Australian artist Cj Hendry turns IMBA Theatre into a double debut

IMBA Theatre at Gardens by the Bay is bringing internationally acclaimed Australian artist Cj Hendry to Southeast Asia for the first time this June, with two large-scale immersive installations that blur the lines between art, experience design and cultural marketing.

The double activation will see Hendry’s “Flower market” and the world premiere of “JuJu World” take over IMBA Theatre’s gallery space in a limited-run format, positioning Gardens by the Bay as a temporary home for experiential, participation-led art.

“Flower market” will run from 10 to 14 June 2026 as a free-entry experience, while “JuJu World” will follow from 20 June to 18 July 2026 as a ticketed installation. Both experiences are designed around interaction rather than observation, reflecting a growing shift in how audiences engage with culture, not just as spectators, but as active participants.

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Known for transforming hyperrealistic drawings into large-scale, immersive environments, Hendry has built a global reputation for creating art that behaves akin to a brand experience: highly visual, shareable and designed for physical engagement.

In “Flower market”, IMBA Theatre will be transformed into a surreal floral retail environment featuring tens of thousands of plush blooms. Visitors are invited to browse, pick and assemble their own bouquets in a format that mirrors retail and experiential activation mechanics, rather than traditional gallery viewing.

The Singapore edition will introduce more than 30 flower varieties, including locally inspired designs such as the Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, Raffles’ Pitcher Plant and Singapore Ginger Flower. Each visitor will also receive a complimentary flower upon entry, reinforcing the participatory nature of the experience.

Meanwhile, “JuJu World” marks the first inflatable experience built around Hendry’s JuJu collectible series, introducing a bold yellow colourway created exclusively for Singapore. The installation extends her collectible universe into a physical, immersive format, with limited large-scale JuJu pieces available only during the run.

The experience continues a broader trend in experiential marketing where art, retail and entertainment increasingly overlap, with installations designed to be photographed, shared and socially amplified as much as they are experienced in person.

Michael Lee, chief executive of IMBA, said the collaboration reflects a focus on building participatory cultural formats that move beyond passive viewing. "Henry's installations cross every boundary of language, age and background, and we see real potential to build programming and community experiences around them. We can't wait to welcome Singapore to these two experiences," said Lee. 

In tandem, Teyi Guo, director, leisure events at the Singapore Tourism Board, said the activations add to Singapore’s pipeline of world-class experiential offerings and reinforce its positioning as a destination for cultural tourism and immersive experiences. Artist Hendry on the other hand said the Southeast Asia debut is rooted in shared emotional cues such as curiosity, nostalgia and play, with the aim of making art more accessible and engaging across audiences.

“Presenting my works in Southeast Asia with IMBA feels incredibly exciting because these activations represent our shared emotion and universal experiences, from curiosity to adolescence and nostalgia. This double bill at IMBA Theatre will spark joy among new audiences in the region, demonstrating that art is meant for everyone. This is something I value enormously in my practice and I hope audiences will treasure during the two limited runs at IMBA Theatre at Gardens by the Bay," said Henry. 

Together, “Flower market” and “JuJu World” signal one of the most ambitious experiential art takeovers in the region to date, reflecting how cultural spaces are increasingly adopting the language of branded experiences, interaction and immersion. 

The IMBA Theatre takeover comes as Singapore continues to lean into experiential and destination-led cultural programming that merges art, leisure and brand storytelling. Recent examples include Tanjong Beach’s transformation into “Lobster beach”, a large-scale public art activation by British pop artist Philip Colbert, where an 8-metre ice-cream sculpture and inflatable installations turned the shoreline into an immersive, shareable playground.

Presented by Mastercard and supported by Sentosa Development Corporation, the activation highlighted how public spaces are increasingly being used as canvases for experiential marketing, blending gallery-led art with open-air, audience-first engagement designed to drive footfall, dwell time and social content creation.

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