Arts & Culture

Seeing Forest Returns: Robert Zhao Renhui’s Venice-born masterpiece comes home for Singapore Art Week

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SINGAPORE – After captivating audiences at the prestigious 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (Biennale Arte 2024), Robert Zhao Renhui’s critically acclaimed exhibition, Seeing Forest, makes its much-anticipated homecoming to Singapore. The exhibition, presented by Singapore Art Museum (SAM) at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, is set to be a highlight of Singapore Art Week (SAW), running from 15 January to 18 May 2025.

Organized by SAM and commissioned by the National Arts Council, Singapore (NAC), the Singapore Pavilion’s standout presentation at Venice drew over 320,000 global visitors, marking the city-state’s 11th participation in the esteemed Biennale Arte. Officially inaugurated in Venice by Minister for Culture, Community, and Youth Mr. Edwin Tong, the exhibition has garnered significant international acclaim for its innovative exploration of secondary forests within Singapore’s urban fabric.

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Installation view of Trash Stratum (2024), Buffy (2024), and The Owl, The Travellers and The Cement Drain (2024). Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

In Seeing Forest, Zhao transports audiences into a world that balances the real and the imagined, unearthing the rich, untamed ecologies of Singapore’s secondary forests of Bukit Panjang and Gillman Barracks. From the elusive sambar deer, long thought extinct, to migratory Japanese sparrowhawks, Zhao’s lens brings a meditative focus to life that thrives on the margins of the city’s relentless development.

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  • Robert Zhao Renhui Venice Born Masterpiece insert3
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Returning to Singapore, the exhibition amplifies its storytelling with an expanded vision. Key works, such as the monumental Trash Stratum (2024), have evolved significantly in scale for the local edition. This sculptural video installation, reimagined as a towering cabinet of curiosities, interlaces found footage and collected objects, inviting visitors to delve into the complexities of coexistence between man and nature.

SeeingForest WebnSocial

Seeing Forest runs from 15 January to 18 May 2025 at SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark. Admission is free during SAW (17–26 January 2025). General admission (free for Singaporeans and PRs) applies thereafter.

For more details on the exhibition and accompanying programmes, visit bit.ly/SAM-SeeingForest.

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