Dr Eugene Tan appointed new CEO of National Gallery Singapore and Singapore Art Museum, to start tenure from April 1

Dr Eugene Tan, present Director of National Gallery Singapore (the Gallery) and Singapore Art Museum (SAM) can be appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Gallery and SAM on 1 April 2024. He will even tackle the position of Head of the Visual Arts Cluster (VAC), which includes the Gallery, SAM and STPI.

He succeeds Chong Siak Ching, who’s retiring from her roles, an official launch stated on Wednesday.

On his new position, Dr Eugene Tan stated, “Having been half of National Gallery Singapore’s improvement over the previous eleven years and Singapore Art Museum for 5 years, I’m delighted to be given the chance to lead these two establishments into the long run.

At National Gallery Singapore, now we have furthered the popularity of Southeast Asian artwork by exhibitions equivalent to Reframing Modernism: Painting from Southeast Asia, Europe and Beyond, Minimalism: Space Light and Object, and Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Dr Eugene Tan

“At Singapore Art Museum, now we have challenged what a museum of modern artwork wants to be in our time, creating new platforms for Singapore artists, in addition to participating new audiences by our Everyday Museum, which takes artwork into on a regular basis areas and communities.

“I look ahead to constructing on these achievements on the two museums and to higher interact our publics with deep and significant experiences with artwork by our programmes and exhibitions, in addition to to furthering the worldwide consciousness and understanding of artists from Singapore and Southeast Asia by our thought-provoking exhibitions,” he added.

Speaking concerning the appointment, Edmund Cheng, Chairman of Singapore Art Museum, stated, “Eugene has championed the humanities even earlier than his time with the Gallery and SAM. Working intently with Siak Ching for greater than 10 years as a curator and administrator, he has helped to form Singapore’s visible arts right into a energetic and vibrant scene, with a lot to supply in phrases of magnificence, creativity, rigour, and enrichment in our lives.”

His ardour for the humanities and the establishments is unparalleled, as he embodies the values of progress, inclusivity, and excellence that now we have labored so arduous to construct over the previous decade. We thank Siak Ching for her stewardship within the arts and are assured that Eugene will proceed to lead the Gallery and SAM to larger heights, as we proceed to nurture a deeper appreciation of artwork and artists in our society.

Edmund Cheng

The outgoing CEO, Chong Siak Ching, has been within the place since 2013. For greater than a decade, she oversaw key milestones in Singapore’s visible arts scene, together with the event and launch of the Gallery in November 2015.

She led the Gallery in its imaginative and prescient of turning into a progressive artwork museum for the folks, the place it presents inclusive and numerous programming for all walks of life, whereas housing the world’s largest public assortment of Singapore and Southeast Asian trendy artwork.

Championing entry to artwork for everybody, Chong has steered SAM in direction of a new chapter of development that entails bringing modern artwork into day-after-day, discovered areas.

Peter Ho, Chairman of National Gallery Singapore, gave Ching her flowers and shared, “Siak Ching has been an inspiration and a driving power for Singapore’s visible arts throughout her tenure. We are grateful for her visionary management, which raised the bar for creative excellence because the Gallery and SAM turned main arts establishments in our area and the world.”

He additionally revealed the choice course of which for the new CEO. “We thus launched into an in depth and complete search course of to defend and develop this legacy, the place Eugene emerged as the perfect candidate to additional the expansion of each establishments. Part of the Gallery’s mission is to promote a larger understanding of Southeast Asian artwork and artwork histories inside a worldwide context.”

Ho stated, “Under Eugene’s management, the Gallery has introduced quite a few prolific exhibitions which have introduced a important Southeast Asian perspective of the area’s artwork historical past… As the Gallery continues to construct probably the most complete assortment of Southeast Asian artwork from the nineteenth century to the current day, coupled with Eugene’s ambition for each establishments to be recognised alongside high museums on this planet, there isn’t a another befitting for the position.”