The Strange Archive presents speculative artworks that reimagine the archive as a living, contested space rather than a static repository. “To make strange” is to see again: here, the archive signals a site of care, continuity, and labour that remains porous and reflexive, shaped by omission and desire. Bringing into view unsurfaced narratives, displaced locations, and the lives of arts communities and social worlds that have slipped from public memory.

Curated by Adrian Tan and featuring artists Akai Chew, Koh Nguang How in collaboration with David Lee, Ezekiel Wong, and Wong Zi Hao, each artist’s practice contributes to this rethinking of the archive. The featured works unfold as speculative propositions- drawings, moving images, typologies, maquettes, and a commemorative exhibition that stretch the possibilities of the archival source. Alongside them, tables of materials, prototypes, and printed matter form a secondary terrain of research and inquiry. Together, these elements create an ecology of gestures and encounters that keep the archive open, strange, and in continual motion.

For more information check out: www.strangearchive.sg

The Strange Archive

Dates: 17 January to 1 February 2026

Venue: Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road, #04-01D, Singapore 089064

Website: thestrangearchive.sg

 

 

Fig 1. The Strange Archive (opening night, 17 January 2026)

An exhibition of speculative design and artistic practices engaging Singapore’s archival records, exploring maps, public spaces, secret societies,

and the vernacular culture and architecture of Southeast Asia.

The Strange Archive

Dates: 17 January to 1 February 2026

Venue: Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road, #04-01D, Singapore 089064

Website: thestrangearchive.sg

Fig 2. The Strange Archive (documentation of exhibition and artworks)

[Foreground]

SINGAPORE ART ARCHIVE PROJECT (KOH NGUANG HOW)

Timeline of Equator Art Society Exhibitions

(1956–1974)

2026

Archival materials with brass inlays on table

Variable dimensions

The Strange Archive

Dates: 17 January to 1 February 2026

Venue: Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road, #04-01D, Singapore 089064

Website: thestrangearchive.sg

Fig 4.

SPECULATIVE FUTURES (WONG ZI HAO)

Seed Palace

2025

Cardboard, wood, string, acrylic paint

450 × 624 mm

Fireflies and Constellations

2025

Pencil and ink on pricked paper with light box

950 × 550 mm

EZEKIEL WONG

Wu Ji Lai, Qi Kua Mai

2025

Graphite on paper

300 × 457 mm

The Strange Archive

Dates: 17 January to 1 February 2026

Venue: Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road, #04-01D, Singapore 089064

Website: thestrangearchive.sg

Fig 3.

AKAI CHEW

A Survey of Absent Places: Precinct N1 / Precinct N3, 2026

Archival printing on cotton rag

A Liminal Desire to Exist, 2026

Video

Reclamation and Redemption, 2026

Sand, GAN-generated video, found objects

North Bridge Garden, 2026

Print on aluminium

16 cut-out pieces

The Strange Archive

Dates: 17 January to 1 February 2026

Venue: Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road, #04-01D, Singapore 089064

Website: thestrangearchive.sg

Fig 5.

The Strange Archive (opening night, 17 January 2026)

SINGAPORE ART ARCHIVE PROJECT (KOH NGUANG HOW) and DAVID LEE

EAS 70

2026

Installation

Variable dimensions

The Strange Archive

Dates: 17 January to 1 February 2026

Venue: Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road, #04-01D, Singapore 089064

Website: thestrangearchive.sg

Fig 6.

The Strange Archive (opening night, 17 January 2026)

Ezekiel Wong

Public Programming

The Strange Archive (Public Programming,  January 2026)

SINGAPORE ART ARCHIVE PROJECT (KOH NGUANG HOW) Lecture and Dialogue

Panel Discussion: ART, ARCHIVES & SPECULATIVE FUTURES

 (Invited speakers include Ezekiel Wong, Chew Tee Pao, Phan Ming Yen

Curators and Artists Tour

 

 

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