letters to the sea

letters to the sea

Natalia Tan (Singapore)

Presented by The Listening Biennial Singapore

Artist Natalia Tan (SG) invites you to a self-paced encounter with the natural world. This is a temporal sanctum for self and surround - a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect with the sea.

On Sunday, 7 September, come as you are, at any time between sunrise and sunset, to the beach beside East Coast Park Pier.

Settle, ground, and attune yourself with the sand, wind, waves, and beyond.

Stay for just a moment, or as long as you wish.

To close the experience, participants are invited to hand-write a letter to the sea and place it in our handmade ocean mailbox.

Selected letters will be displayed at The Listening Biennial LAB, a co-learning laboratory at LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore that invites collective imagining of ways of practicing and carrying “third listening” within us. This special event at East Coast Park Pier marks the transition of The Listening Biennial Singapore's showcase during Singapore Night Festival at Waterloo Street (22 Aug - 6 Sep) to LASALLE College of the Arts (10 - 15 Sep).

Event Details

Sunday, 7 September 2025

Arrive anytime between sunrise and sunset

Find Natalia at the beach next to East Coast Park Pier (outdoors)

Please see this map for exact location and images of the location below.

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Katong (Thomson Line)

Nearest bus stop: Tg Katong Flyover (91101)

Nearest carpark: East Coast Park Carpark B2

Participant Notes:

• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes
• Bring protection from the sun and rain
• Register to receive event updates

Please note that our photographer will be taking photos and videos. By attending this programme, you consent to be photographed or filmed.

About the Artist

Natalia Tan is a Singaporean artist, co-founder of the Singapore Eco Arts Festival, and Fellow of the Artistic Directors Academy at T:>Works. Rooted in a lifelong commitment to environmental conservation, Natalia’s practice centres on themes of regeneration, repair, and organic processes. Her ideas often take form through socially engaged, participatory projects that invite collective imagination, play, and co-creation using salvaged waste materials.

As an arts facilitator, Natalia cultivates environments for sensorial play, narrative memory, and decentralised creativity - encouraging participants to ground themselves in communal experience and discover new ways of making meaning.

Natalia has shared her praxis and research with thousands through public art projects such as "into softer worlds" (2021), presented by Art Outreach across Marina Central; “mottainai!” (2022) and “to feel our selves again” (2022) presented at the National Design Centre; “tactile tales” (2022-23) and “tales as new as time” (2025), presented by the National Library Board; “to bloom in waste” (2024) and “-i-n-f-i-n-i-t-e-” (2025) presented by the Singapore Art Museum; “Weaving Sundays: Say It With Saori” (2024-25) presented by the National Gallery Singapore; “weaving stories, storied weavings” (2022) and “What’s In That Cloud?” (2024) presented by The Esplanade; “nothing but a day dream” (2024) and “Arts in the Alley” (2025) presented by Supper House.

She has been interviewed on national television for her contributions to upcycling and community engagement, and profiled in periodicals such as Vogue, Female, and The Robb Report. Past clients include Diptyque, Christian Dior, and Van Cleef & Arpels.

About The Listening Biennial, Singapore

Since 2021, The Listening Biennial has sought to foster research and discussion on listening, recognising its transformative power as key to enriching personal lives and social initiatives, and which supports ethical and political practices. As part of the Singapore Night Festival, the artists of The Listening Biennial invite you to enter the space of Third Listening, to listen out for a plurality of life-forms as well as pathways of interconnection between seemingly irreconcilable differences.

The Singapore edition is curated by artist Alecia Neo and co-programmed with publisher Ng Kah Gay of Ethos Books.

Read more: https://listeningbiennial.net/biennial-editions/third-edition