The best things to do in Singapore this weekend (Aug 21-23)

If your idea of a perfect weekend involves hopping from one tasty bite to the next, make a date with Jiak by the Quay at CQ @ Clarke Quay on August 22 and 23, from 3pm to 10pm. This one-weekend-only festival brings together some of Singapore's favourite restaurants and homegrown brands, serving up exclusive creations that put inventive spins on familiar local flavours. Tuck into laksa linguine from Home Dawn & Dusk, and chilli crab tteokbokki at Hanjip, or Peking duck tacos and satay shooters from Mimi. 

There are plenty more treats to discover, alongside interactive workshops like edible cookie painting (redeemable with a minimum spend of $20 at CQ or any Jiak by the Quay booth), a complimentary customised artwork of your favourite dish on canvas, live entertainment and pet-friendly experiences, making it an easy day out for foodies and families alike. ICYMI, you'll still be able to enjoy selected festival-exclusive menu items at participating CQ dining outlets until September 13. Find out more here.

This August, MARQUEE Singapore keeps the energy soaring with another blockbuster lineup of dancefloor heavyweights and crowd-favourite club nights.

One of the month's biggest highlights arrives on August 14, when Swedish House Mafia legend Axwell brings the anthemic house tracks that have made him a global festival mainstay. The momentum continues with the genre-blending grooves of Bangladeshi-American DJ Jai Wolf (August 15), before another edition of FTW! (August 19) keeps the midweek crowds moving. 

PartywithJay, Pin and Fvder (August 21) then bring a homegrown showcase ahead of British hard dance favourite Ben Nicky (August 22), whose euphoric, high-energy sets have earned him a devoted global following. Closing out the month are Dutch EDM heavyweight Nicky Romero (August 28), known for festival anthems like 'Toulouse', before ASTROLAB (August 29) wraps up August with another night of relentless, high-BPM rave energy.

Find out more here.

Round up the troops, because Raghouse, Open Door Store and Tokonoma are teaming up for a massive weekend retail crawl across Tai Seng. Just a short walk apart, the three venues are opening their doors for a two-day affair filled with vintage fashion, music, collectible art, and drinks. Browse new fashion drops from Loncho Factory, digital prints from Triple Platinum, and ceramics from Urth&Phire, alongside refreshing brews from local drink labels like Boujee Botanicals and Catalyst Coffee Roasters. To keep the feel-good vibes going, a rotation of local DJs will helm the decks across both days with digital and analogue setups.

See Singapore from a different perspective after dark with Legends in Motion, a walking tour experience presented by The Artists Village for the Singapore Night Festival 2026. Happening over three weekends, the programme offers two immersive nighttime trails through the Bras Basah precinct. When The Water Rose, directed by Pat Toh, takes you through hidden waterways accompanied by sculptures, spoken word, original music and botanical drinks from Vagabond Mixology. Meanwhile, Sonia Kwek’s Invisible City explores creative corners like the former Substation, led by artists Stephanie Dogfoot and Siew Guang Hong, ending with a mobile performance art archive by Koh Nguang How.

Objectifs’ regular Saturday afternoon programme goes nocturnal for the Singapore Night Festival with SaturLate. Expect an evening packed with creative activities, including a Colour Montage Bookmark workshop inspired by Tan Lip Seng’s A Life in Colour exhibition and a hands-on darkroom printing session. Over at the Courtyard, enjoy an acoustic performance by singer-songwriter Mersie Tee before snapping pics at the photo booth. Browse handmade crafts and self-published zines at the slow-goods art market, or bring your pre-loved titles along to exchange with fellow collectors at the all-night art book swap.

This isn’t your average pasar malam. Pasar Mad–lam partners with the Singapore Night Festival to take over the Outdoor Plaza at Capitol Singapore, bringing together more than 40 homegrown vendors. Running on Fridays and Saturdays from 21 August to 5 September, the festive night market offers far more than standard street food. Shoppers can browse Peranakan–inspired beaded accessories, handcrafted mosaic frames, quirky knick–knacks, graphic tees and custom fragrances, including durian and pistachio kunafa–scented perfumes. Keep an eye on the organiser’s Instagram page for updates on the weekly rotating vendor lineup.

Reinvention returns for four months of endless play and design at Singapore Science Park under the theme Allplay. Featuring installations, interactive challenges and activities by over 30 artists, this creative playground reimagines play as a way to inspire learning, change and positive action. Explore three family–friendly zones: PlayLab offers self–guided exhibits across five themes; PlayMission turns everyday actions into positive environmental impact through physical and digital challenges; and PlayCourt presents unique takes on sports like basketball and football outdoors. The programme refreshes regularly throughout its run with new workshops and collaborations, making every visit a fresh experience.

While NUS Baba House undergoes a physical makeover until 2027, its collection of artefacts has temporarily found a new home at NUS Museum. Titled Refrain, Reframe – Baba House Displaced, the exhibition presents furniture, decorative arts, domestic utensils and architectural fragments grouped by function, materials and thematic connections. Items on display include a bentwood kopitiam chair, an English ironstone wash basin on a Chinese stand, and a ceremonial tenong basket. Beyond the collection, the exhibition pulls back the curtain on the research, documentation and conservation decisions involved in preserving a historic house museum for future generations.

Japan’s cult-favourite keychain artist Choibusu makes her Singapore debut at Heartware Store Gallery with a solo exhibition transformed into a retro shopping arcade. Featuring 500 delightfully whimsical, imperfect handmade charms—from grumpy uncles to Singapore-inspired designs—the showcase also presents redesigns of vintage Japanese bags. Visitors can try the Past Life Machine to discover their keychain persona or purchase a limited-edition rolling sushi blind box created in collaboration with Japanese toy maker Hirokawa Co., Ltd.

In its latest exhibition, Padimai Art & Tech Studio puts AI and cutting-edge technology at the forefront to explore how data and meme culture are shaping the future of Southeast Asia. Titled Islands in the Net, the showcase uses digital art and data archives to map the region’s place in the global network. Highlighted works include Safe Entry by Heman Chong, referencing the nation’s contact-tracing system, and A History of Intelligence in Asia by Ho Rui An. The exhibition also expands on the topic with research projects developed with major tech institutions.

Football's biggest finale is just around the corner, and you can catch every nail-biting moment alongside fellow fans. Whether you’re supporting one of the final four teams (France, Spain, England or Argentina) or just here for the drama, there are plenty of live screenings around the city that’ll deliver the electric atmosphere of match night. Settle yourself down at crowd-favourite spots like Lau Pa Sat, CHIJMES, SAFRA Clubhouses and Changi Airport, or if you prefer to catch the matches closer to home, there are also screenings at several community clubs and sports centres in the neighbourhoods like Tampines, Punggol and Bishan. Need some midnight fuel to keep you going? McDonald’s Marine Cove's final screening comes complete with free-flow chicken McNuggets and fries.

Check here for our full guide to World Cup fun across the city.

No submarine? No problem. You can still embark on an aquatic adventure to the darkest parts of the sea with Into the Ocean: Journey Beneath, the latest exhibition from ArtScience Museum, made in collaboration with OceanX. Marking its world premiere, this showcase plunges you into the deep blue using advanced filming technology to gather unseen footage of the ocean for the very first time.

Featuring five immersive zones, the exhibition is designed to make you feel like you’re actually descending into the ocean: it starts at the surface and brings you all the way down to the seabed, each section revealing how mesmerising and vast the body of water can get. The cinematic ocean visuals are completed with the works of internationally renowned artists like Marshmallow Laser Feast, Marco Barotti and Jana Winderen, alongside scientific studies by the National University of Singapore. Interspersed between the research and artworks are interactive activities that aim to help both kids and adults understand the importance of marine conservation.

An immersive floral wonderland made out of over 800,000 LEGO bricks has sprouted at Jewel Changi Airport. It marks the launch of Celebrate Jewel Blooms with LEGO Botanicals, the largest showcase of LEGO Botanicals in a mall in Southeast Asia. The larger-than-life installation begins at Jewel Forest Valley, where towering rose sculptures bloom amid the space’s lush, indoor greenery, before extending all the way up to the Canopy Park. There, the colourful bricks are turned into whimsical, floral-themed displays inspired by gardens from around the world.

Stroll through a zen Japanese garden, complete with water lilies and koi fish, before transporting yourself to a Mediterranean landscape filled with LEGO sunflowers, tulips and vine-covered pergolas. The floral adventure ends with a cosy autumnal scene inspired by the English countryside, featuring gnomes, woodland mushrooms and more.

From now until 26 July, 2026, don’t forget to join the stamp rally – collect stamps from seven locations across the mall for a chance to redeem a special souvenir at Jewel’s LEGO pop-up store.

Ever wanted to explore the deepest depths of the ocean? Well, now you can – and you won’t even have to take a submarine to experience it. Science Centre Singapore has teamed up with Tara Ocean Foundation, a leading nonprofit oceanographic research organisation, for the world debut of One Ocean: Every Action Ripples. It’s a multi-sensory exhibition that uses ocean research, technology and storytelling to let you discover the hidden worlds of the deep blue.

Across 10 immersive zones, the exhibition reveals how the vast ocean connects us all and acts as Earth’s heartbeat. Discover the wonders of the sea through 360-degree projections, free-roaming VR, spatial soundscapes, interactive research exhibits and more. The exhibition’s main highlight is 7 Wonders of the Ocean, a captivating installation that lets you experience a whale migration, witness bioluminescent marine life, and come face-to-face with the Great Barrier Reef.

Other unmissable highlights include a replica of the Arctic’s Tara Polar Station, a section on Singapore’s marine life, and a virtual reality exploration of how ecosystems such as mangroves, kelp forests, and plankton communities help manage the world’s carbon cycle.

Renowned Japanese contemporary artist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto’s first major solo exhibition in Southeast Asia lands at Singapore Art Museum. Titled Form is Emptiness, a line drawn from foundational Buddhist text, the exhibition features over 60 works and fossils from his personal collection that outline five decades of artistic journey and expression.

Inspired by the concept of the Five Elements in Buddhist philosophy (earth, water, fire, air and space), the showcase unfolds in the shape of a mandala, inviting viewers to explore the works in a looping motion that feels continuous and seamless rather than linear. It also reflects the themes in Sugimoto’s works, which are marked by his curiosity and fascination with time and metaphysics. Beyond photography, the exhibition also dives into the expansion of the Tokyo-born artist’s photographic thinking, featuring his works in sculpture, large-scale installation, writing, and architectural design. Artwork highlights include the Brush Impression, Heart Sutra (2023), a magnificent curved wall with 288 gelatine silver calligraphy prints of Kanji characters, as well as U.A. Walker, New York (1978) and Tyrrhenian Sea, Scilla (1993), a series of black-and-white photographs of theatres and landscapes.

Desire and intimacy take centre stage at the National Gallery in Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art. Featuring over 70 works across various media, the exhibition examines how regional artists interpret human connection through diverse cultures and beliefs. Building on a 1953 essay by Nanyang artist Liu Kang, the showcase explores deep passion as a creative force across three sections: Asian Mythos and Ritual, Conventions of the Erotic, and Public Arenas/Private Interiors. Note that this thought-provoking exhibition is rated R18, so valid identification is required for entry to explore these delicate expressions of longing and historical contexts.

Once a trading port and now a commercial hub, the CBD isn’t just a workspace – it’s a district with plenty of forgotten stories, quiet characters and hidden memories. This is what Momentary Pulses: Art in the Central Business District, a commissioning series by The Everyday Museum and initiated by Singapore Art Museum, aims to uncover. Amid the city’s hustle and bustle are seven showcases by Singapore-based artists that have been seamlessly woven into public spaces along buildings and walkways. Each artwork has been designed to reflect, rather than distract, as it responds to the sights and sounds of the ever-evolving landscape. They invite us to look more closely at our everyday surroundings, pause, and let our imagination wander, offering a moment of calm and curiosity in a fast-paced environment.

In this larger-than-life artwork taking over the National Gallery’s Padang Atrium, contemporary Thai artist Navin Rawanchaikul captures the dynamic and passionate cultures and lives that make up the diverse Singaporean community. Following a year-long engagement with migrant workers, indigenous groups and faith organisations, the artist’s revelations and discoveries are translated into spectacular billboard paintings, video interviews and a travelogue that celebrates their vibrant stories and voices.

The showcase is supported by an enriching two-part programme that highlights the people who have inspired the installation. Join in on fireside chats with the artist to explore behind the scenes and the empowering migrant stories. Singaporama Unfolded Part I centres on Kaugnay, an organisation for Filipina domestic workers, and its fabulous Trashion Show, while Part II traces the history of migration in Singapore. The latter presents a performance of a traditional Indian folk dance by Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) Ambassadors, alongside a discussion on identity, community and collaboration.

Five women, over 50 artworks and one shared mission. This exhibition brings Southeast Asian artists Amanda Heng (Singapore), Dolorosa Sinaga (Indonesia), Imelda Cajipe-Endaya (Philippines), Nirmala Dutt (Malaysia) and Phaptawan Suwannakudt (Thailand) to display their work together in Singapore for the very first time. But more than just an art showcase, Fear No Power is a space to have a conversation about meaningful change and the artists’ decades-long commitment to it. Featuring photography, paintings, sculptures and performances that date all the way back to the 1960s, this multidisciplinary exhibition examines the concept of communal world-building across the region and what it means to forge a community. Every piece of work is an intimate and powerful reflection deeply rooted in care, collaboration and resistance.

Traditional arts meet contemporary creativity at Stamford Arts Centre’s A Date with Tradition. Happening every Friday and Saturday for three weekends from August 21, the arts-filled event brings Singapore’s multicultural heritage to life through a series of performances, installations, drop-in activities and hands-on workshops, with artists presenting fresh takes on traditional practices. Experience everything from Chinese calligraphy and bhakti performances to gamelan storytelling and batik ink rubbing, all under one roof – in a single evening.

Every weekend brings about a new mix of activities, so there’s plenty for you and the family to discover each time. Don’t miss Breaking the Opera Walls, a roving performance that takes Chinese opera beyond the stage and into unexpected corners of the arts centre. There’s also a Kathakali-inspired retelling of the Chinese classic, Journey to the West, that weaves Mandarin songs with Indian classical dance. Meanwhile, running throughout the weekends is Kester Wong and Tan Shao Qi’s Where the Wildflowers Grow: Rooted, a mesmerising and interactive light installation that responds to touch and movement.