Opening of "Crosscurrents" exhibition and signing of Singapore-France Cultural Cooperation Roadmap

• It is a pleasure to join you all today for the opening of the Crosscurrents exhibition, a collaboration between the Asian Civilisations Museum and Musée du Louvre.

• This exhibition is a part of the ongoing vOilah France Singapore Festival. vOilah! is an annual festival that presents French and Singaporean creativity and innovation in culture, education, science and lifestyle.

• Today’s exhibition launch is significant as it reflects the close partnership that both our countries have across our governments, cultural institutions and museums, and our arts communities.

Strong bilateral cultural collaboration

• France is a close friend of Singapore, and our friendship is still growing from strength to strength after 60 years. Both countries share a deep love for the arts and cultural cooperation is an anchoring pillar of our bilateral cooperation.

• The bilateral agreement on cultural cooperation between France and Singapore was first signed in 2009, and was refreshed with an Agreement on Enhancing Cultural Cooperation in 2019. We have since seen concrete, comprehensive, and close collaboration spanning diverse areas.

• Over 100 collaborations between France and Singapore have been initiated under this bilateral partnership since 2009.  These collaborations span from joint art exhibitions, cross-international artist residency programmes, skills development for arts and cultural professionals, to the participation of artists from France and Singapore in major cultural events and festivals in both countries.

The next bound of bilateral cultural cooperation

• Last year, on the occasion of our 60^th anniversary of diplomatic relations and during President Macron's State Visit to Singapore, our two countries elevated our ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership — a milestone that reflects the breadth and ambition of what we have built together, and sets the stage for even closer collaboration in the years ahead.

• In tandem with this step up in our bilateral relationship, I am delighted that the Singapore-France Cultural Cooperation Roadmap will be signed today between MCCY and the French Ministry of Culture. This Roadmap sets out both countries’ shared commitment to deepening our cultural partnership.

• Both countries will deepen exchanges to build stronger expertise and capabilities across design, conservation, curation, and technology.

  • One area of particular interest is conservation and restoration in a tropical climate, where Singapore's experience — including our exchanges with our Southeast Asian neighbours — offers valuable insights that we are keen to exchange with our French counterparts.

  • We will also be continuing our bilateral Artist-In-Residency Programme, which began in 2024. The third cycle of the exchange will start in August 2026, and when we continue the cycle in 2027, there will be a focus on artists working with technology.

  • The University of the Arts, Singapore’s first arts university, will be engaging France’s national arts schools, École des Beaux-Arts and National School of Decorative Arts, to promote future student and faculty exchanges, internships, project and research collaborations.

Conclusion

• None of this would have been possible without the efforts of many. I want to thank the French Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of France in Singapore for their continued partnership and initiative in bringing this Roadmap forward.  I speak on behalf of our Singapore cultural agencies and institutions, including the National Heritage Board, the National Arts Council, the University of the Arts Singapore and Design Singapore that we look forward to realising the initiatives under the Roadmap.

• Lastly, this exhibition showcasing nearly 100 masterpieces — many seen for the first time in Southeast Asia — tell a story that is relevant today. The works on display were shaped by encounter and exchange across vast distances, as artistic ideas and influences flowed freely between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East — much as France and Singapore have built something meaningful across our own differences of geography and history. I hope this exhibition reminds us that the impulse to reach beyond the familiar is not new, and that the Roadmap signed today is, in its own way, part of a much longer story.

• Thank you.