrence of Nahappan’s interests over an expanse of time.
Characterised by constant evolution, Nahappan’s varied employment of materiality from organic matter to man-made structures and found objects breathes new life into her pieces, allowing them to transcend two-dimensional visuality and engage with the senses on multiple levels. Immersing in Nahappan’s fields of colour, Dancing with the Cosmos: Three Decades of Work from Kumari Nahappan allows visitors to contend with the existence of these countless universes and their cycles.
The exhibition will be run from 31 August to 22 October 2023.
Download our exhibition leaflet for more information here.
Download our exhibition press release here.
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.
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?”