What's On at the Gallery: September 2026
Catch the last weeks of Passion is Volcanic before it closes, step into two newly opened exhibitions, and take in talks, tours, and dance performances at National Gallery Singapore this September.
7 mins read
Share
Summary:
- September 2026 at National Gallery Singapore centres on the final weeks of Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art (R18), which closes 20 September.
- The Gallery hosts two recently opened exhibitions: Art Remembers, examining how Southeast Asian artists work with archives to recover forgotten histories, and Lai Foong Moi: Crossings, on the Nanyang-trained painter and NAFA-linked educator's portraits of 1960s Singapore and Malaya.
- September programming includes a curator tour of Art Remembers (4 Sep), Gallery Sketch Chapter's free and paid sketching sessions (5 Sep), an In Conversation talk on Passion is Volcanic (3 Sep), the panel discussion The Power of Words on language and power (11 Sep), a fanfiction-writing workshop responding to Passion is Volcanic (19 Sep), the Blue Magma (R18) dance performance responding to the same exhibition (19 Sep), a curator tour of Lai Foong Moi: Crossings (18 Sep), and a dance-and-dialogue programme on fashion and identity in Lai Foong Moi's work (27 Sep).
September brings a final chance to catch one of the Gallery's most talked-about exhibitions, alongside two recent openings that are just getting started. Between a closing show, new exhibition openings, and a month full of talks, tours, and performances built around them, there is plenty to draw both regular visitors and first-time guests back to National Gallery Singapore this month.
Last Chance to catch Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art (R18)
When: Closes 20 Sep 2026
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 4, Level 4 Gallery
Admission: Tickets from $5; open to visitors aged 18 and above only
September is the final month to see Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art (R18), which closes on 20 September after an extended run. Exploring how desire, eroticism, and the body have shaped artistic practices across Southeast Asia, the exhibition brings together rarely seen works from the National Collection alongside significant regional loans, organised across three sections tracing how desire has been expressed, contested, and reimagined across different cultural and historical moments.
Valid ID may be required prior to entry, and photography and videography are not permitted within the exhibition space.
In Conversation: Passion is Volcanic – Ticketed Talk
When: 3 Sep 2026, 6.30–8pm
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 4, Level 4 Gallery
Admission: $5 per person
Before the exhibition closes, join curators Adele Tan and Kathleen Ditzig for a behind-the-scenes conversation on Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art (R18), followed by exclusive after-hours access to explore the exhibition at your own pace.
Art Remembers – Now Open
When: Runs from now to 18 Oct 2026
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 3, Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery 1 and City Hall Chamber
Admission: General Admission ticket required, free for Singaporeans, PRs, and Insiders
Having opened in late August, Art Remembers brings together 20 contemporary artworks by Southeast Asian artists, the exhibition explores how art can bring overlooked histories and forgotten lived experiences back into view.
Working with official records, personal photographs, mass media, digital communities, and traces in the natural environment, the artists engage with archives in expansive and unexpected ways, recovering stories that may be absent from national narratives, omitted from official archives, or lost over time.
The exhibition features recent contemporary commissions and works from the National Collection, Art Remembers reflects on the power of art to challenge silences, confront historical inequalities, and offer new ways of remembering Southeast Asia's past.
Curator Tour: Art Remembers
When: 4 Sep 2026, 7.30–8.30pm
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 3, Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery 1, Exhibition Entrance (near Lift Lobby B)
Admission: $45 (Standard) and $40 (Concession)
Go deeper into Art Remembers on this curator-led tour, and discover insights and highlights from the exhibition. There's no better way to uncover the hidden stories and histories surrounding the Gallery's latest exhibition.
Lai Foong Moi: Crossings – Now Open
When: From now till to 3 Oct 2027
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 2, DBS Singapore Gallery
Admission: General Admission ticket required, free for Singaporeans, PRs, and Insiders
Also newly opened, Lai Foong Moi: Crossings introduces one of Singapore's significant Nanyang artists to a new audience. Lai Foong Moi (1931–1995) trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and the École des Beaux-Arts in France, later returning to Singapore in the late 1950s and going on to shape a generation of students as an educator at NAFA.
Framed through the idea of "crossings", as moments of transition, encounter, and becoming, the exhibition examines how Lai pictured identity and modern life in 1960s Singapore and Malaya, a period of profound national reimagination.
Those keen to go further can also explore the exhibition catalogue, which sets Lai's work within the wider story of Singapore's art history.
Curator Tour: Lai Foong Moi: Crossings
When: 18 Sep 2026, 7.30–8.30pm
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 2, DBS Singapore Gallery, Dalam Singapore, Exhibition Entrance (near Lift Lobby A)
Admission:$45 (Standard) and $40 (Concession)
Join curator Teo Hui Min for an evening tour of Lai Foong Moi's paintings. Through portraits, landscapes, and scenes of everyday life, the tour traces how her works reflect identity, modernity, and a society undergoing profound change.
Gallery Sketch Chapter: Collective and First Marks
When: 5 Sep 2026, 4–7pm
Where: Various locations around National Gallery Singapore
Admission: Collective is free with registration; First Marks is $35 per person, with Gallery Insiders enjoying 15% off
September's edition of Gallery Sketch Chapter runs across two tiers. Collective is a free, drop-in urban sketching session set within the Gallery's architecture and artworks, encouraging visitors to slow down and draw from what is around them.
First Marks, the ticketed tier, is a guided sketching programme held in the Rooftop Studios, highlighting how architecture and artworks can be experienced through sketching in a more structured and educational setting.
Panel Discussion: The Power of Words
When: 11 Sep 2026, 6.30–8pm
Where: City Hall Wing, Level B1, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium and Foyer
Admission: $5 per person (Standard), $2 per person (Gallery Insiders)
Part of the Under Our Skin talk series, this panel discussion looks at how language creates, reinforces, and sometimes disrupts dominant narratives. Drawing from exhibition texts, artists' voices, and the lived experiences of speakers Jason Wee, Joie Tan, Huzir Sulaiman, and curator Adele Tan, the panel explores how phrases, stories, and exhibition texts can influence who gets heard or dismissed.
Guests are welcome to view Fear No Power: Women Imagining Otherwise and Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art (R18) with extended hours until 10pm, exclusively for panel attendees.
Reading the Tags: A Fanfiction Writing Workshop
When: 19 Sep 2026, 11am–1pm
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 4, Level 4 Gallery
Admission: Free, registration required
This workshop explores the exhibition through the lens of fanfiction, using its tags, prompts, and ways of storytelling to draw new connections with the artworks and ideas on display. Participants create a personal fanfiction zine along the way, a playful and distinctly online approach to writing about desire.
Dance Responses to the Gallery's Exhibitions
Two dance programmes this September see choreography respond directly to work on the Gallery's walls.
Blue Magma (R18) – Dance Performance
When: 19 Sep 2026, 2.30–3pm and 4–4.30pm
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 4, Level 4 Gallery
Admission: $5 per person, inclusive of exhibition admission
Responding to Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art (R18), Blue Magma by Decadance Co. investigates the body as a vessel through which desire, intimacy, vulnerability, and transformation are experienced. Designed for the exhibition architecture, the performance unfolds across multiple galleries as dancers travel through the space, activating different areas rather than presenting a fixed beginning and end.
Between Portrait and Performance: A Dance Response and Dialogue on Lai Foong Moi
When: 27 Sep 2026, 3–4.30pm
Where: City Hall Wing, Level 2, Singapore Courtyard
Admission: Free, registration required
Responding to Lai Foong Moi: Crossings, this programme opens with a dance presentation featuring The Débutante, reimagining the modern woman through posture and movement in dialogue with Lai's portraits. It continues with a presentation by art and fashion historian Dr Nadya Wang and a conversation with curator Teo Hui Min, examining how dress reveals ideas of self-fashioning, women's agency, and identity during Singapore's transition to independence.
Plan Your Visit
The Gallery is open daily, from 10am – 7pm (last admission at 6.30pm). Nearest MRT stations include City Hall MRT (Exit B), Clarke Quay MRT (Exit E), and Raffles Place MRT (Exit B).
Planning to visit more than once this September? Sign up as a Gallery Insider to enjoy up to 15% off dining and retail, free and unlimited access to all exhibitions, complimentary parking for 2 hours per visit, and priority updates on happenings at the Gallery.
