Rediscover Childhood Wonder At SAM’s Refreshed Learning Gallery + Free Art Carnival

Step into a world of imagination with contemporary artworks by Singaporean artists—plus a family-friendly Art Carnival on 2 August!

Venue: Singapore Art Museum (SAM) at Tanjong Pagar Distripark (Free Shuttle Bus to and from Harbourfront MRT Station Exit D available)
Date: 2 Aug to 28 Jun 2026
Fee: Free Admission

SAM's Learning Gallery Unveils New Exhibition

The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) unveils the second cycle of its Learning Gallery, featuring a refreshed lineup of contemporary artworks that celebrate creativity through a child-like lens. This edition marks Singapore’s 60th anniversary and showcases an all-Singaporean artist lineup, highlighting the diversity and depth of local contemporary art.

New Artworks

• Shelter by Han Sai Por
  

In these works, Han Sai Por addresses environmental degradation, including deforestation and the loss of jungle and animal habitats, across Southeast Asia. Her intense engagement with nature stems from her lifelong concern for these pressing issues, offering powerful commentary on our evolving relationship with the natural world.

In 2009, Han embarked on intensive research into the rapidly diminishing tropical rainforest ecosystems of Southeast Asia, including those in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Memories of her childhood kampong home, which was flattened to make way for public housing, motivated these works. Han’s efforts yielded critical insights that informed a body of work, including Shelter and Land Deterioration. Both works challenge conventional representations of landscape by showing nature in its raw and authentic state rather than as neat and carefully arranged scenes.

Shelter portrays a monochromatic forest of sculptural trunks and sinewy boughs stripped of their leafy crowns. Washed in a tonal gradation of black, white and grey, the work powerfully evokes the desolation of a place once rich with biodiversity. The complete absence of foliage suggests a large-scale impact of human activities, including construction, and broader environmental threats from climate change.

• Land Deterioration by Han Sai Por
  

Land Deterioration confronts viewers with the earth stripped bare of its anchoring trees. The work magnifies coarse, dense soil textures and its materiality. Water has sculpted the resulting loose, grainy earth into undulating formations, etching deep ridges, cracks and grooves across its surface. This work directly addresses the issue of soil erosion caused by deforestation. It compels viewers to question whether prioritising human needs justifies such environmental destruction.

• Animal Roulette by David Chan
  

In his pursuit of a visual language beyond traditional painting, David Chan transforms basic cutting and pasting into a conceptual process. Working systematically through toy animals, he deconstructs and reimagines them as materials detached from their original identities.

Animal Roulette presents a taxonomy of imaginary creatures inspired by colours, shapes, forms and stories. Mirroring the game of chance, the work creates an infinite and random array of possibilities. Every creature carries a distinct name and identity, inviting audiences to contemplate how unique identities might coexist within the catalogue of shared existence.

This series is one of Chen’s earliest works exploring the nature of animals and the ethical issues of genetic manipulation. Three of the five display cases are presented here in the Learning Gallery. Over time, as society becomes less alarmed by genetic changes in animals, this work remains relevant, reminding us of the anxieties that arise when science, technology, and society at large intersect.

• Space Drawing 14 & Space Drawing 5 by Chen Sai Hua Kuan
  

Chen Sai Hua Kuan, also known as Sai, created Space Drawing 14 in response to Singapore Art Museum’s Learning Gallery at Tanjong Pagar Distripark. The work is part of his ‘Space Drawing’ series, in which the artist reinterprets the function of a line and the act of drawing by extending it beyond the conventional two-dimensional medium into three-dimensional spatial environments.

Originally developed to support operations at the nearby port, the Distripark transformed into a dynamic space that blended its industrial past with the arts, as port activities relocated. It has since become an important hub for contemporary art experiments and exhibitions. Against Singapore's evolving cityscape, Space Drawing 14 unfolds as an interplay of lines in the Learning Gallery.

Sai responds to the space by transforming it into a canvas. Using a single continuous bungee rope as a line—a fundamental and versatile element in art—he creates a path that traverses and intersects the gallery by following its contours. The path becomes a spatial drawing, stretched taut to create a sense of rhythm and flow. Though both ends remain securely tethered, this suspended energy becomes a focal point that evokes curiosity and imagination, suggesting latent potential and unrealised movement, possibilities he first explored earlier in Space Drawing 5.

This approach builds on his earlier work, Space Drawing 5 (2009), which he created for a construction site in Kaliningrad, Russia. There, Sai stretched an elastic cord across the derelict space before releasing it. As he let it go, the stored energy transformed into a kinetic and sonic spectacle, with the freed cord ricocheting across the site and drawing attention to its surroundings.

• Here’s who I am, I am what you see by Ezzam Rahman
  

At first glance, delicate flowers sit beneath glass cloches, softly lit and shaped like temple stupas. Their beauty draws your eye. But look closer, and their materials tell a different story.

In this installation, Ezzam Rahman presents fossilised flowers across two wooden tables, adapted from his original work with five tables. The artist formed each petal from an unconventional medium: dead skin, which he peeled and scraped from his feet. Through his experimentation with material and time, Ezzam discovered that this thick, calloused skin—detritus from grooming—could be a material rich with meaning. It became a remnant of his presence and existence. By using such unconventional material, Ezzam challenges norms and pushes the boundaries of what can be considered an artistic medium.

These flowers also highlight the ephemeral beauty of the present, a beauty that fades with time. They invite us on an introspective journey to confront memories and the concept of identity when the physical body is no longer present. The work urges us to consider how our life and purpose might endure, even as our bodies decay and return to dust.

Beyond its immediate subject, the work also engages us through its performative nature. The act of periodically cutting one’s skin, along with the sensations associated with this intentional process, leads to a deeper appreciation for the present moment and our finite time on Earth.

Retained Artworks

• Untitled, from the series ‘Singapore’ by Nguan
  

In the series ‘Singapore’, Nguan expressively captures quiet, everyday scenes on the streets of Singapore, as well as the sense of alienation and solitude that pervades the city. By taking spontaneous portraits of strangers while exploring Singapore on foot, he presents overlooked aspects of the mundane. The artist once stated that loneliness is “just a symptom of modern life everywhere—we’re living in closer proximity to each other than ever before, but feeling further apart.” The themes explored in this series are sombre and soft, conveying a sense of nostalgia and warmth. In these photographs, a dozen untold stories and personal histories are waiting to unfold.

• Black Forest by Han Sai Por

In 2011, Han Sai Por initiated Black Forest as an ongoing project. She revisited and developed it further in 2013 and 2016.

This 2024 version is a testament to Han’s commitment to exploring how human activities profoundly impact the natural world. The installation presents a striking visual of an obliterated forest, the haunting aftermath of relentless deforestation. Yet closer observation reveals that some branches appear unburnt, suggesting the inherent resilience of nature despite the destructiveness of humankind.

Beyond aesthetics, Han’s work offers powerful commentary on forest management practices and celebrates the enduring spirit of the environment.

Art Carnival

To mark the gallery’s refresh and SG60, SAM will host a free Art Carnival on 2 August 2025 Families can look forward to guided tours, creative workshops, and hands-on art activities—perfect for a fun day out!

Venue: SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Date: 2 Aug 2025
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: Free (general admission fees to exhibitions apply)

Drop-In Activities

• Fan-tastic Fan

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: Free Admission

Decorate the fan using stamps inspired by artworks from Learning Gallery or get creative with the sticker set from Heman Chong’s exhibition to make a new sentence or a poem!

• Build-an-animal

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: Free Admission

Collect a set of animal wooden puzzle and piece it together to make a sculpture! This activity draws inspiration from David Chan’s Animal Roulette.

*Parent accompaniment required for children 8 years old and below. This activity contains small parts.

• Flower Power

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: Free Admission

Brighten up your day and create your own pot of flowers! Choose from a variety of colourful pipe cleaners and get started.

• Growing Sponge

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: Free Admission

Collect a circular card from the booth and illustrate your favourite motif. Add colours to the sponge and add water to the parts for it to expand!

• The World inside my camera

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: Free Admission

Get your hands dirty and create a camera using the template provided. Explore through the lens like contemporary artists, Heman Chong and Nguan and rediscover Singapore! 

This activity is co-created by SAM Learning and students from National Institute of Early Childhood Development.

• Feeling Colours

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: Free Admission

Can you feel colour? Beyond just seeing, our senses connect us to the world – the touch of water, the sun's warmth. These fundamental sensations inspired Beyond Vision’s unique approach to the language of colour.

Join us at SAM to explore the fascinating link between touch and colour. Discover how our environment translates into a vibrant, sensory experience. Create your own tactile colour cards and share your unique colour stories.

• Pointy Rice

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 3pm

Craving some fun? Pop by the Pointy Rice booth and build your own caifan (economical rice) set—sticker style. These cheeky collectibles turn Singapore’s favourite plate into bite-sized stories you can stick anywhere. Cute, cheeky, and waterproof stickers available for purchase. It’s caifan, but make it art.

Guided Tours

• [TOUR] Public Art Tour: The Everyday Museum

Venue: Spottiswoode Park (access path opposite Spottiswoode Residences, 18 Spottiswoode Park Road)
Time: 11am to 12pm
Fee: Free (by registration)

Join us on an adventure as we explore public artworks of various sizes, mediums and materials that reflect the layered history of Tanjong Pagar, all within the vicinity of Singapore Art Museum (SAM)!

Led by the team behind SAM’s public art initiative, The Everyday Museum, this tour invites you and your family to immerse yourselves in artworks sited at public areas. Get reacquainted with your inner child and gain fresh insight into the artists’ creative processes and develop new perspectives on how we view the world around us. Take time to go outdoors to reflect, spark curiosity, fuel imagination and engage in meaningful conversations as you learn how everyday experiences can be transformed into memorable encounters, through art.

After the tour, continue your day with more art-inspired activities inside SAM where more artworks and exciting programmes await!

This guided tour is suitable for ages 6 and above, children between the ages of 6 and 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Please register here for every adult-and-child pairing.

• [TOUR] Meet the Artists

Venue: Level 1, Gallery 2
Time: 1pm to 2pm

Curious about the artist behind your favourite artworks or how they made it? Join us for a special programme at the Learning Gallery, where you get to meet the artists and ask them all your burning questions. You may even stand to win exclusive prizes during the programme when you participate!

• [CURATOR TOUR] Heman Chong: This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness

Venue: Level 1, Gallery 1
Time: 2pm to 3pm
Fee: Free (general admission fees apply)

Join us for this special curator-led tour of the exhibition, Heman Chong: This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. 

Through the curators’ lens, explore the thematic threads that frame the exhibition: Chance, Fictions, and Infrastructure, and discover how Chong’s artistic practice has evolved in response to an increasingly data-driven, media-saturated and networked world.

• [CURATOR TOUR] SAM Contemporaries: How to Dream Worlds with SgSL Interpretation

Venue: Level 3, Gallery 3
Time: 3pm to 4pm

How To Dream Worlds, the second edition of SAM Contemporaries, brings together six artists whose practices span installation, moving image and materially driven forms.

Tour the exhibition with SAM Curators to understand how these works explore diverse themes—from body-machine intimacies and uncovering hidden narratives to the politics of cultivated space—all grounded in the artists’ unique research and personal experiences.

This tour will be delivered in English with Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) interpretation by Equal Dreams. This tour is suitable for participants aged 6 and up; children must be accompanied by an adult.

Games

• Spin the Wheel

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: By donation: $5 per try or $20 for 5 chances

Spin the wheels of fortune and stand to win attractive merchandise from SAM! Prizes include new Learning Gallery pins, tote bags and more!

• Kopitiam Hero

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: By donation: $5 per try or $20 for 5 chances

Coffee, tea or me? Test your memory in this game where you try to match the different kopitiam drinks! Too easy? Try to spot a kopitiam in one of our on-going exhibitions.

• Fancy Gem Toss

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: By donation: $5 per try or $20 for 5 chances

Put your aiming skills to the test in this game! Throw the ice gem biscuit plushies into the containers to score.

• Don’t Forget the Lyrics

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 11am, 3.30pm
Fee: Free

How well do you know Singapore’s national day songs? Belt your heart out in this challenge and complete the missing lyrics!

• Traditional Snacks

Venue: Level 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 10am to 5pm
Fee: Free

Love old school snacks? Join us for free biscuits and putu piring! Feeling the heat? Cool yourself down with some ice cream cups.

For more information about the Art Carnival and Learning Gallery, visit the Learning Gallery webpage, and the Art Carnival webpage respectively.