The Tanoto Art Foundation (TAF) has announced that it will launch the inaugural edition of the TAF Symposium in 2025. The one-day symposium will take place during Singapore Art Week on 14 January 2025.

Promoting Contemporary Art

TAF is a Singapore-based not-for-profit foundation dedicated to nurturing dialogues around the experience of contemporary art in Southeast Asia. “We established TAF with an aim of engaging people to the art of our time,” commented Tanoto Art Foundation Trustee, Belinda Tanoto.

“One of the first private art foundations in Singapore, we look forward to TAF serving as the heartbeat of Southeast Asia, and the bridge that connects cultures and communities and builds unexplored connections. It is our hope that TAF’s programmes and initiatives can help to deepen the appreciation and engagement with art, and create a space where artists, audiences and diverse voices can come together.”

Artistic convergence

Marking its debut with a one-day symposium titled: “Soul Song of a New Organisation” in January, TAF will be bringing together leading international artists, art historians, curators, and institution builders, to collectively reflect on ideas of creativity, identity, and authenticity, and explore what it means to create and nurture an ‘organisation with a soul’.

The Symposium will feature a keynote by scholar and art historian Joan Kee, Director and Professor of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Also on the cards are performances by artists Melati Suryodarmo and Chang Yuchen.

International speakers include Joselina Cruz, Director and Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Manila, interdisciplinary artist Gala Porras-Kim, Brazilian curator and institution director Paulo Miyada, Manuela Moscoso, Executive and Artistic Director of CARA, Center for Art Research and Alliances in New York, and Thai artist Arin Rungjang.

Exhibitions And More

With exhibitions and programming in the pipeline, TAF aims to engage, educate, and embrace a wide array of narratives, while empowering artists to share their stories with the world. From its base in Southeast Asia, TAF aspires to be a resource for contemporary art knowledge and discourse, and a reference point for future South-to-South exchanges