ShanghART Singapore: A Contemporary Art Gallery Near Me Open on Sundays

ShanghART Singapore sits on the second floor of 9 Lock Road, unit #02-22, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108937, and unlike most galleries in the precinct it opens on Sundays: Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 6 pm, closed Monday and Tuesday. Until 7 November 2026 it hosts Systems of Seeing: Where Images Gather, a group show for the 10th Singapore International Photography Festival, and from 17 October Zulkhairi Zulkiflee's Nyamok (Mosquito) runs alongside it. That makes it the easiest contemporary art gallery near me to fit into a weekend.

ShanghART was set up in Shanghai in 1996, three decades ago this year. Its Singapore branch opened in 2012 as the gallery's Southeast Asia wing and its first space outside China, according to the Art Galleries Association Singapore, which lists it as a member. AGAS describes the Gillman unit as the gallery's base in a contemporary art cluster, and in October 2026 it is running two exhibitions at once, a busier programme than several neighbours that had nothing on the walls.

The barracks themselves date from 1936. The Singapore Land Authority, which took over management of the site in March 2020, says they were built for the British 1st Battalion before the Second World War, were one of the island's last battle sites before the fall of Singapore, and later trained Singapore Armed Forces national servicemen. Today the 6.6-hectare estate holds 17 colonial state buildings, which SLA now markets as a lifestyle enclave of galleries, restaurants and bars.

The group show runs from 11 October to 7 November 2026 and sits within the festival's wider theme, Shifting Images: Photography from Singapore 2000 to 2025. It brings together Geraldine Kang, Robert Zhao Renhui, Lai Yu Tong, Chow and Lin, Chua Chye Teck, Bob Lee, John Clang and Zen Teh. Kang's By Unit of Measurement, made in 2016, starts at the gallery entrance and extends into the room, so the show begins before you are properly through the door.

Two works anchor the walls. Robert Zhao Renhui's A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World, from 2013, is a matt Diasec print in a white frame, 144 by 270 centimetres, made of sixteen pieces of 36 by 54 centimetres each, in an edition of five. At the other end of the scale, Lai Yu Tong's Corners (1–35) are UV prints on acrylic mounted on pinewood blocks just 20.1 by 25.3 centimetres, small enough that you lean in to read them.

From 17 October to 15 November 2026 the gallery also shows Nyamok (Mosquito), a solo exhibition by Zulkhairi Zulkiflee. The gallery explains that the title is the Malay word for mosquito, and that hidden inside it is the word amok. The show is made of written narratives and text-based artwork, and it treats small, seemingly inconsequential things as forces that disturb and shape domestic life, the body and desire.

Text-based work rewards a slower pace than photography. Give the photo show your first half hour while you are fresh, then read Nyamok without hurrying. Because the Zulkhairi show outlasts the festival exhibition by a week, the second week of November is the time to come if you want to concentrate on it alone, after the group show has come down on 7 November.

SLA gives Labrador Park MRT on the Circle Line, Exit A, as the nearest station, and the nearest bus stop is opposite Alexandra Point. Drivers enter from Malan Road, the main gate, or the side entrance on Lock Road. The site is wrapped by the Southern Ridges loop, including the Alexandra Garden Trail and the Henderson Park Connector, so the gallery works as the first or last stop of a walk.

ShanghART shares its block with Ames Yavuz at 9 Lock Road #02-23, which had no Singapore exhibition listed in mid-October, and with Charlotte Puxley Flowers at #02-21. For a drink afterwards, SLA's precinct directory lists The Blackbird at 8 Lock Road and The Southern Depot at 43 and 47 Malan Road, where Little Island Brewing and Kyuukei Coffee trade. SLA notes that Naked Finn at 39 Malan Road closes on Sunday and Monday.

Come on a Sunday if your week is full, because ShanghART is one of the few commercial rooms in Gillman open that day, while many neighbours keep a Tuesday-to-Saturday week. Skip Monday and Tuesday entirely. If you are new to Singapore photography, this group show is a compact introduction to names you will meet again across the festival. Arriving at noon, when the doors open, gives you the best chance of having Kang's entrance piece to yourself.

Bear in mind that Gillman's future is not permanent. Mothership reported in 2024 that the state is studying the site for housing and that current tenancies expire progressively by 2030. For now the galleries operate as normal, but it is a reason to see shows here this season rather than putting it off.

Address: 9 Lock Road, #02-22, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108937. Email: infosg@shanghartgallery.com. Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 12 pm to 6 pm, closed Monday and Tuesday, as listed by both the gallery and AGAS. An older SLA directory entry gives 11 am to 7 pm, but the gallery's own hours are the ones to use. Nearest MRT: Labrador Park, Exit A.

Systems of Seeing closes on Saturday 7 November 2026 and Nyamok on Sunday 15 November. Wear proper walking shoes if you plan to join the Southern Ridges trails that start at the edge of the estate. The Karpo APP can line ShanghART up with other festival venues for a single afternoon of SIPF shows.