Life List: 10 trends to look forward to in 2026
Arts blockbusters and new directors: Save these dates
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(Clockwise from top left) American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s Reflections On Crash (1990), Singaporean artist Sim Chiyin’s Interventions: Farming (2018), theatremaker Chong Tze Chien, Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu and Wild Rice’s satire G*d Is A Woman.
PHOTOS: NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD, NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE, ARTS HOUSE GROUP, ST FILE, WILD RICE
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SINGAPORE – Save these 2026 dates in your arts calendar and book your tickets early, if 2025’s snaking queues for blockbuster exhibitions and sold-out shows boosted by the SG Culture Pass
Exhibitions not to miss
American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s Reflections On Crash (1990) will be on show at the National Gallery Singapore from Dec 11.
PHOTO: NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD
From Dec 11, 2026 to April 4, 2027, the National Gallery Singapore is partnering New York’s Guggenheim Museum to stage an exhibition on pop art – featuring pioneers such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Yayoi Kusama.
It comes hot on the heels of the wildly popular National Gallery Singapore’s impressionism show
In between, expect another blockbuster show with artists closer to home, anchored by art responding to World War II and the Vietnam War.
After The Monsoon: Art & War In Southeast Asia, which runs from May 22 to Oct 18, 2026, will feature artists such as Robert Zhao, Sim Chiyin, Affandi and Tuan Andrew Nguyen.
Singaporean artist Sim Chiyin’s Interventions: Farming (2018) will be on show at After The Monsoon: Art & War In Southeast Asia, which runs from May 22 to Oct 18.
PHOTO: NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE
Buddhist art treasures from the Unesco World Heritage Site of the Dunhuang Mogao Caves
It is the first major exhibition in South-east Asia dedicated to Dunhuang, and visitors can expect full-scale reproductions of grottoes as well as immersive digital experiences that bring the caves and their paintings to life.
New faces lead arts festivals and seasons
Theatremaker Chong Tze Chien makes his debut as festival director of the Singapore International Festival of Arts, which runs from May 15 to 30.
PHOTO: ARTS HOUSE GROUP
Theatremaker Chong Tze Chien makes his debut
Best known for directing the award-winning horror play Oiwa – The Ghost Of Yotsuya at Sifa, Chong is taking over from theatremaker Natalie Hennedige – his contemporary at The Necessary Stage when both were starting out in theatre.
The 2026 edition marks the return of the Festival Village – a throwback to the 1990s and early 2000s – which, according to Sifa, will feature “indoor and outdoor performances, interactive and site-specific works, a lively parade and late-night to early-morning experiences brimming with festival energy”.
The theme and programme are expected to be announced in the first quarter of 2026.
From July 2026, Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu will officially take over from Austrian conductor Hans Graf
From July 2026, Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu (above) will officially take over from Austrian conductor Hans Graf as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s music director.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Before that, the music director-designate – who recently led the SSO in a concert featuring Joseph Haydn’s Nelson Mass (A Mass In Troubled Times) and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 – will conduct a Dmitri Shostakovich concert with the SSO on April 9 and 10.
Lintu has bold plans for the SSO, telling The Straits Times he thinks Singapore can become a “hub for Asian contemporary music”. From 2013 to 2021, Lintu was chief conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he channelled much energy into commissioning and performing new works by Finnish composers.
He will be aided by the orchestra’s first Singaporean head of artistic planning, Christopher Cheong.
ST Life Theatre Awards’ 25th edition in 2026
Wild Rice’s satire of middle-class prudery G*d Is A Woman was the big winner at The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2024, taking home Production of the Year and a first win for playwright Joel Tan for Best Original Script.
PHOTO: WILD RICE
Started in 2001, The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards – which recognises the best of Singapore theatre annually – celebrates its 25th edition in 2026. The awards weathered criticism about its credibility in its early years to become an essential institution in the Singapore theatre ecology.
Who will bag the coveted Production of the Year in 2026? Stay tuned.
