Attend a Mandopop concert in Jurong West Hawker Centre

Table 808: From Boon Lay, With Love

You have heard the braggadocio of “East Side, Best Side”, but a young adult collective in Boon Lay and Jurong West is making a bid for equal status for the West.

Jurong West Hawker Centre will be the improbable stage for two nights of live concerts on March 14 and 15, featuring Singapore and Malaysian musicians Karyn & Sheng Li, Jeff Ng, Benjamin Lim and Shaun Chen.

Over the past three months, the 13th Mile Collective has been applying for the requisite licences and managing the logistics of fixing up this unusual show. Ms Sim Chengyu, part of the collective, says this is no mean feat – the concert space with a stage and professional lights and sound will be embedded smack in a hawker centre full of diners.

The heartland experiment is a way of pushing the rising interest in busking further and introducing creatives to non-fans. The Mandopop slant of this should make it more palatable to diners than Singapore-based New Zealand singer Kira Peace’s energetic table-top routine in a foodcourt, which went viral in 2025.

Where: Level 2 Jurong West Hawker Centre, 50 Jurong West Street 61
MRT: Pioneer
When: March 14 and 15, 6.30 to 9.30pm
Admission: Free
Info: str.sg/BxYq

Inhabitants: Women Within Singapore’s Art History

To mark International Women’s Day on March 8, art resale platform Art Again has curated this exhibition in a Tiong Bahru walk-up, which doubles as a way for potential buyers to see works in a naturally lit domestic setting.

Over 40 artworks have been drawn from eight private collections for this presentation. The majority are by 10 Singapore women artists, from the organic sculptures of Han Sai Por to floral scenes by Chen Cheng Mei, and from the paper etchings of Chng Seok Tin to the intellectual abstractions of Lin Hsin Hsin.

They will be arranged by room and accompanied by short write-ups, which also make this a great introduction to the women artists of Singapore beyond Nanyang painter Georgette Chen. Prices are available upon request.

Co-founders Milon Goh and Chingyi Chua, who held a solo exhibition for Japanese Gutai artist Keiko Moriuchi during Singapore Art Week in January, say of the unique nexus they occupy in the ecosystem: “Art Again can’t follow the strict polish of gallery shows, nor can we replicate the thrill of hunting through a junk shop.

“Instead, we sit somewhere in between: Come as you are, connect with the community and take home a piece of history that truly resonates.”

Where: 10C Kim Tian Road
MRT: Tiong Bahru
When: March 13 to 22, 10am to 6pm (Fridays to Sundays); by appointment only (Mondays to Thursdays)
Admission: Free
Info: str.sg/ekpU 

Inter/Act

Inside this nondescript building in Telok Kurau is an enclave of artist studios. A quick peek will reveal a surprising exhibition of Singapore and Indonesian artists jointly organised by Modern Art Society Singapore and Kotak: Art Collective.

There is no coherent theme, but the pop paintings of pouting old women near the entrance immediately catch the eye. These figures, bearing cornucopias of foods, are painted on fabric by Indonesian artist Luddy Astaghis and are his take on the everyday Asian greeting of “Have you eaten yet?”

Second-generation Singapore artist Leo Hee Tong has some rare, earthy Bali scenes, which reveal the mild Cubist tendencies of his mentor Cheong Soo Pieng.

Meanwhile, Indonesian artist Agapetus Kristiandana’s paintings are reminiscent of Singapore artist Melissa Tan’s fascination with the asteroid form, with their angular tensions and translucent perspectives.

Other Singapore artists being shown include Baet Yeok Kuan, Yeo Shih Yun and Ezzam Rahman, who uses his own hair and medical plasters to explore Jawi calligraphy.

The exhibition will travel to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, after this.

Where: Telok Kurau Studios Gallery, 91 Lorong J Telok Kurau
MRT: Kembangan
When: Till March 22, 11am to 6pm
Admission: Free
Info: str.sg/L9LF