National Gallery Singapore faces leadership shake-up with three high-profile departures

NGS did not directly respond to ST’s queries about whether an international search will be launched for the vacant roles of director and chief curator.

It also did not directly confirm whether the role of chief curator, which Tan created in 2024, will remain. It said only that it would, in the transition period, review “future appointments that would best support the museum in the long term”.

Lee, who joined NGS in 2016 and oversees museum experience, starts as chief executive of Medan Pasar Realty and Muara Arts on Dec 16.

The not-for-profit arts initiative in Kuala Lumpur will open a public gallery focused on Malaysian and South-east Asian art on Nov 1, and is slated to open a performing arts theatre in 2029.

NGS said that Flores, who joined the gallery in 2022 and was born in Iloilo, has decided to return to the Philippines.

In Flores’ time as chief curator, NGS has put on blockbuster exhibitions such as City Of Others: Asian Artists In Paris, 1920s-1940s and provocative ones like Passion Is Volcanic: Desire In Southeast Asian Art, the gallery’s first R18 show.

The exhibition After The Monsoon: Art & War In Southeast Asia, which was slated to run in May 2026, remains indefinitely postponed due to the “uncertain global situation”.

Flores’ departure comes in the midst of NGS’ permanent South-east Asian history gallery’s 1½-year revamp. The gallery is slated to reopen in November 2027.