The 1980s Singapore art scene saw the emergence of alternative art practices and performance art, and The Artist Village has been recognised as one of the pivotal groups in the burgeoning of contemporary art at the turn of the century.

An artist collective founded by Tang Da Wu in 1988, The Artists Village’s exhibitions were distinct from mainstream gallery and museum shows in how they engaged with audiences, often taking place in public spaces at times considered radical. Initially operating from Lorong Gambas in the Ulu Sembawang farm district, the art space was housed in a converted chicken farm and its inaugural 1989 exhibition, The Open Studio Show, fission early members Baet Yeok Kwan, Amanda Heng, Lin Poh Teck, Hazel Mcintosh, Tang Da Hon and Tang Mun Kit.

While opinion was divided over the merit of the artistic production of the group as a whole, The Artists Village was recognised for providing an environment of freedom to experiment and exhibit art that departed from prevailing modernist aesthetics conventions. During this time, artists in the collective produced groundbreaking works that engaged with ready-made objects, featured conceptually driven approaches to painting and sculpture and engaged with social and political subject matters in art-making. That much of the exhibitions took place in outdoor spaces also ignited new thinking about the relationship between art and the everyday.

Some of the collective’s important early exhibitions and events include The Time Show(1989) a 24-hour exhibition of durational performances; The Space (1992), a visual arts festival at the disused Hong Bee Warehouse and the Artist’s General Assembly (1993-94), which was co-organized with the 5th Passage artist group.

Some of Singapore’s establish senior artists today, such as Chng Seok Tin(1946-2019), Zai Kuning, Lee Wen (1957-2019), Vincent Leow and Jason Lim, were members, alongside younger practitioners like Lina Adam, Jeremy Hiah, Kai Lam, Urich Lau, Justin Lee, Ezzam Rahman, Jennifer Teo, Woon Tien Wei and Juliana Yasin (1970-2014), to name a few. From 1999, the latter generation of members started running the collective, henceforth known as TAV. A notable project during this decade was Artists Investigating Monuments (2000, 2004) which featured artistic re-examinations and responses to public statues and the colonial contexts that underpin them. In 2012, the group organized the Pulau Ubin Artist-In-Residency program at an offshore island in eastern Singapore.

During this decade, TAV continued to welcome new members, while earlier ones went on to establish solo practices. Today, they have just under 20 members, including Tang, and notably, artist and archivist Koh Nguang How. In 2022, as a commemoration of its 34-year-old history, the group organised the exhibition Epilogue to reflect on its legacy, its continuity and the role of art collectives in a changing landscape of contemporary art practice