Detail: Step into Seeing Forest, presented for the first time in Singapore at Singapore Art Museum (SAM) at Tanjong Pagar Distripark. Returning from Venice, this exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Robert Zhao Renhui invites visitors to immerse themselves in the multifaceted life of Singapore’s secondary forests—overlooked forests regrown from deforested land due to human intervention. Drawing on nearly a decade of research, Zhao encourages audiences to look beyond our familiar cityscape and uncover the complex ecosystems that shape our natural environment.

Visitors will be able to catch the full assemblage of videos and sculptural installations presented in Venice, transforming SAM’s gallery space into an enveloping, forested zone filled with sounds, sights, and stories that convey the richness of secondary forests. Through Zhao’s captivating scenes of these in-between spaces, spot sambar deer that escaped from the local zoo in the 1970s, Japanese sparrowhawks pausing for a drink and a wild boar giving birth in the forest next to the artist’s apartment.

Seeing Forest was first presented at the Singapore Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (Biennale Arte 2024), widely recognised as the Olympics of the art world. From Venice to SAM’s home ground, the exhibition invites audiences to discover a lesser-known side of Singapore, and reflect on their place within these wild, yet radically free environments.