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 ·

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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.

High Street Art Centre

22 Jan 2026 to 1 Feb 2026

Free admission

The Nanyang Artists features a collector’s collection of second generation Nanyang artists’ works including Chng Seok Tin, Ang Ah Tee, Koeh Sia Yong, Tay Chee Toh, etc.

Peranakan Museum

31 Oct 2025 to 30 Aug 2026

Ticketed

This exhibition explores the peacock as a universal symbol of beauty, power, and divinity across Asia. Travelling widely between regions and contexts, it reveals how artistic traditions evolve through exchange.

Lock+Store

22 Jan 2026 to 31 Jan 2026

Free admission

Yenidraws is a self-taught Singapore digital illustrator inspired by childhood and family, creating colourful, nostalgic illustrations of Singapore's everyday barang-barang to share her love for the city.

Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay

19 Sep 2025 to 1 Feb 2026

Free admission

Not Quite Gone, Not Quite Finished reclaims discarded ceramics, artworks and materials, transforming them into new and unexpected forms that explore the tension between waste and renewal.