Three Tokyo-based Japanese contemporary art galleries — Tomio Koyama Gallery, Mizuma Gallery and Ota Fine Arts — inaugurated new spaces at Singapore's Gillman Barracks at an opening party on Sept. 14, joining 10 other galleries from the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Korea, China, Germany, Italy, the United States and Singapore.
Many internationally renowned artists and curators were in attendance, including Yoshitomo Nara, David Elliott and Hou Hanru. January 2013 will see an additional two galleries open — Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki Gallery, and Shanghai and Hong Kong-based Pearl Lam. At full capacity, however, there will be a total of 19 commercial galleries at Gillman Barracks, and two non-profit spaces — the Center for Contemporary Art and the international office of the Yellow River Arts Center, a new, privately funded art museum located in Yinchuan, China.
Gillman Barracks occupies a sprawling 6.4 hectare suburban site, located in lush green surroundings just a 10-minute walk from the nearest subway station, which used to house a British military battalion during Singapore's colonial days. This new arts district features several detached, brick buildings of various sizes with high ceilings interspersed with restaurants and bars. Extensively refurbished to the tune of some SG$10 million (¥634 million) by Singapore's Jurong Town Corporation, with joint support from the city-state's National Art Council (NAC) and Economic Development Board (EDB), Gillman Barracks is seen by many as the latest in a string of government-funded initiatives to reinvent Singapore as an Asian hub and market for contemporary art.