Singapore | Photography and video installation in Southeast Asia

The National Gallery Singapore is holding two exhibitions featuring overviews of photography and video installation in Southeast Asia. 

Early Video Installation of Southeast Asia, until 4 February 2024

Why did artists in Southeast Asia begin using video and how was this technology first incorporated into their works? By staging and recreating pioneering works by 10 artists from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, See Me, See You: Early Video Installation of Southeast Asia locates pivotal moments when the form first emerged in the region in the 1980s and 1990s.

This two-part exhibition features, in its first instalment, works by Apinan Poshyananda, Baharudin Mohd Arus, Chng Nai Wee, Johnny Manahan and Jean Marie Syjuco. The second part, opening in October, will showcase works by Heri Dono, Hasnul Saidon, Ray Langenbach, Vincent Leow and Krisna Murti.

Photography in Southeast Asia, until 20 August 2023

Photographs surround us every day and everywhere. They shape the way we see the world and the way we see ourselves. This exhibition explores the changing roles of photography in Southeast Asia – from its beginnings as a tool of European exploration to the “performance” of studio portraits; from the incomplete realities of war to the rise of fine art; and finally to the memes and selfies that saturate social media today.

About the exhibitions