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

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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.

23 Jan 2026 to 25 Jan 2026

Free admission

We are four retirees who love to paint. What begin as a casual interest has grown into regular plein air gathering. This exhibition marks our watercolour journey since 2019.

LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore Botanic Gardens

15 Nov 2025 to 1 Feb 2026

Free admission

This exhibition frames the care of a garden as an analogy for a thoughtful approach to archiving: both require attention, patience, and recognition of the conditions that shape growth.

19sixtyfive

23 Jan 2026 to 31 Jan 2026

Free admission

An interactive installation where motion-tracked visuals, mirrors, & screens transform movement into image, destabilising perception & placing viewers inside a shifting digital mirage shaped by their presence.
Exhibition

Ang Kia Yee, Annabelle Tan, Darius Ou Dahao, Kai McLaughlin, Kiong Wei Zhong, Kirti Upadhyaya, Marcus Mohan, Natalie Khoo, Syafiq Halid, Tristan Lim

22 Jan 2026 to 31 Jan 2026

Free admission

City of New Ruins is an installation exploring the 'Singaporean Dream'. Visitors are invited to interact with a tactile landscape inspired by Forest City - a haunting proxy of Singapore located in Johor Bahru.