Over the past decade, the Singapore government has aggressively poured money into developing the city-state into a cultural hub for Southeast Asia and beyond, supporting new institutions and events like the Singapore Biennale and the commercial art fair Art Stage Singapore in addition to more locally themed projects. Now the Singapore Economic Development Board, the National Arts Council and the industrial infrastructure specialist JTC Corporation have lined up a new complex of international galleries on the site of a former British military barracks.
The long-gestating Gillman Barracks proposal has confirmed 13 tenants, all based in or with ties to Asia. Not surprisingly, the representatives from Japan are Takashi Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Mizuma Art Gallery, Ota Fine Arts and Tomio Koyama Gallery, all of which have actively sought out engagement with regional art scenes. Also of note are Shanghai’s ShanghArt and Pearl Lam galleries, the Drawing Room from Manila, and Equator Art Projects, a newly-established satellite of Indonesia’s Langgeng Gallery. Galleries are expected to be operational by the end of 2012, and will be joined by yet another new institution, the Centre for Contemporary Art, which will host exhibitions and residencies.
The Jan 12 announcement coincides with the opening of the second Art Stage Singapore, held again this year at the Marina Bay Sands Convention and Exhibition Centre. Japan’s Gillman Barracks galleries are all participating in the fair, along with high-profile European galleries White Cube, Victoria Miro and Massimo de Carlo. While Art HK has received most of the publicity as the leading fair in the region – augmented by its partnership with the juggernaut Art Basel franchise – Singapore is attractive due to its connection with the close-knit but high-volume Indonesian market.