Talking Objects examines the meanings that quotidian objects and everyday representations amass through use and circulation. Casting daily encounters in a new light, the artists in the exhibition explore the emotions and value we accord to the material and visual world around us.
Presented in unexpected or unsettling contexts, commonplace objects are imbued with human experience and emotions, revealing ambiguous histories and memories. By the actions of artists, the mundane is transformed into incisive instruments of expression—words become gestures, language turns visual, the intangible is rendered material and the inanimate comes to life.
Drawn primarily from the collection of Singapore Art Museum, the works in Talking Objects encourage us to take a close look at the world we inhabit and seek new ways of seeing, thinking and meaning-making. Surrounded by an oversaturation of images, information and values, how do we talk with and about objects, and what do objects say of us?
This digital guide accompanies the Talking Objects exhibition held at the Singapore Art Museum’s Collection Gallery, 12 September 2025–19 July 2026. The guide includes a floor plan of the exhibition, thematic narratives, artist’s interviews and resources for further exploration. An AI-tool translating the guide’s content into the Chinese, Malay and Tamil languages is forthcoming.
Talking Objects is presented in parallel with The Living Room. Both exhibitions invite reflection on how art is experienced, interpreted and carried through time and space.