Adrian Peng Chai Tan

About

Dr. Adrian Tan (b. 1980) is an artist-curator whose work investigates the intersections of archival practices, social histories of contemporary art, and public engagement with artistic institutions. He is currently a Research Fellow at the National Library Board (NLB) and National Archives of Singapore (NAS) and a Senior Lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), University of the Arts Singapore. His research examines how contemporary art functions within institutional and independent frameworks, focusing on publicness, pedagogy, and social practices in The Everyday. His contributions have been recognised with the Platform Projects Curatorial Award (2024) from NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, NTU ADM's Research Scholarship (2017) and PSC Overseas Specialist Award (2002). Tan holds a Ph.D. in Research (Arts) from the NTU School of Art, Design, and Media (ADM), conducted in collaboration with NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), and a degree in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, University of London. He is also a researcher with The Substation Singapore and has taught at NTU ADM; NTU School of Humanities; LASALLE College of the Arts; National Junior College; amongst others. As an artist-curator, his practice spans painting, writing, performance, and installation, engaging with site-specificity, collaboration, and performativity through The Artists Company. His curatorial work explores contemporary art’s presence in public spaces, archives, and exhibitions in Southeast Asia. Recent exhibitions include OPEN END: Resonate, Re-Read, and Re-Trace The Substation Archive (2024) and Rust: Echoes of Memory (2025), presented at National Gallery Singapore’s Rotunda Library & Archive and Prestige Gallery respectively. His writings have been published in ARTMargins (USA), Platform: Journal of Theatre and Performing Arts (Australia), Wacana Seni Journal of Arts Discourse (Malaysia), and Southeast of Now (Singapore), as well as in De Gruyter Press’s Open Philosophy Journal. He is also the co-editor of Questioning Museums: Art Institutions in Singapore (NTU ADM & NTU CCA, 2019). His forthcoming book, Art & Everyday Life in Contemporary Singapore: Public Space and Memories, will be published by Routledge London (South Asian Studies series) in 2026.

Education