Singapore artist Charmaine Poh wins Villa Romana Prize, Germany's oldest art award
Charmaine Poh, the first Singaporean to receive the prestigious Villa Romana Prize, will enrol in a 10-month residency from February to November 2026 in the historic Villa Romana in Florence, Italy. PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHARMAINE POH
SINGAPORE – Video artist Charmaine Poh has won the Villa Romana Prize, Germany's oldest art award.
The 35-year-old was among four fellows selected for the 2026 prize – its 120th edition. This makes her the first Singaporean to win the award aimed at emerging artists based in Germany.
As is tradition, Poh and fellow winners Mikolaj Sobczak, Gulbin Unlu and Susanne Sachsse will enrol in a 10-month residency from February to November 2026 in the historic Villa Romana in Florence, Italy.
They will each receive a monthly stipend of €2,000 (S$2,955) and participate in art shows in Florence and Germany. Their stay will culminate in an artists' book, incorporating their respective practices which span video, sound, object installation, performance and painting.
Poh tells The Straits Times that she considers the residency, with its generous resources, 'a holistic demonstration of an investment in my practice'.
'These are resources that enable me to think more expansively and ambitiously about my practice, including working with mediums that I didn't have the space for before. Working more consistently with performance is one of them,' she adds.
Britain -born Nigerian artist Karimah Ashadu, whose work was opposite Poh's at the Venice Biennale in 2024, nominated her for the prize. Ashadu was encouraged to do so by her producer Leonardo Bigazzi, who had selected the Singaporean artist for the Visio-European Programme in 2024.
This is a residency, research and production project for artists who use moving images in their work. 'I want to express my gratitude to the both of them,' says Poh.
She shares some artistic interests with her fellow nominees, including mining alternative archives, queer activism and critiques of social norms.
Once a child actor in the Singapore TV series We Are R.E.M (2008 to 2009) – about three teenage girls who form a detective agency to bust crime – she has harnessed her experience to discuss the non-consensual proliferation of her image online, situating this in artificial intelligence-generated techno-futuristic worlds.
Poh, currently based in Berlin for her doctorate in contemporary art, visual culture and performance, has been racking up accolades since showing at the 2024 Venice Biennale.
Since then, she has been accepted for Arkipel, Jakarta's international documentary and experimental film festival, secured shows in Los Angeles and Hong Kong, and completed a six-month Singapore Art Museum residency.
In December 2024, she was named Deutsche Bank's Artist of the Year for 2025 – also a first for Singapore. Poh's first solo and institutional exhibition in Berlin will take place at the PalaisPopulaire museum during Berlin Art Week in September.
During Singapore Art Week in January, one of her videos shown in Venice, What's Softest In The World Rushes And Runs Over What's Hardest In The World (2024), was given an R21 rating by the authorities.
It was eventually represented by an unlit projection area at Sundaram Tagore Gallery, in part due to logistical difficulties of enforcing the age requirement.
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