The Art and Design of Asian Games Exhibit
- Singapore’s Asian Civilisations Museum is running “Let’s Play! The Art and Design of Asian Games” through June 7, 2026, not just this weekend, with interactive displays. - The exhibition brings together more than 150 objects and installations, tracing games including chess, mahjong, chaupar and congkak across Asian history and design traditions. - ACM has framed the show as a long-run exhibition on play, identity and exchange across Asia, with weekend programmes extending it beyond galleries. (nhb.gov.sg)
Singapore’s Asian Civilisations Museum is staging “Let’s Play! The Art and Design of Asian Games” through June 7, 2026, with playable installations and more than 150 objects. (nhb.gov.sg) The exhibition opened on September 5, 2025, at the museum in Singapore and examines how games moved across Asia, changed form, and picked up new meanings in different societies. (nhb.gov.sg) (timeout.com) Asian Civilisations Museum says the show covers games that entertained, educated, reflected status and power, and served as metaphors for life, while also pointing to newer forms of play shaped by artificial intelligence. (nhb.gov.sg) (sagg.info) The core idea is simple: familiar games are also designed objects. Boards, pieces, rules and materials carry clues about trade, craft, religion and class, which is why a museum of Asian art is treating play as cultural history. (timeout.com) (nhb.gov.sg) That shows up in the game list. ACM and Time Out highlight titles such as chaupar, congkak, chess and mahjong, games that circulated across borders and were remade for local players over centuries. (nhb.gov.sg) (timeout.com) The museum has also built the exhibition to be used, not just viewed. One installation, “The Game Board” by 8EyedSpud, lets visitors design a token, scan it, and watch it appear on a giant shared board. (nhb.gov.sg) Time Out’s current listings show the exhibition is part of a wider programme of game-themed events at ACM, including family activities and festival-style weekends tied to the show rather than a one-off three-day run. (timeout.com 1) (timeout.com 2) That matters for anyone planning a visit this week: the exhibition itself is ongoing, while specific add-on programmes come and go on separate dates. ACM’s main site lists the show as an ongoing exhibition, distinct from temporary weekend events. (nhb.gov.sg 1) (nhb.gov.sg 2) So the story is less about a weekend pop-up than a months-long museum project: a Singapore institution using play to map how ideas, objects and people moved across Asia. (nhb.gov.sg)
