Port Cities: Hybrid Cultures and Art in Southeast Asia, 1500–1900

Asian Civilisations Museum will host Port Cities: Hybrid Cultures and Art in Southeast Asia, 1500–1900. The exhibition explores the rich multicultural port cities that came before Singapore. Goa, Malacca, Batavia, Manila, Macau, and many other places were transformed by their colonial rulers and by waves of migration and trade. Sites of economic, social, political, and artistic interactions, these cities are where new art forms are created. Priceless rarities in ivory, mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, rare woods, and other exotic materials, borrowed from museums and private collections around the world, will be on display. This will be the first-ever major exhibition focusing on the port cities of Asia.