PRESENTATION:Rirkrit Tiravanija-SAY YES TO EVERYTHING

Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled (lunch box) [Detail], 1996, Stainless steel container, Thai newspaper and Thai meal, 31.5 x 16 x 18 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija. Image courtesy of 1301PE

The work of Rirkrit Tiravanija has not stopped questioning the format of artworks and the exhibition system. A mix of performance, sculpture, installation, and more, with Tiravanija, the artistic space transforms into a place of social interaction, often dotted with meeting points, encounters, and exchanges. Frequently immaterial, his work invents new connections in a world based on reciprocity, conviviality, and hospitality.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: STPI Archive

Whether staging communal meals inside museums or converting pristine galleries into improvised radio stations, Rirkrit Tiravanija has consistently unsettled the spatial and temporal conventions of the “white cube.” For over three decades, he has advanced a participatory paradigm that resists the static art object, privileging instead encounter, process, and relational exchange. His forthcoming solo exhibition, “SAY YES TO EVERYTHING,” consolidates this ethos in what will be his most extensive presentation in Singapore to date.

Among the most widely celebrated figures in contemporary art, Tiravanija emerged in the 1990s as a central proponent of what critics later termed “relational aesthetics.” His practice reframes everyday activities—cooking, eating, conversing, playing—as aesthetic propositions. Rather than producing discrete objects for contemplation, he constructs situations. The artwork unfolds through human interaction, shifting emphasis from outcome to lived experience. In this model, authorship disperses and spectatorship transforms into participation.

Presented at STPI, a cornerstone of Singapore’s contemporary art ecosystem, “SAY YES TO EVERYTHING” reflects a longstanding dialogue between artist and institution. Tiravanija has undertaken multiple residencies with STPI over the years, developing a substantial body of editioned works and prints in collaboration with its workshop. The exhibition brings together more than a decade of these explorations on paper, offering insight into a dimension of his practice that is often overshadowed by his performative projects.

The show unfolds as a cartography of movement—geographical, cultural, and psychological. Themes of migration, travel, belonging, and displacement recur across the selected works, resonating with Tiravanija’s own transnational biography. Yet rather than narrating these conditions didactically, the exhibition constructs an open framework in which viewers encounter them through shared activity. The gallery becomes an activated social field: a place to enjoy a meal, play games, fold origami, or engage in conversation. These gestures, modest in isolation, accrue significance through collective enactment.

Crucially, the exhibition title encapsulates Tiravanija’s operative philosophy. “SAY YES TO EVERYTHING” signals an embrace of contingency—an openness to circumstance without predetermined conclusion. This orientation toward uncertainty has defined his engagements with institutions worldwide and underpinned his residencies at STPI. Each collaboration evolves through dialogue, experimentation, and responsiveness to site. The resulting works on paper, though materially fixed, index processes of exchange and negotiation.

In reimagining the gallery as a collaborative environment, Tiravanija does not merely critique institutional frameworks; he temporarily reprograms them. The white cube becomes porous—social rather than silent, durational rather than static. For Singaporean audiences, this exhibition provides not simply a retrospective survey but an invitation: to inhabit art as a shared condition.

Photo: Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled (lunch box) [Detail], 1996, Stainless steel container, Thai newspaper and Thai meal, 31.5 x 16 x 18 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija. Image courtesy of 1301PE

Info: STPI Gallery, 41 Robertson Quay, Singapore, Duration: 7/3-9/5/2026, Days & Hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-19:00, www.stpi.com.sg/

4.Rirkrit Tiravanija, The time travelers gage, (end)gaugeA transformer designed to utilize the slight, wasted energies such as:the excess of pressure on an electric switch.the exhalation of tobacco smokethe growth of a head of hair, of other body hair and of the nails.the fall of urine and excrement.movements of fear, astonishment, boredom, anger.laughter.dropping of tears.demonstrative gesture of hands, feet, nervous tics.forbidding glances. falling over the surprise.stretching, yawning, sneezing.ordinary spitting and of blood.vomiting.ejaculation.unruly hair, cowlicks.the sound of nose blowing, snoring.fainting.whistling, singing. sighs, etc..., 2013, Etching, clock movement, cotton paper, 46 x 46 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore
Rirkrit Tiravanija, The time travelers gage, (end)gaugeA transformer designed to utilize the slight, wasted energies such as:the excess of pressure on an electric switch.the exhalation of tobacco smokethe growth of a head of hair, of other body hair and of the nails.the fall of urine and excrement.movements of fear, astonishment, boredom, anger.laughter.dropping of tears.demonstrative gesture of hands, feet, nervous tics.forbidding glances. falling over the surprise.stretching, yawning, sneezing.ordinary spitting and of blood.vomiting.ejaculation.unruly hair, cowlicks.the sound of nose blowing, snoring.fainting.whistling, singing. sighs, etc…, 2013, Etching, clock movement, cotton paper, 46 x 46 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore

 

 

5.Rirkrit Tiravanija, Untitled, 2022, Screenprint, silver foiling and lithograph on paper, 51.5 x 69.5 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore.
Rirkrit Tiravanija, Untitled, 2022, Screenprint, silver foiling and lithograph on paper, 51.5 x 69.5 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore

 

 

 

6.Rirkrit Tiravanija, Untitled 2017, 2016, Casted STPI handmade paper, 52 x 84 x 78 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore
Rirkrit Tiravanija, Untitled 2017, 2016, Casted STPI handmade paper, 52 x 84 x 78 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore
11.Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 2020 (embossed nature morte: po'o-uli, melamprosops phaeosoma, 2004), 2023, Embossing and silver foiling on paper, 75 x 72 x 0.3 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore
Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 2020 (embossed nature morte: po’o-uli, melamprosops phaeosoma, 2004), 2023, Embossing and silver foiling on paper, 75 x 72 x 0.3 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore

 

 

13.Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 2020 (extinction series: falkland islands wolf, dusicyon australis, 1876) (with strong UV light), 2023, Solar dust screenprint on STPI handmade linen paper, origami creased pattern; 3D printed model in sandstone, 147 x 147 cm (print). © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore.
Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 2020 (extinction series: falkland islands wolf, dusicyon australis, 1876) (with strong UV light), 2023, Solar dust screenprint on STPI handmade linen paper, origami creased pattern; 3D printed model in sandstone, 147 x 147 cm (print). © Rirkrit Tiravanija / STPI. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI, Singapore

 

 

15.Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 1995 (atlas I) from untitled 1995 - 2007 (atlas I - VI), 1997 - 2007, Installation view of untitled 1968 (Mr. Spock), June 2023, Photographs and photocopies collaged on linen, with brass eyelets for hanging, in cardboard slipcase, 51.5 x 45.5 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija. Image courtesy of the artist, Klosterfelde Collection, Hamburg and Helge Mundt.
Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 1995 (atlas I) from untitled 1995 – 2007 (atlas I – VI), 1997 – 2007, Installation view of untitled 1968 (Mr. Spock), June 2023, Photographs and photocopies collaged on linen, with brass eyelets for hanging, in cardboard slipcase, 51.5 x 45.5 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija. Image courtesy of the artist, Klosterfelde Collection, Hamburg and Helge Mundt

 

 

16.Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 1995 (atlas II) from untitled 1995 - 2007 (atlas I - VI), 1997 - 2007, Installation view of untitled 1968 (Mr. Spock), June 2023, Photographs and photocopies collaged on linen, with brass eyelets for hanging, in cardboard slipcase, 51.5 x 45.5 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija. Image courtesy of the artist, Klosterfelde Collection, Hamburg and Helge Mundt
Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 1995 (atlas II) from untitled 1995 – 2007 (atlas I – VI), 1997 – 2007, Installation view of untitled 1968 (Mr. Spock), June 2023, Photographs and photocopies collaged on linen, with brass eyelets for hanging, in cardboard slipcase, 51.5 x 45.5 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija. Image courtesy of the artist, Klosterfelde Collection, Hamburg and Helge Mundt

 

 

25.Rirkrit Tiravanija, Untitled, 1992 (Red, Yellow, Green Curry), 1992, Three cans of curry paste, made and canned by the artist with special label displaying an image of the artist with his mother and sister at the beach, 3.81 x 7.62 x 7.62 cm each. © Rirkrit Tiravanija. Image courtesy of the artist and Klosterfelde Collection, Hamburg.
Rirkrit Tiravanija, Untitled, 1992 (Red, Yellow, Green Curry), 1992, Three cans of curry paste, made and canned by the artist with special label displaying an image of the artist with his mother and sister at the beach, 3.81 x 7.62 x 7.62 cm each. © Rirkrit Tiravanija. Image courtesy of the artist and Klosterfelde Collection, Hamburg

 

 

29.Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu, DO WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY, 2019, Silkscreen on newspaper, 56 x 61 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu. Image courtesy of Tomas Vu
Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu, DO WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY, 2019, Silkscreen on newspaper, 56 x 61 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu. Image courtesy of Tomas Vu

 

 

30.Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu, THE INFAMOUS PRODUCT OF WESTERN CULTURE, 2019, Silkscreen on newspaper, 56 x 61 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu. Image courtesy of Tomas Vu
Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu, THE INFAMOUS PRODUCT OF WESTERN CULTURE, 2019, Silkscreen on newspaper, 56 x 61 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu. Image courtesy of Tomas Vu

 

 

Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu, WE DON'T MIX, 2019, Silkscreen on newspaper, 56 x 61 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu. Image courtesy of Tomas Vu.
Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu, WE DON’T MIX, 2019, Silkscreen on newspaper, 56 x 61 cm. © Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu. Image courtesy of Tomas Vu