Proposals for Novel Ways of Being

National Gallery Singapore and Singapore Art Museum have come together to launch a new local initiative of unprecedented scale and scope, titled Proposals for Novel Ways of Being. The project will see the museums join forces with 10 other local art institutions and independent art spaces and collectives to present a series of exhibitions and programmes, both physical and online, that feature the works of over 170 local artists and cultural workers. A united response by the visual arts community to the changes brought about by COVID-19, these exhibitions and programmes will open between August 2020 and February 2021. Audiences can look forward to a wide range of art experiences that explore new ways of living in a world irrevocably changed by this pandemic, and imagine new possibilities for the future.

To support the wider network of art professionals and practitioners, Programme Partners have invited independent guest curators to each propose projects that involve up to 15 artists based in Singapore. The projects presented can include new commissions or existing works, and may take the form of physical or digital exhibitions, and include programmes such as talks, performances and community engagement events.

Audiences can look forward to Coda Culture’s exhibition, which brings together artists who produce works using found objects; National Gallery Singapore’s range of works by a diverse group of emerging contemporary artists, which embody poetic contemplation; National Museum of Singapore’s series of digital works created in collaboration with artists and creatives, which respond to the pandemic; NTU CCA Singapore’s showcase of experimental works by artists who engage with sound, bodily movements and performances; Singapore Art Museum’s presentation of contemporary artworks that reflect on the passage of time and various acts of care-taking; and soft/WALL/studs’ suite of interconnected activities and projects that navigate the themes of (dis)repair, maintenance, and cultivation by artists and curators, presented on digital platforms and at their physical site.

Programme Partners of Proposals for Novel Ways of Being:
ADM Gallery, NTU School of Art, Design and Media; LASALLE’s Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore; National Gallery Singapore; National Museum of Singapore; NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore); Singapore Art Museum; STPI, and five independent art spaces and collectives: Coda Culture; Grey Projects; INTER-MISSION; soft/WALL/studs; and The Substation.