SINGAPORE — Located off the tip of the Malay peninsula, Singapore has long been an important international trading hub. In recent years, the city-state has claimed another role as a pivotal player in the Asian art scene.

Singapore Art Week, which marked its 13th edition this year, is a government-led initiative held in collaboration with the private sector. Held from Jan. 17 to 26 across the city, this year’s art week attracted art lovers and collectors alike, particularly from Southeast Asia. The event has grown in scale, with the number of art events now totaling some 130 from the initial 50 in 2013.

“SAW has evolved from a modest arts event into Southeast Asia’s pinnacle visual arts season,” Tay Tong, director of visual arts at Singapore’s National Arts Council, told The Korea Herald.

“(The art week) is a dynamic celebration of the thriving visual arts ecosystem in Singapore with increasing ground-up initiatives from artists, arts groups, art fairs and galleries taking center stage.”

Global art auctioneer Sotheby’s held its “Modern and Contemporary Art” exhibition, its first to coincide with the art week, just ahead of its live auction on Jan. 18. The exhibition featured works by Southeast Asian masters such as Singaporean British sculptor Kim Lim.

“The curation reflects the cosmopolitan nature of Singaporean society and the ever-increasing demand from a growing collector base in the Southeast Asian region. Being part of Singapore Art Week reiterates Sotheby’s commitment to maintaining an active on-the-ground presence in Singapore,” the auctioneer noted on the website.

Meanwhile, light projections of artworks by three influential Singaporean artists — Chng Seok Tin, Goh Beng Kwan and Jaafar Lattiff — illuminate the facade of National Gallery Singapore until Feb. 6 as part of Light to Night Singapore 2025.

Inside the museum, was a retrospective of Singaporean-born artist Kim Lim who, once overlooked, is now grabbing attention in today’s art scene.

The “Kim Lim: The Space Between” exhibition, shown during the art week, shed light on the artist’s mastery of light, space and rhythm in her minimalist style that encompasses wood sculptures, paintings and industrial materials. The artist immigrated to the UK in 1954 and died at the age of 61. She was married to British artist William Turnbull.

“It is a hugely sort of special and emotional moment for us. Our mother passed away very prematurely. When she passed away, she was pretty much forgotten,” said Alex Turnbull, a son of the artist, giving a press tour on Jan. 15.

Singapore Art Museum, located in Tanjong Pagar Distripark, focuses on contemporary art with an emphasis on Southeast Asian art, and was the first museum to open in the city in 1996. Senior curator Kim Hae-ju worked with Singaporean artist Robert Zhao Renhui for the “Seeing Forest” exhibition shown at the Singaporean Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2024. The exhibition then made its way to Singapore Art Museum with some additional works.

“While we focused on media art in Venice due to limited space, this time we wanted to emphasize the narrative of Singaporean history for the local audience, expanding the installation works,” Kim told The Korea Herald on Jan. 17.

The artist has been documenting various secondary forests in Singapore — forested areas that have grown over land previously deforested by human development — capturing phenomena rarely seen before, according to the museum.

The exhibition “The Eye and The Tiger,” directed by Singaporean curator Alan Oei, was shown at Adam Park, a fabled black and white bungalow nestled in a lush rolling landscape. The exhibition, joined by seven artists from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, was organized by the Oh! Open House, an independent arts organization founded in 2009 that tells alternative stories of Singapore through art.

The art week offered a glimpse into private collections as well: “The Pierre Lorinet Collection: Space” at New Bahru, and “Of Dreams and Contemplations: I am All but a Story – Selections from the Collection of Richard Koh” at Private Museum.

As a collector and a leading gallerist in Southeast Asia, Koh has collected artworks to promote Southeast Asian contemporary art on regional and international platforms.

“The role of (collectors) is quite important, because without collectors, there is no art market, so they support the system,” Koh told The Korea Herald on Jan. 16.

“(My collection) is very personal and very funny at times. It is like the idea of showing so that people look at it and say ‘Oh, you don’t have to be too serious and (can just) go with the flow. Collect what you like and what speaks to you.”

Two commercial art fairs — Art SG at Marina Bay Sands Expo and SEA Focus at Tanjong Pagar Distripark — are other highlights of the annual art week, attracting collectors from Southeast Asian countries. While Art SG was co-founded by cultural entrepreneur Magnus Renfrew joined by a wide range of international galleries, SEA Focus has an emphasis on Southeast Asian contemporary art. This year’s SEA Focus, marking its 7th edition, was curated by John Tung.

“Singapore is a small country, yet it’s dynamic because culturally every country in Southeast Asia is very different,” said Emi Eu, executive director of STPI and project director of SEA Focus. “There is a confidence for people to continue to buy artwork.”

Meanwhile, the Singapore Biennale will return on Oct. 31, running through March 29, 2026, for its eighth edition, also marking Singapore’s 60th year of independence.