SINGAPORE – The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) has announced that pioneering interdisciplinary artist Amanda Heng will represent Singapore at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (Biennale Arte) in 2026, with curator Selene Yap helming the exhibition’s curatorial direction.
This marks Singapore’s 12th national participation in the prestigious Biennale Arte, widely regarded as the world’s leading platform for contemporary visual art. The Singapore Pavilion is commissioned by the National Arts Council (NAC), supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), and organised by SAM. The 2026 edition of Biennale Arte will run from 9 May to 22 November 2026.
Amanda Heng, whose artistic practice has shaped Singapore’s contemporary art scene for over four decades, was selected by a Commissioning Panel comprising leaders from the arts sector. Heng’s artistic vocabulary, rooted in live performance, installation and participatory works – offers a deeply introspective lens on the intersections of memory, gender, identity and the everyday.
Eugene Tan, Co-Chair of the Commissioning Panel, Chief Executive Officer and Director of SAM said, “Over four decades, Amanda Heng’s artistic career and contributions have critically shaped Singapore’s art history and development. Her sustained and evolving practice offers compelling ways of engaging the world through the body, performance, and lived experience. Her work resonates with the urgencies of our time while being grounded in personal truth and poetic clarity. Heng’s selection of Selene Yap as curatorreflects a collaborative relationship that brings together distinct artistic and curatorial sensibilities, promising a thoughtful and resonant presentation that will shed fresh light on contemporary global concerns pertinent to today’s international art world.”
Low Eng Teong, Co-Chair of the Commissioning Panel and Chief Executive Officer of NAC added, “Amanda Heng is a pioneering force in performance art, whose interdisciplinary practice uses the body and its movement as a universal language to create new pathways for international audiences to engage with Singapore art. As part of our continued efforts to nurture artistic excellence and support our artists on the international stage, the Singapore Pavilion at Biennale Arte serves as a vital platform for our artists to build meaningful global networks and foster cross-cultural dialogue. Together with the Commissioning Panel, we are proud to support this artistic team as they represent Singapore on the world stage in Venice next year.”
Selene Yap, curator at SAM, brings to the Pavilion a practice that foregrounds process, memory and the politics of place. Known for long term engagements with artists, Yap has curated exhibitions featuring Pratchaya Phinthong, Simryn Gill & Charles Lim Yi Yong, Ho Tzu Nyen and Joo Choon Lin in recent years. Her curatorial ethos aligns closely with Heng’s performative language, forming a duo that is poised to deliver a Singapore Pavilion of resonance and urgency.
Yap and Heng are no strangers to collaboration. In 2024, they worked together to present Heng’s works for the Presentation of Works by Benesse Prize Artists at the Benesse House Museum in Naoshima, Japan. Their ongoing dialogue between Heng’s body centred performance practice and Yap’s site-sensitive, dialogic curatorial approach promises a presentation at the Singapore Pavilion that is both personal and globally resonant.
Since 2001, Singapore’s participation in the Venice Biennale has served as a vital platform for contemporary voices from the city-state to enter global discourse. Notable past presentations have included Robert Zhao Renhui (2024), Shubigi Rao (2022), and Song-Ming Ang (2019)—each contributing provocations that explore ecology, knowledge, and systems of meaning.
The Singapore Pavilion has been located in the Arsenale, one of the Biennale’s main exhibition venues since 2015. Details of Heng and Yap’s curatorial concept for 2026 will be announced in due course. Audiences can expect an exhibition that draws from Heng’s unique lexicon of body, ritual and lived experience – amplified through Yap’s curatorial framing.
Further details on the curatorial concept behind the Singapore Pavilion will be revealed in due course. Follow the latest updates via Facebook, Instagram and TikTok (@singaporeartmuseum), or visit bit.ly/SingaporePavilion-BA2026.
