Synopsis

The Strange Archive presents speculative artworks that reimagine the archive as a living, contested space rather than a static repository. To make strange is to see again: here, the archive signals a site of care, continuity, and labour that remains porous and reflexive, shaped by omission and desire. This first iteration, developed for ArtWeek 2026 at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, lays the groundwork for a long-term curatorial and research platform exploring how forgotten stories, unrealised projects, and obscured memories may be reactivated through exhibition making.

Public Programmes

The public programmes accompanying The Strange Archive invite audiences to engage directly with the exhibition’s central questions about memory, erasure, speculation, and the politics and art of archiving.

Exhibition Opening
17 January 2026 · 6:00 PM
Celebrate the launch of The Strange Archive, where archives are reimagined as living, evolving spaces shaped by memory, omission, and speculation.

Drawing Dialogues: Stories of Decay
18 January 2026 · 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM · Labrador Park · Meeting Point: Labrador Park MRT Exit A
Free Admission · Registration Required · Registration: tinyurl.com/storiesofdecay

Follow IG @thestrangearchive.sg for updates

Gather at Labrador Park for a guided walk led by Superlative Futures (Dr. Wong Zi Hao and Liu Dian Cong) through Berlayer Creek, an ecosystem where decay, decomposition, and regeneration take place in quiet cycles. Participants will return by bus to Tanjong Pagar Distripark to create drawings and short written reflections inspired by their observations. Open to participants of all experience levels.

Curator’s Tour: Making The Archive Strange

18 & 25 January 2026 · 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Join curator Adrian Tan and artists to uncover stories, omissions, and speculative reimaginings behind the works.

Panel Discussion: Art, Archives & Speculative Futures
24 January 2026 · 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Artists, historians, and archivists discuss how reimagining archives opens new ways of understanding the past and imagining the future.

Artist Dialogue: Singapore Art Archive Project
25 January 2026 · 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Artist-archivist Koh Nguang How shares insights into Chua Mia Tee’s National Language Class and Lee Boon Wan’s Portrait of a Lady, reflecting on his archival practice and the process of identifying the central figure that connects both paintings.

Haridas Contemporary

17 Jan 2026 to 16 Feb 2026

Free admission

Renowned for her metal sculptures and mapping of celestial bodies, From One Sky To Another is Melissa Tan’s continuation of that exploration with new ideas of mapping (triangulation) and mythology.

ArtScience Museum

17 Jan 2026 to 19 Apr 2026

Ticketed

Explore the hidden beauty of insects, magnified into captivating works of art that uncover intricate details, complex forms and surprising worlds up close.

Benedict Yu

17 Jan 2026 to 1 Feb 2026

Ticketed ($10)

Mother’s Body Remembers traces the artist’s aging parents in VR, capturing intimate XR portraiture woven with love and loss, exploring multi-dimensional family legacy within the artist’s home.
Exhibition

Singapore Art Museum

12 Sep 2025 to 19 Jul 2026

Free during Singapore Art Week

Drawn primarily from the collection of Singapore Art Museum, Talking Objects examines the meanings that quotidian objects and everyday representations amass through use and circulation.