Installation view of ‘Brandon Tay: Sangkalan’ at Woodlands Regional Library. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

Exhibition Details

Dates: Until – 25 October 2026

Venues: 

15 April – 31 May 2026: Woodlands Regional Library

3 June – 19 July 2026: Tampines Regional Library

22 July – 6 September 2026: Jurong Regional Library

9 September – 25 October 2026: Punggol Regional Library

Admission: Free admission for all

(Singapore, May 12, 2026)  Presented by Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Brandon Tay: Sangkalan is an evolving installation that brings contemporary art into everyday community spaces through fictional narratives. It features an imagined island ecosystem whose culture is shaped by a close relationship with nature. Starting from 15 April 2026, the project will travel across four regional libraries in Woodlands, Tampines, Jurong, and Punggol, extending SAM’s reach beyond the museum and into neighbourhood spaces while documenting the fictional discovery of the lost Sangkalan culture. At the heart of this ecosystem are three organisms—a fruit, an insect, and a bird—which together shape how the island’s inhabitants understand their world.  

Tay likens this imagined ecosystem to blockchain technology, a digital system where information is distributed and maintained across a network rather than held in a single, central repository. In Sangkalan, knowledge is likewise dispersed among the three species that inhabit the island, forming an interconnected living system through which information about the environment is continually produced, circulated, and retained.

At the centre of this ecosystem lies the Ta’Lur fruit, producing a hallucinogenic sap which allows both human and non-human inhabitants who ingest it to experience shared visions. Its pollinator, the Selatri insect, provides rhythm and regularity through its reproductive cycles. Through shifting flight patterns and song, the Zauran bird allows Sangkalan’s inhabitants to perceive patterns and long-term changes in their environment. 

Artist impression of Brandon Tay's ‘TA’LUR (dense breath/slow light)’ (2026).

Image courtesy of Brandon Tay.

Visitors can look forward to vibrant textiles and intricate sculptures that translate the island’s collective memories into a language of colour, geometry, and symbols. Sangkalan invites visitors to reimagine how we record and share knowledge, as well as reflect on information systems, their origins and how nature might inspire new ways of sensing, connecting, and remembering.

Presented by Singaporean artist Brandon Tay as a living archive, Sangkalan transforms with each showing. The installation’s first three stops at Woodlands, Tampines and Jurong Regional Libraries will each showcase one of Tay’s new sculptures: ZAURAN (thin call/quiet loop),  SELATRI (ground pulse/quiet pattern), and TA’LUR (dense breath/slow light). The exhibition culminates with its final presentation at Punggol Regional Library, where all three artwork s will be displayed. 

 Alongside the exhibition, visitors can look forward to drop-in readings and hands-on programmes at the library, exploring Sangkalan’s ecosystem and encounters with its creatures. Introduced throughout the duration of the exhibition, more information on these programmes will be available on SAM's website.

  Artist impression of Brandon Tay's ‘SELATRI (ground pulse/quiet pattern)’ (2026).

Image courtesy of Brandon Tay.

Brandon Tay: Sangkalan is held in collaboration with the National Library Board. As a ‘disappearing’ museum, SAM brings art to communities beyond the walls of the museum, infusing it into everyday life through initiatives such as presentations in regional libraries. This reflects SAM’s mission to extend contemporary art experiences into civic and community spaces, encouraging meaningful encounters in accessible, everyday environments.

Artist impression of Brandon Tay's ‘ZAURAN (thin call/quiet loop)’ (2026). Image courtesy of Brandon Tay.

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