artLIVE – On September 12, 2025, the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) officially opened two new exhibitions, “Talking Objects” and “The Living Room”, at Gallery 4, Tanjong Pagar Distripark.
These exhibitions mark the conclusion of the three-part collaborative project “Communicating, Convening, Commoning” between SAM, the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), and the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). Both shows explore how art preserves memory, creates meaning, and evokes experiences that transcend time.
“Talking Objects” and “The Living Room” bring together 23 works by 22 artists from 11 countries, combining displays with performances and interactive programs to offer audiences a dynamic, multi-layered art experience.
What happens when objects begin to “speak”?
“Talking Objects” takes visitors on a journey through everyday items and familiar landscapes, transforming them into vessels of memory, emotion, and collective experience.
The exhibition invites the public to pause and reflect on simple materials that, through the creativity of artists, are reimagined into thought-provoking artworks.
A highlight is “Hungry God” by Subodh Gupta, a monumental installation composed of stainless-steel utensils stacked like a cascading torrent. Beneath its gleaming surface lie reflections of India’s social, economic, and cultural shifts.
In a similar vein, artist Alwin Reamillo presents a piano crafted from discarded parts of his family’s piano-making workshop. The work acts both as a personal memorial and as “social sculpture,” connecting artisans and audiences through the act of making music.
Vietnamese artist Nguyen Phuong Linh contributes the video “Trùng mú – Endless, Sightless,” which turns a beauty salon into a metaphor for globalization: a glamorous façade concealing the quiet labor of workers.
Meanwhile, Suzann Victor’s “Third World Extra Virgin Dreams” suspends a bed draped with blood-tinted lenses, confronting viewers with themes of the body, desire, and the fragility of existence.
“Third World Extra Virgin Dreams” by artist Suzann Victor
Christine Ay Tjoe transforms a typewriter into a musical instrument, evoking solitude and the yearning for connection — a metaphor for the human condition of isolation and longing for community.
From one surprise to another, “Talking Objects” guides audiences through works that each reveal unique layers of meaning and artistic voice, encouraging viewers to discover hidden lives within the inanimate.
Unfolding ephemeral encounters in ‘The Living Room’
While “Talking Objects” explores the world of objects, “The Living Room” delves into the fleeting and fragile nature of performance art. Featuring works from the collections of SAM, SeMA, and QAGOMA alongside invited artists.
Exhibition space “The Living Room”
The exhibition transforms the gallery into an open space where performances extend beyond their initial moment to be restaged, embodied, and re-experienced over time.
Artist Ezzam Rahman restages “Allow Me to Introduce Myself” not merely as an act of remembrance but as a confrontation with his present self.
Chia Chuyia presents a dress woven from withered leeks, symbolizing the life cycle of performance and its ritual of closure through nourishment.
Jeremy Hiah compresses two decades of practice into a 10-meter-long hand-drawn journal, functioning both as archive and live performance.
Brian Fuata contributes spoken and gestural improvisations within the exhibition space, highlighting the tension between ephemeral presence and lingering resonance.
In “Ezra Noara,” Korean artist Nam Hwayeon restages Choi Seung-hee’s 1933 dance, prompting questions about how artistic memory can be transmitted across generations and bodies.
Kim Ga Ram’s “The AGENDA Hair Salon” transforms the gallery into a functioning hair salon where visitors receive free haircuts in exchange for conversations, turning an everyday gesture into a spontaneous performance of connection and sharing.
Throughout its run, “The Living Room” features live performances, curator-led tours, and artist talks, offering audiences an intimate and dynamic engagement with the works.
According to Mr. Shabbir Hussain Mustafa, Curatorial Director at SAM, “Talking Objects” and “The Living Room” approach art differently yet complement each other in showing how art remembers, creates meaning, and fosters intergenerational dialogue.
Together, the two exhibitions invite the public into a world where art becomes a bridge between material and memory, between the transient and the enduring.
Posters of the two exhibitions: “Talking Objects” and “The Living Room”
Whether through everyday objects or ephemeral performances, both shows open new layers of meaning and affirm SAM’s role as a hub for research, connection, and creativity, enriching artistic dialogue in the region and beyond.
The exhibitions are free and open to the public from September 12, 2025 to July 19, 2026, at Gallery 4, Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark.
Photo credit: Singapore Art Museum (SAM)
