Through its insights on the regional art landscape, Art Stage has been driving international interest in and understanding of Southeast Asian art. Held annually in Singapore and Jakarta, two of the most vibrant crossroads in the region, the fair aims to create a unified Southeast Asian market to compete with the more developed global art markets like China and Europe.

Returning to Marina Bay Sands from 26-28 January 2018, Art Stage Singapore 2018 takes the theme of ‘Interaction’, around which the fair builds its main three programs: the Special Country Focus: Thailand, Southeast Asia Forum 2018, and the inaugural Signature Collectors’ Visits.

“In the last one and a half years, a lot of new serious and professional art galleries have opened in Thailand,” comments Art Stage President Lorenzo Rudolph. The Special Country Focus: Thailand will feature Thai-focused exhibitions and special projects from participating Thai and Thai-based galleries.

The Southeast Asia Forum 2018 is titled ‘Art Meets Design: Cultural Trend or Fashionable Lifestyle?’ and will seek to address the questions that have emerged from the increasingly overlapping disciplines of art and design and examine the dissolution of the distinctions between the two disciplines.

A thematic exhibition held in collaboration with The Artling, titled The Artling Collectible Design Showcase, will look at how designers take creative liberties to push the definition of ‘design’. The showcase will venture beyond the preconceived boundaries of the two industries for ways to improve lives and pave a sustainable way for designers and artists of the future.

Debuted at the Jakarta edition of the fair, the Signature Collectors’ Visit will be held for the first time in Singapore. The program aims to foster dialogue and the exchange of insights between local collectors and visitors, and ultimately contribute to the discourse on contemporary art in Singapore. This year, the program will be showcasing The Teng Collection by Teng Jee Hum, Samson’s Private Collection by Michelangelo and Lourdes Samson, and Nijkerk’s Private Collection by the Nijkerk family.

Art Stage Singapore 2018 is the anchor event of the Singapore Art Week and takes place from 26 to 28 January 2018 (VIP Preview on 25 January 2018) at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre Level 1, Halls A, B, and C.