Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless

Singapore Art Museum (SAM) proudly presents Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless in collaboration with TheCube Project Space (Taipei). Marking the festival’s debut in Singapore, Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless will take place from January 23–25, 2026 at the Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark as a highlight during Singapore Art Week 2026 (January 22–31) and feature Singapore Biennale 2025 commissions. 

Building on SAM’s engagement with cross-disciplinary, sound and performative practices, Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless platforms the vibrant history of sound and musicality across vernacular practices in Southeast Asia and the emergence of experimental sound in Asia, positioning sound as a form of production of knowledge, ritual, and public interface. 

First initiated by TheCube Project Space in Taipei in 2022, Sonic Shaman adopts the format of a music festival to embrace collective expression in an alternative and cross-disciplinary spirit. Bringing together experimental sound, live performance, and oral presentations, Sonic Shaman makes space for diverse artistic practices and cultural traditions to converge through collective listening and imagination. 

Titled Borderless, the 2026 edition confronts the illusion of frictionless connectivity that defines our hyperlinked present. If sound is the “primordial borderless technology” which travels faster than language, penetrating the body before the mind, then what happens when this condition is intensified by algorithms, sensors, and global networks? As technology dissolves distance and difference, it also produces new enclosures; echo chambers where access becomes its own form of containment. Rather than declaring the disappearance of boundaries, Borderless asks how sound, through its interplay with technology and the body, might momentarily suspend such fixed distinctions as they are experienced in everyday life.

Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless features an expansive lineup co-curated by Jeph Lo, Amy Cheng, and Seline Ilana Teo, comprising experimental musicians, performance artists, DJs, and thinkers across the region: The Analog Girl (Singapore), Cherry Chan ft. DJ Zai and Itek (Singapore), Cheryl Ong (Singapore) + Louis Quek (Singapore) + DuckUnit (Bangkok) + Yuen Chee Wai (Singapore), dj sniff (Tokyo), The Filipino Superwoman Band (Philippines) , Julian Abraham “Togar” (Yogyakarta) + Oni Imelva (Banda Aceh), Kamal B. Sabran (Ipoh), Koichiro Osaka (Tokyo/Singapore), lololol (Taipei), Mervin Wong (Singapore), Mong Tong (Taipei), Salty Xi Jie Ng (Singapore/Portland), Seething Mass (Manila), Sl_OWTALK (Singapore), Social Dis Dance (Taipei), Stylish Nonsense (Bangkok), TZECHAR (Singapore), Umeda Tetsuya (Osaka), weish (Singapore), Chia-Chun Xu (Taipei) + Luca Bonaccorsi (Metropolitan City of Venice). Experimental design collectives A Copy of a Copy (Taipei) and DuckUnit (Bangkok) will transform various spaces within SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark into immersive performance zones. 

A curated Memory Market will invite the public to engage their senses beyond listening, evoking memory and sensations through taste, scent and touch. Creative booths, workshops, and culinary collaborations will bring together Singapore-based creatives and designers, opening spaces for experimentation, play and collective encounter.

For more information on Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless, please visit: here and here.

Part of Singapore Art Week, Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless is co-presented by TheCube Project Space and Singapore Art Museum, featuring Singapore Biennale 2025 commissions. This edition is a joint initiative by the National Arts Council, Singapore Art Museum and Mapletree, supported by the Singapore Tourism Board.

Admission to Sonic Shaman 2026: Borderless is free.