Galerie Met, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Amez Yavuz, Gajah Gallery, Silverlens, Project Space Pilipinas, Yeo Workshop, and more
By Yu Ke Dong and Alana Malika

Scenery & Landscape: Hotel Asia Project

Chen Sai Hua Kuan, ‘Space Drawing No. 7’, 2010, single-channel video, colour, sound, 00:01:16, edition 4/5 + 2AP. Image courtesy of the artist and Galerie Met.

A longitudinal project that was initiated in 2015, the Hotel Asia Project has joined together practitioners from diverse artistic fields across Asia to document how landscapes are represented during this rapid time of digital transformation. Curated by Ni Kun, ‘Scenery & Landscape: Hotel Asia Project’ at Galerie Met in Berlin is the most recent edition, featuring seven artists including Chulayarnnon Siriphol from Thailand and Chen Sai Hua Kuan from Singapore. In ‘Planking’ (2012), Siriphol intersects performance art with protest by collapsing to the tune of Thailand’s national anthem when it is mandatorily played in public spaces. Kuan’s aptly titled ‘Space Drawing No. 7’ (2010) toys with the concept of site-specific memory as the artist manipulates bungee ropes to let the walls and structures of abandoned buildings create art.

‘Scenery & Landscape: Hotel Asia Project’ is on view from 26 April to 17 May 2025 at Galerie Met in Berlin. More information here.

Design Earth: Speculative Fiction for the Climate

Co-organised by NTU Centre for Contemporary Art and ADM Gallery, ‘Design Earth: Speculative Fiction for the Climate’ is an exhibition that contains excerpts from various climate-oriented research publications by DESIGN EARTH. Founded by Riana Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy, it is a research practice that focuses on speculative architecture as a means of engaging with the discourse surrounding the climate crisis. This exhibition contains excerpts from two of their books: ‘Geostories, Another Architecture for the Environment’, which presents a manifesto for environmental imagination through twelve speculative planetary architectural projects; and ‘The Planet After Geoengineering’, which imagines the future of climate modification technologies.

‘Design Earth: Speculative Fiction for the Climate’ will take place between 28 April and 13 June 2025 at ADM Gallery 2, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. More information here.

Ellipsis

Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, ‘Left Wing Project (Belok Kiri Jalan Terus)’, 2017-2018, sickles, weighing scales, sacks of rice, rope, motors, sound. Image courtesy of Ames Yavuz.

‘Ellipsis’ is a duo exhibition by Philippine artists Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan that will mark the launch of Ames Yavuz’s new gallery in London. The husband-and-wife pair bring forth the unsung contributions of the Philippines and Indonesia in building our modern world. ‘Ellipsis’ revitalises the crafts and artistry that have been hidden in the underside of the Global North’s industrial exploitation, using agrarian materials such as rice and pineapple fibre.

‘Ellipsis’ is on view from 1 to 29 May 2025 at Amez Yavuz London. More information here.

Open Call for Artistic Director of Busan Biennale 2026

The Busan Biennale Organizing Committee has put out an open call for an artistic director to lead its 2026 edition of the Busan Biennale. Initially organised in 1981 as the Pusan Youth Biennale, the Busan Biennale has since become an internationally recognized platform for international cultural exchange and contemporary art, cementing the city’s status as a global cultural hub city. The biennale also seeks to explore new ways of integrating contemporary art with the city’s urban landscape, and strengthening its engagement with the local community. Its previous 2024 iteration, which adopted the theme ‘Seeing in the Dark’, showcased works by 62 local and international artists, curated by artistic directors Vera Mey and Phillipe Pirotte. The incoming director will be tasked with overseeing the biennale’s curatorial direction, organising its budget, selecting artists, and planning exhibition-related programming.

The open call for Artistic Director of Busan Biennale 2026 is running from 2 May to 1 June 2025. More information here.

Echoes of the Past

ANNEXE is running 'Echoes of the Past', an online-only auction from 6 to 18 May 2025 featuring watercolour paintings by Chew Piak San and Ong Kim Seng. The works were in the collection of the Singapore Philatelic Museum, which became the Children's Museum Singapore in December 2022. The sale is held in support of the latter's mission. Chew's works synthesise the translucence of watercolour with the texture of oil painting, while Ong's works in this sale are marked by a distinct sense of nostalgia brought forth by their sepia tonal quality. Altogether, the seven works depict street scenes from the 1970s and 1980s, reflecting quintessential episodes in the story of Singapore’s development from a fishing village to a modern metropolis.

ANNEXE, ‘Echoes of the Past’ is running from from 6 to 18 May 2025. To register an account and start bidding, visit annexe.asia.

MuMo ToMo II

Mondo, ‘Romulus et Remus’, 2024, cyanotype on canvas, 50 x 76 cm. Image courtesy of Gajah Gallery.

Travelling from Jakarta to Singapore, ‘MuMo ToMo II’ is a landmark exhibition by Gajah Gallery that explores the works of four closely connected artists: I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih (Murni), Dewa Putu Mokoh, OO Totol, and Edmondo (Mondo) Zanolini. Curated by Zanolini, the last surviving member of the group, the exhibition sets out to chart the complex interplay of cultural and creative influences among the four, focusing in particular on the distinct current of common inspirations that runs through their works. The exhibition not only follows the collective trajectories of these artists over their lifetimes, but also pays tribute to their communal legacy, which continues to shape contemporary culture today.

‘MuMo ToMo II’ will be on view at Gajah Gallery Singapore from 8 May to 1 June 2025. More information here.

There is Still a Tomorrow, Mother & deep in the shallows, afloat in the depths
(lumalalim sa kababawan, lumulutang sa kalaliman)

Poklong Anading, detail of ‘recruit (no. 2)’, recovered fishing net with attached seashells and marine mineral traces, wire, 3D print (Polylactic Acid), nylon string, twist tie, cable tie, glue, screws, nuts and polyurethane topcoat, 2025. Image courtesy of Silverlens.

Over the next two months, Silverlens New York is hosting two concurrent solo exhibitions. Titled ‘There is Still a Tomorrow, Mother’, the exhibition centres itself around the work of Imelda Cajipe Endaya, marking the pioneering artist’s first solo exhibition in the US in nearly two decades. Curated by Eugenie Tsai, the exhibition examines the depiction of Filipino women across nearly half a century of Cajipe Endaya’s extensive oeuvre. The exhibition highlights the artist’s role as a feminist historian, whose multimedia works seek to shed light on female suffering during the darkest periods of the Philippines’ history.

Marking his debut solo exhibition in the US, conceptual artist Poklong Anbanding presents ‘deep in the shallows, afloat in the depths (lumalalim sa kababawan, lumulutang sa kalaliman)’ at the Silverlens Viewing Room. The exhibition features ‘recruit (no. 2)’, a sculpture and video installation conceived by the artist during his time at the Lubi Art Residency in Kopiat island, Davao de Oro, Philippines. Utilising ghost nets found by divers in the Davao Gulf, Ananding converts these pieces of pollution into sculpture resembling coral, underscoring the artist’s deep concern with the widespread ecological damage of our times.

‘There is Still a Tomorrow, Mother’ and ‘deep in the shallows, afloat in the depths (lumalalim sa kababawan, lumulutang sa kalaliman)’ between 8 May and 21 June 2025 at Silverlens New York. More information here.

SaLang#8: ‘Angi-Batihilaw’ by Allyza Diane Tresvalles

This May, Project Space Pilipinas presents the works of emerging artist Allyza Diane Tresvalles as part of its ongoing solo artists’ series, ‘SaLang’. The exhibition is titled ‘Angi-Batihilaw’ – angi referring to the scorched rice left at the bottom of the pot, while batihilaw refers to the undercooked grains. This twin symbol of excess and lack in relation to sustenance foregrounds the young artist’s focus on the intersecting relationships of agricultural practices, cultural and geographic history, and the mechanics of the local economy. Working across diverse mediums, Tresvalles offers speculative models of existence grounded in mutually affirming relationships with community and the land.

SaLang #8: Allyza Diane Tresvalles ‘Angi-Batihilaw’ runs from 10 May to 15 June 2025 at the Project Space Pilipinas, Lucban, Quezon, Philippines. More information here.

Anum

Malaysian artist Noor Mahnun (Anum) presents her first-ever solo exhibition in Singapore, hosted by Yeo Workshop. Titled ‘Anum’, the show celebrates the 40th anniversary of her first exhibition, which was held in the artist-run space Video Diva in Florence, Italy. Anum’s intricate paintings intertwine still life and figurative painting techniques, transforming mundane scenes into enigmatically charged compositions. Imbued with a reserved yet meditative quality, her works are steeped in anecdotal experiences and early memories, offering a compelling portal into the artist’s interior psychological reality.

‘Anum’ is on view from 17 May to 6 July 2025 at Yeo Workshop in Singapore. More information here.

Once Was

This May, ara contemporary presents ‘Once Was’, a solo exhibition by Iwan Effendi. As the co-founder of Papermoon Puppet Theatre, based in Yogyakarta, Effendi translates his expertise as a puppeteer into his artistic practice, which seeks to examine both the physical and emotional complexities of the craft. Movement is a key aspect of Effendi’s oeuvre; through moving image, painting and drawings on paper, the artist records the abstract traces of unseen gestures, showcasing the contrast between stillness and action. He also draws upon his experience of embodying various characters for his performances, depicting this fluid relationship between body, identity and time. The series of works sees Effendi transforming himself into several inanimate objects, thus exploring the unique relationship between a puppeteer and their puppets.

‘Once Was’ is on view between 17 May and 21 June 2025 at ara contemporary, Jakarta, Indonesia. More information here.

Envisioning Ecosystems: Inter-University Arts Students Camp

Inter-University Arts Students Camp; Envisioning Ecosystems poster. Image courtesy of Inter-University Arts Students Camp.

Organised by a group of students from LASALLE College of the Arts, Nanyang Technological University and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, the Inter-University Arts Students Camp is a peer-led weekend-long symposium that aims to increase connectivity amongst university students in Singapore who are aspiring towards careers in the arts and culture sectors.

Following the theme of 'Emerging Ecosystems', the camp will host a series of panels, presentations and guided networking sessions that focuses on examining critical issues faced by prospective arts workers in Singapore, starting conversations around relevant topics such as leading independent arts spaces and programmes, balancing diverse roles, and building interconnected communities.

The Inter-University Arts Students Camp will take place from 23 to 24 May 2025 at LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore. More information here.