iNational Gallery SingaporeCivic District
SINGAPORAMA by Navin Rawanchaikul
A monumental site-specific installation in the Padang Atrium by Thai artist Navin Rawanchaikul: hand-painted billboard panels, video interviews and a travelogue film capturing Singapore's diverse communities.
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High over the Padang Atrium hangs a marquee reading "Padang Cinema", and under it a hand-painted poster for a film nobody shot, billed as "an artist's spectacular journey through the Lion City". It covers the old City Hall facade with well over a hundred painted faces and street signs for Joo Chiat Road and Orchard Road.
Thai artist Navin Rawanchaikul spent a year of trips meeting migrant worker groups, Indigenous and Peranakan communities, faith groups and artists, and his studio hand-painted the panels in under six months. You take it in from the atrium floor, head tilted back, then find the screens: a seven-episode travelogue and three video interviews with the people in the painting. One man, seen from behind, wears a jacket printed "Don't give money to the arts", hung inside the national art museum.
There's no ticket: it sits in the public atrium, open 10am to 7pm daily, with the Keppel Centre for Art Education right below. We found no published review, so there is no verdict here.
Look for
The Padang Cinema marquee
Look up to the top: a cinema-style sign carries the title and its tagline, styled like the frontage of an old picture house above the billboard.
A Romp Through History
On the right-hand panel, black-and-white photos of trishaws and shophouses sit beside an airmail envelope and painted street signs for Orchard Road, Waterloo Street and Armenian Street.
The Post-Museum Spooky Tours placard
Along the bottom edge, a painted sign for Post-Museum's tours; the travelogue follows Navin to Bukit Brown Cemetery with its founders Jennifer Teo and Woon Tien Wei.
The Islanders' Day sign
A placard for Hari Orang Pulau about reviving island memories, tied to the Orang Laut stories in travelogue episode five.
The travelogue screens
Seven episodes run from Peranakan tiffin carriers and vintage kebaya to Sunday gatherings at Lucky Plaza and the Kaugnay Trashion Show, organised by and for domestic workers.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Cheap Culture
- Rainy Days
With kids
The Gallery lists it as suitable for all ages and it is free to see. The Keppel Centre for Art Education, for ages 4 to 12, opens off the same atrium.
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Image credits
8
- SINGAPORAMA by Navin RawanchaikulCourtesy of National Gallery Singapore
- Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2026Courtesy of Singapore Art Museum
- Maria Taniguchi: AfterimageCourtesy of Singapore Art Museum
- National Gallery SingaporeGordonMakryllos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Asian Civilisations MuseumIrwan Shah Bin Abdullah, CC BY 3.0
- Children's Museum SingaporeElisa.rolle, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Peranakan MuseumGoAheadFan95 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- National Museum of SingaporeGordonMakryllos / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0