National Gallery Singapore presents Art Remembers, bringing the past to life through the enduring power of art
Discover compelling stories as contemporary artists reinterpret histories and create new archives through their unique perspectives.
SINGAPORE, 18 August 2026 – National Gallery Singapore presents Art Remembers, a thought-provoking contemporary art exhibition that explores how artists across Singapore and Southeast Asia engage with archives to reframe histories, preserve memories, and imagine new futures. Opening on 21 August 2026, the exhibition brings together 20 works, featuring new commissions and key works from Singapore’s National Collection. Through the eyes of artists, Art Remembers invites visitors to reconsider the past and imagine the future of archives as living spaces, while uncovering overlooked stories and revealing the power of art to shape how we remember.
Exploring memory through contemporary artistic practices
Art Remembers features works by artists that uncover overlooked narratives, intervene in existing records, and create new forms of archives. Spanning photography, video, print, digital and technology-enabled mediums, the exhibition explores the many ways artists engage with archives – from materials from state institutions, community-maintained living archives, mass media imagery, and traces left behind in the natural environment. By bringing new meaning to these materials, the artists demonstrate that remembering is not simply about looking back, but also about reimagining the narratives through which Southeast Asia’s past is understood.
Dr Eugene Tan, CEO and Director, National Gallery Singapore, and Project Director of the exhibition, says, “Through Art Remembers, National Gallery Singapore presents archives as art and centres artists as important interpreters and storytellers of history and memory. This exhibition builds on the Gallery’s ongoing commitment to deepening understanding of how our region’s art histories are shaped, remembered, and shared. We hope audiences will rediscover familiar histories from fresh perspectives and experience how artists’ creative practices can illuminate lesser-known narratives, foster reflection and connection, and inspire us through the enduring power of art to remember.”
This pivotal exhibition is made possible with the support of Series Partner Singtel and the Gallery's Exhibition Supporters Vignesh Sundaresan, the Onemai Foundation, Padimai Art & Tech Studio, and Razer Inc.
Rediscovering the past through artists’ eyes
Drawing from personal memories, historical records, and archival materials, the featured artists offer alternative readings of the region’s past. By reinterpreting existing records alongside personal and collective accounts and creating new forms, their works deepen our understanding of the people, places, and events that have shaped Southeast Asia.
Among the highlights is Malaysian artist Ahmad Fuad Osman’s digital modification of archival photographs from Malaysia's post-independence past to include a contemporary figure donned in modern-day clothes and comical poses, exploring how national histories are continually shaped and retold. A fish takes centre stage in Singaporean artist Robert Zhao's video work, as the unlikely journey of the tilapia from wartime Singapore to commercial success in Taiwan uncovers stories of migration and cultural exchange.
A newly commissioned mural by Yogyakarta-based printmaking collective Krack! revisits wartime visual materials to examine the complexities of history, power and collective memory. Through a different lens, Hmong Australian artist Vanghoua Anthony Vue intertwines personal memory with his paintings of archival imagery to recover the legacy of the lesser-known conflict in Laos during the Vietnam War.
Together, these works demonstrate how artists can challenge familiar narratives, encouraging audiences to reflect on identity, belonging and cultural memory.
Reimagining the archive of the future
Art Remembers also explores how contemporary artists are expanding what it means to remember and archive through technology and new forms of creative practice. From algorithmically mobilised archives to digital collages and multimedia installations, these works reimagine archives not as passive collections of historical data and records, but as living spaces for speculative and collective imagination.
The exhibition features pioneering digital and technology-driven works by Singaporean artists Ho Tzu Nyen and Ho Rui An. Visitors can also look forward to the debut presentation of Filipino American artist Josh Kline’s work made during a residency at Singapore Tyler Print Institute, where iPhones, one of the world’s most familiar devices that houses our personal archives, are processed into paper, inviting the audience to consider how technologies relate to our collective histories.
Together, the exhibition shows how artists are redefining the archive and transforming the ways in which historical material and memory are created, preserved, and reimagined.
Art Remembers at National Gallery Singapore
Art Remembers runs from 21 August to 18 October 2026 at the Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery 1 and City Hall Chamber, National Gallery Singapore. A General Admission ticket is required, with free entry for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents. For more information, please refer to the following annexes or visit www.nationalgallery.sg/ArtRemembers.
Media assets are available via this link.
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