First launched during Singapore Art Week 2020, Art Encounters is a presentation series capturing the art-making process within repurposed shipping containers, designed to travel to unique sites around Singapore. In its fourth edition, Art Encounters arrived at Marina Central with an array of activities across the precinct focused on the diversity of textile art.

​At Millenia Walk, visitors could join textile artist Natalia Tan in her pop-up free-weaving studio and try their hand at weaving with a Japanese floor loom. In the adjacent container studio was a showcase of Singaporean textile works curated by the artist. No two visits were the same, as both spaces changed and evolved––inside and outside––over the course of the show. At Marina Square's outdoor walkway sat the welcome gallery, where visitors could sit on rattan chairs up-cycled with textile coverings woven by Natalia, and watch videos of past editions of Art Encounters. An array of hands-on workshops and pop-up art installations took place at Suntec City and South Beach.

​In a world where audiences are conditioned to distance themselves from art (and each other), Into Softer Worlds was an invitation to touch, create, and share what moves us. Visitors were more than mere viewers in this multi-sensory encounter as they weaved their heartfelt wishes into collectively-created tapestries of dreams and desires.