ART SG Director Shuyin Yang On Launching Southeast Asia's Biggest Art Fair Yet

Singapore is on the rise in more ways than one. But aside from the soaring rent prices, inflation, and number of expats moving to our sunny shores, there's lots to look forward to in terms of artistic events bringing together Southeast Asia's best creative minds from across the fashion, film, music and arts industries. ART SG is no exception - set to be the biggest art fair launch in the Asia-Pacific in nearly a decade, the hype is real for both amateur art lovers and high-end art collectors alike. We recently caught up with fair director Shuyin Yang, who has worked on some of the region's biggest art fairs over the past few years, about what's special about ART SG and what attendees can look forward to in January.

You’ve worked across many art fairs in Asia, accumulating a wealth of experience. What do you hope differentiates ART SG from the rest? 

Presented by Founding and Lead Partner UBS and organised by The Art Assembly, ART SG will be Southeast Asia’s most significant and largest-ever art fair. It is the biggest art fair launch in the Asia-Pacific in a decade, and in terms of scale and quality, is unprecedented in Singapore and Southeast Asia. It will bring together over 150 leading galleries from 30 countries and territories across the world, marking the launch of the first fair of such scale and international significance in the region. Co-timed with Singapore Art Week, it will be a critical meeting point for international galleries and collectors. 

ART SG will have its own identity, its own mix of galleries and standalone dynamic programming. With a base in Singapore, ART SG will be a hub for Southeast Asia, one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a population of 650 million, as well as the wider catchment area of the Indo-Pacific. Singapore is also increasingly regarded as the private wealth capital of Asia. There is an established base of sophisticated collectors in the region and a younger generation of new buyers who are hungry to engage with contemporary art. 

ART SG’s unique proposition is that while being a major event of global significance, it is also anchored in Singapore and Southeast Asia, showcasing the best the region has to offer - not only Southeast Asia’s strong contemporary art practice shown side by side with leading international art content, but also the cultural thought leadership, museum and gallery infrastructure, networking, critical conversations and exchange. Amid a rapidly developing region, our programmes offer visitors an opportunity for an in-depth exploration to better understand and engage with the diverse and multi-faceted cultural landscape across Southeast Asia and beyond. 

ART SG will be an exciting new addition to the Singapore art scene, bringing yet another huge event to the city as it reopens after two years of pandemic restrictions. Do you hope it’ll ultimately be on the same level as fairs like Art Basel? 

The foundational premise of ART SG is to expand audiences for contemporary art in Asia. Many art fairs in cities around Asia are playing an important role in doing that. Therefore, it is not a question of comparing ART SG to other fairs in different cities but rather showcasing the unique qualities that ART SG has to offer. However, we are delighted that the exhibitor list of ART SG is indeed on par with other art fairs of global significance, with a vibrant and dynamic mix of exceptional gallery showcases, solo or duo artist presentations, and the discovery of rising new talent. 

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ART SG was supposed to launch earlier, before being postponed to this year. Tell us about what went into that decision and how you all utilised the extra time for planning. 

We are committed to delivering a successful launch of ART SG in 2023, and a fair of the highest quality. COVID-19 has adversely affected public events around the world in every industry. Thus, postponing the launch of ART SG to January 2023 was a natural choice, and gave us the opportunity to align ourselves with the re-opening of Singapore and co-timing with Singapore Art Week (SAW), the most important visual arts season in the city-state. 

When making this crucial decision, we received not only overwhelmingly positive commitment from leading galleries regionally and across the globe, but also interest from additional exhibitors to be present given the extra time to prepare, and are grateful to them for their continued support and shared vision in building ART SG into the major international hub fair for Southeast Asia. The extra time meant that we are now able to present a robust list of over 150 leading galleries from across the region and internationally, and showcases of exceptional contemporary art that were prepared especially for ART SG. 

We also continued to work closely with members of our Advisory Group made up of passionate collectors such as Marcel Crespo (Philippines), Kim Camacho (Philippines, Singapore), Bill Cheng (Indonesia/Singapore) and Pierre Lorinet (Singapore) to seek advice and to ensure our plans were in line with ground sentiment. Their support has been invaluable in setting the stage ahead of the launch. 

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ART SG will surely highlight some specialties from Southeast Asia. What are your thoughts on the burgeoning art scene here and how do you hope ART SG will support local and regional artists? 

There is an established base of sophisticated collectors in the region and a younger generation of new buyers who are hungry to engage with contemporary art. We are thrilled to have numerous galleries with spaces in Singapore and Southeast Asia participate in the launch of ART SG in January 2023, from regional stalwarts such as Richard Koh Fine Art (Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok), Yavuz Gallery (Singapore, Sydney), Gajah Gallery (Singapore, Jakarta, Yogyakarta), The Drawing Room (Manila), to new emerging spaces such as Warin Lab (Bangkok) and Cuturi Gallery (Singapore, London) who will be emphasising artists from Singapore and around the region. In addition, Southeast Asian artists will also be featured by internationally renowned galleries who represent them, such as Dinh Q. Le featured by P.P.O.W, (New York) and Sopheap Pich with Tomio Koyama, Mit Jai Inn and Sawangwongse Yawnghwe at TKG+ (Taipei), a testimony to global interest in the region's artistic practice.

There will be substantial showcases of Southeast Asian art at ART SG. Highlights include: 

o Richard Koh Fine Art (Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok) will present a curated Southeast Asian group show with a special focus on art practices emerging from the Indochina region, featuring established and new names such as Natee Utarit, Svay Sareth, Wah Nu, UuDam Tran Nguyen, Ha Manh Thang, Fasang Navaaran. 

o Yavuz Gallery (Singapore, Sydney) will present a group show featuring Southeast Asian and Australasian artists, including multi-disciplinary works by one of Southeast Asia’s most respected female artists, Pinaree Sanpitak (who was most recently featured in the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, “The Milk of Dreams”). 

o FOST Gallery (Singapore) will bring together a tightly curated selection of works, which feature different aspects of life in Southeast Asia by Kray Chen, John Clang, Phi Phi Oanh, Donna Ong, and Yeo Tze Yang. 

o A solo booth by an acclaimed female painter from the Philippines, Pam Yan Santos, titled "Building Things We May Not Know" at The Drawing Room (Manila), which explores themes such as everyday intimacy, domesticity, and the interchanging feminine roles of mother, wife, and artist.  

o Yeo Workshop (Singapore) will bring a tightly curated presentation entitled “From the Land of Gold Below the Winds in South Seas”, juxtaposing the historically and culturally interrogative practices of multi-disciplinary artists from Singapore and Southeast Asia including Fyerool Darma, Filippo Sciascia, Santi Wangchuan, and Citra Sasmita. 

o A multi-disciplinary two-artist showcase by respected artists Thaiwijit Puengkasemsomboon (Thailand) and Arahmaiani (Indonesia), presented by Warin Lab (Bangkok), a new curatorial space with a focus on sustainability. 

We are also pleased to present two platforms which highlight the Southeast Asia art scene, a TALKS programme and a curated selection of films and moving image works, both of which cast an insightful look at regional exchanges, dialogues and art-making practices. 

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What should attendees most look forward to at ART SG? 

In addition to the robust main sector presenting leading international galleries as well as strong representation from Asia, ART SG will present three other sectors, FOCUS, FUTURES and REFRAME, as well as a selection of films and moving images, and a thought-provoking TALKS programme curated by Cosmin Costinas, the upcoming Director of the Biennale of Sydney in 2024. Gridthiya Gaweewong, curator at the Jim Thompson Art Center in Bangkok, and recently-appointed Artistic Director of the Thailand Biennale 2023, has curated the selection of films to be showcased at ART SG. 

With Singapore at the forefront of technological innovation, ART SG will present new experimentations in digital art and works on the blockchain alongside the presentation of internationally renowned galleries for the first time in Singapore. The REFRAME sector will focus on artists who work with digital media and technology.

o Bitforms gallery (New York, San Francisco) will present a selection of works from Refik Anadol, one of the most acclaimed pioneers in the aesthetics of data and machine intelligence, and whose generative artworks have redefined the parameters of technology and algorithmic-based practice in this current era. 

o Kate Vass Galerie (Zurich) will bring together works by leading international new media and generative artists from different backgrounds and practices, such as Sputniko!, Marcelo Soria-Rodríguez, Kjetil Golid, Kevin Abosch, Iskra Velitchkova, and Anna Ridler. 

o Vanguard Gallery (Shanghai) will present “Suit Koo Chup Yew" by Hong Kong-based collective Jiū Society, an ongoing project across a diverse range of media including site-specific installations, sculptures, paintings, videos and crypto art, which takes its title from a 1955 Hong Kong musical comedy film which was loosely structured around the characters of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. 

There is a lot to look forward to at ART SG, with something for everyone. For more information, visit the ART SG website. 

*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.