Singapore Exhibitor Guide

The 2023 edition of Affordable Art Fair Singapore welcomed 16,000 visitors through the doors of their well-loved F1 Pit Building venue. By the end of their four-day fair, SGD$5m of art had sold. Despite Singapore’s small size, art sells!

The nation state has a significant impact on the global stage, playing host to important international events and cultural discussions. Besides being renowned for its safety, cleanliness, and efficiency, we love exhibiting in Singapore because of its reputation for being a melting pot of cultures, languages, trends, and cuisines.

There’s nowhere else in the world quite like Singapore, so get to know the exhibiting experience to understand why…

Why Singapore?

Our Singapore edition is the perfect place to promote your individuality as a gallery and connect with a passionate community of art buyers. As a diverse fair, a selling point unique to Singapore is its internationality, where global tastes define a visitor experience that is varied, adaptable, and inclusive.

Fair Director, Alan Koh, has been a part of the Singapore team since its 2010 inauguration, so his knowledge of the fair, the city and its demographics is unrivalled. His widely appreciated capability organising ever-evolving editions of our Singapore fair means that exhibitors can expect a highly efficient, refined experience when exhibiting with us.

The city itself is easy to get around, with low travel prices and a stable cost of living, making the logistics of your exhibiting experience simple. This ease of travel makes hosting the Affordable Art Fair in Singapore a key platform for connecting galleries from all over the world, in turn attracting a broad range of collectors, from professionals looking to make investment purchases, to local art enthusiasts looking to buy what they love.

First impressions of the fair

Affordable Art Fair Singapore takes place at the F1 Pit Building within the Marina Bay Street Circuit, which is a destination venue associated with high-quality, hosted events during the Formula 1 season. Offering a different, more eclectic atmosphere than other well-known venues in the city, the warehouse layout offers an edgier, underground feel. This creates the ideal base for our stand builders to curate the space to our unique Affordable Art Fair vision and suits an event with a focal point of contemporary art. The natural lighting and white walls elevate both exhibitor stands and the programming afforded to us through the venue’s ample space.

A huge positive of the F1 Pit Building is the Bay Area location, where you’ll find a mix of cultural landmarks, mid-to-high-end hotels, and shopping centres for exploring. Exhibitors and visitors are treated to a view of the river, where people spend time kayaking or dragon boat racing, as well as the Formula 1 racetrack, which is a unique element to any Affordable Art Fair location. These distinctive venue features make first impressions of the fair immediately engaging. Plus, visitors can combine their day with a trip to the iconic Gardens by the Bay, just across the river from our venue.

Who are our audience?

What makes our Singapore audience different from other fairs globally is the focus on attracting both local and expat visitors. There is a huge expat community in Singapore, with lots of people moving from the UK, Hong Kong, and China, bringing with them varying cultures and wealth from business ventures.

The fair attracts established and first-time buyers, so our communications benefit from varying between a focus on improving knowledge around collecting art, as well as stimulating creativity and imagination to suit an engaged audience. Where locals used to be cautious, confidence in their taste has grown exponentially, so that a mentality of ‘buy what you love’ has been cultivated. This makes our Singapore audience amenable to persuasion when they fall in love with a piece, which is great for exhibitors.

In 2022, visitors were largely interested in attending the fair for emotional motivations, more so than elsewhere globally. Over 50% of visitors were most excited to stimulate their imagination compared to our global average of 37%, which resonates with the open-minded, liberal mentality of Singaporeans, and their high intentions to buy when an artwork captures their inspiration.

Fair Director, Alan Koh’s, top tips for success:

Bring a variety of works to speak to a diverse taste. Use this as an opportunity to see which works attract different audiences. We don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach in Singapore.

Be experimental. This is the fair to try new things, present new artists, and get creative with curation.

Come and have a chat with the team. Get to know the lay of the land by talking to us. We want to make sure you’re well prepared, so don’t be shy!

Bring an umbrella, scarf, and coat. Exhibitors don’t always realise how cold our venue gets! It might be hot outside, but the A/C is turned up, and we’re heading into the rainiest period of the year.

Visit us! If you’ve never been to Singapore before, it’s well worth visiting to get a feel of the city. This will help you to hone your selection of artists when it comes to exhibiting!