Forming Public Spaces
Edmund Cheng is one of the main, quiet forces behind the growth of Singapore’s contemporary art scene. Since the early 1990s, the Hong Kong-born real-estate developer has lobbied for art to be placed in publicly accessible locations. Cheng’s idea came to him well before it did to counterparts in Asia, who now adopt art as a lifestyle trend to lure tenants and customers into their properties and malls.
Cheng, a spritely 67, sports minimalist tailored suits and modernist spectacles. His appearance is more in line with his background as a trained architect, rather than as deputy chairman of Wing Tai Holdings and chairman of Mapletree—two international retail and real-estate development companies with a
