By Jessica Ye (Jessica Yap)
March often feels like a turning point in the art world — galleries, museums and institutions around the globe open ambitious shows that reward both the casual visitor and the devoted art lover. This year is no different. Whether you’re planning a trip or exploring locally in Singapore, these exhibitions are worth pencil‑marking into your calendar.
New York – Whitney Biennial 2026
One of the most influential surveys of contemporary American art returns this month. The 2026 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art opened in early March and runs through August 23. It brings together work from 56 artists, duos and collectives, offering a broad portrait of current artistic concerns in the United States, from immersive environments to works that reflect on relationality, technology and cultural tensions. The result isn’t a single narrative but a textured mood of where art feels alive right now.
Tokyo – Roppongi Crossing 2025: What Passes Is Time. We Are Eternal.
At the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the triennial Roppongi Crossing exhibition continues its run through 29 March 2026. The eighth edition, titled What Passes Is Time. We Are Eternal., gathers around 21 artists and artist groups around the theme of time, presenting work that contemplates memory, evolution and the very pace at which we experience life.
Kelly Akashi
Araki Yu
The show blends perspectives from Japanese and internationally based creators, making it a compelling snapshot of contemporary practice in Asia’s bustling art capital.
Paris – Clair‑Obscur at Bourse de Commerce
In Paris, Clair‑Obscur at the Bourse de Commerce explores the dramatic interplay of light and shadow — a theme that has captivated artists from the Renaissance to the present. Works by around 20 modern and contemporary artists demonstrate how chiaroscuro remains a powerful organising principle in painting, sculpture and installation, inviting visitors to reflect on visibility, absence and the physical presence of light in art.
London – March Highlights
London’s art scene is rich this month. Tate Modern’s major retrospective on Dame Tracey Emin charts four decades of her raw, emotionally charged work, while the National Portrait Gallery presents photography and portraiture that foreground identity and community.
Meanwhile, smaller galleries across the city offer immersive installations, thematic explorations of post‑war and conceptual art, and works that engage with text, performance and abstraction.
Singapore – Local and Ongoing Exhibitions
Singapore may feel quiet compared with some major global fairs, but the local calendar is still rich with art that rewards exploration.
At the National Gallery Singapore, ongoing exhibitions include Between Declarations and Dreams: Art of Southeast Asia since the 19th Century, a thorough survey of regional art spanning centuries, and Singapore Stories: Pathways and Detours in Art, which highlights pivotal moments in local artistic expression.
The Gallery Children’s Biennale, with its playful works and interactive spaces, continues through March before closing later in the season.
Across Singapore’s contemporary art hubs such as Gillman Barracks, smaller galleries and independent spaces are presenting a range of shows and installations that spotlight both regional voices and international practices, often with conceptual and experimental work that feels fresh right now.
Across continents, March’s exhibitions share something compelling: they invite you to slow down. Whether it’s the wide lens of a major biennial or the nuanced narratives unfolding in local galleries, the art on view this month asks not just to be seen, but to be experienced. And in a world where attention is always pulled in a hundred directions, that alone feels worth the trip.
