Singapore Biennale
Encyclopedia
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
biennale in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. The first Singapore Biennale operated as one of a lineup of Singapore 2006
Singapore 2006
Singapore 2006 was a group of several concurrent events that were held in Singapore in support of the 61st Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group...
events. Fumio Nanjo, Director of Tokyo's Mori Art Museum, has been reappointed Artistic Director of the Singapore Biennale 2008. Working with Mr Nanjo on Singapore Biennale 2008 are two curators: independent curator Joselina Cruz, formerly a curator at the Singapore Art Museum and the Lopez Museum in Manila; and Matthew Ngui, one of Singapore's leading artists in contemporary art.
The first Singapore Biennale employed the theme of "Belief", commencing on 4 September 2006 and ended on 12 November. The event was held in various locations throughout Singapore. It featured 195 artworks, from 95 artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s and collectives from 38 different countries. The event was part of the Singapore 2006
Singapore 2006
Singapore 2006 was a group of several concurrent events that were held in Singapore in support of the 61st Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group...
events which included the 2006 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
and the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
Group held at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event was organised by the National Arts Council
National Arts Council Singapore
The National Arts Council of Singapore was established in September 1991 "to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of life in Singapore.-History :...
(which also organised the annual Singapore Arts Festival
Singapore Arts Festival
The Singapore Arts Festival is an annual arts festival held in Singapore. Organised by the National Arts Council, it is one of the most significant events in the regional arts scene. The festival, usually held in mid-year for a stretch of one month, incorporates theatre arts, dance, music and...
) in conjunction with the National Heritage Board
National Heritage Board (Singapore)
The National Heritage Board is a statutory board of the Singapore Government, under the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts ....
.
The biennale featured different types of contemporary art including drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
s, painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s, installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
s, new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
, performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
s, photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, sound
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
, wall painting, and furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
. Artists of note included Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Fujiko Nakaya
Fujiko Nakaya
is a Japanese artist, most noted for her fog sculptures.-Early life:Nakaya was born in Sapporo in 1933, where her father Ukichiro Nakaya, who is credited with making the first artificial snowflakes, was at the time an assistant professor at Hokkaido University...
, Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist. Holzer lives and works in Hoosick Falls, New York.-Education:...
, Mariko Mori
Mariko Mori
Mariko Mori is a Japanese video and photographic artist. While studying at Bunka Fashion College, she worked as a fashion model in the late 1980s. This strongly influenced her early works, such as Play with Me, in which she takes control of her role in the image, becoming an exotic, alien...
, Shigeru Ban
Shigeru Ban
Shigeru Ban is an accomplished Japanese and international architect, most famous for his innovative work with paper, particularly recycled cardboard paper tubes used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims...
, Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist. Holzer lives and works in Hoosick Falls, New York.-Education:...
and Takashi Kuribayashi.
The Curatorial Team for the Singapore Biennale was headed by renowned curator Fumio Nanjo
Fumio Nanjo
is the director of the Mori Art Museum, and a graduate of Keio University.- References :...
. The other curators involved in the "Belief" exhibition were Roger McDonald (Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
), Sharmini Pereira (Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
/United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
) and Eugene Tan (Singapore).
Exhibition venues
The event included exhibits displayed in various venues, which were:- Tanglin Camp, a former military camp and hospital
- City HallCity hallIn local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...
- The newly renovated National MuseumNational museumA national museum is a museum maintained by a nation.The following is a list of national museums:-Australia:*Australian National Aviation Museum*Australian National Maritime Museum*, Sydney*Australian War Memorial*Museum Victoria...
- The high-end shopping belt of Orchard RoadOrchard RoadOrchard Road is a road in Singapore that is the retail and entertainment hub of the city-state. It is regularly frequented by the local population as well as being a major tourist attraction...
- Singapore Management UniversitySingapore Management UniversityThe Singapore Management University was officially incorporated on January 12, 2000, and was Singapore's first private university funded by the government...
- Sculpture Square
- National LibraryNational Library, SingaporeThe National Library in Singapore is located on an 11,304-square metre site between Bugis Junction and the Bras Basah Complex at 100, Victoria Street...
- The PadangPadang, SingaporeThe Padang is an open field located within the Downtown Core of the Central Area in Singapore, at the heart of Singapore's central business district. It was formerly known as the Padang Cricket Ground...
- Singapore Art MuseumSingapore Art MuseumThe Singapore Art Museum contains the national art collection of Singapore. It has a collection of 7,750 pieces of Singaporean and Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art, and has an expanding collection of new Asian and international contemporary art.- History :Officially opened in 1996, it...
- Block 79, Indus Road. (HDB Flat)
- Asian Civilisations MuseumAsian Civilisations MuseumThe Asian Civilisations Museum is an institution which forms a part of the three museums of the National Museum of Singapore. It is one of the pioneering museums in the region to specialise in pan-Asian cultures and civilisations...
, Singapore RiverSingapore RiverThe Singapore River is a river in Singapore with great historical importance. The Singapore River flows from the Central Area, which lies in the Central Region in the southern part of Singapore before emptying into the ocean... - Tanjong Pagar railway stationTanjong Pagar railway stationTanjong Pagar railway station , also called Keppel Road railway station or Singapore railway station, was until 30 June 2011 the southern terminus of the network operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu , the main railway operator in Malaysia. The land on which the station and the KTM railway tracks are...
- Masjid SultanMasjid SultanMasjid Sultan Masjid Sultan Masjid Sultan (Malay for Sultan Mosque; is located at Muscat Street and North Bridge Road within the Kampong Glam district of Rochor Planning Area in Singapore. The mosque is considered one of the most important mosques in Singapore...
- Saint Joseph's ChurchSaint Joseph's ChurchSaint Joseph's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Singapore. It is located along Victoria Street in the Rochor Planning Area, within the Central Area of Singapore's central business district....
- Church of Saints Peter and Paul
- Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator
- Kwan Im Thong Cho Hood Temple
- Sri Krishnan Temple
- Maghain Aboth SynagogueMaghain Aboth SynagogueThe Maghain Aboth Synagogue is a synagogue in Singapore. It is located at Waterloo Street in the Rochor Planning Area, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district....
The City Hall was restored temporarily for the event was also used from 11 September to 20 September as a registration centre for the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
and World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
meetings (Biennale exhibits in City Hall were closed during this period.
7 of the sites are religious spaces, tying back in to the Biennale theme: Belief. These sites represent Singapore's main religions and the artworks the sites each reflect the nature of the religious belief itself. Most of the works were site-specific, such as Indian artist, Ashok Sukumaran
Ashok Sukumaran
- Biography :Sukumaran was born to a Japanese mother and an Indian father in Sapporo, Japan in 1974. Sukumaran grew up in Shimla, India.Sukumaran is a trained architect with a degree from School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, India...
's "Everything is Contestable" light installation at the Armenian Church. Another remarkable artwork was Chinese artist, Jennifer Wen Ma's "Alms" which was a video displayed at three different sites, namely Maghain Aboth Synagogue, Saint Joseph's Church and Masjid Sultan. It reflected the emphasis on acts of altruism in the all three religious beliefs. The nature of these sites and artworks was intended to blur distinction between a holy site and an art gallery, all in a reverent manner.
Most venues were modified for use for the Singapore Biennale by the architecture firms Kennel LLP or Lekker Design.
Major events
- 1 September 2006 Opening Party The opening party was held at the PadangPadang, SingaporeThe Padang is an open field located within the Downtown Core of the Central Area in Singapore, at the heart of Singapore's central business district. It was formerly known as the Padang Cricket Ground...
and highlighted a fashion show by students from LASALLE-SIA College of the ArtsLASALLE-SIA College of the ArtsThe LASALLE College of the Arts , formerly LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, is an arts educational institution in Singapore. It was founded in 1984 by De La Salle brother, Brother Joseph McNally. Currently, LASALLE has design, fine arts, integrated arts, media arts and performing arts faculties...
, Raffles Design InstituteRaffles Design InstituteRaffles Design Institute , is an educational institution in Singapore dedicated to the professional design disciplines of fashion design, interior design, interactive media , 3D , and visual communication...
, Temasek PolytechnicTemasek PolytechnicTemasek Polytechnic is the third polytechnic to be set up in Singapore. The polytechnic was established on April 6, 1990. With a 30 hectare campus overlooking the scenic Bedok Reservoir in the eastern part of Singapore, TP's campus places particular emphasis on the preservation of the natural...
and Japanese artist, Yayoi KusamaYayoi Kusamais a Japanese artist whose paintings, collages, soft sculptures, performance art and environmental installations all share an obsession with repetition, pattern, and accumulation...
, a projection on City HallCity hallIn local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...
by Jenny HolzerJenny HolzerJenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist. Holzer lives and works in Hoosick Falls, New York.-Education:...
, and a motion-controlled balloon sculpture by Usman Haque. The main party area was open to the public, and hosted by popular nightclub in Singapore, Ministry of SoundMinistry of SoundMinistry of Sound London, commonly referred to as simply Ministry of Sound or MoS, is a nightclub based in London, United Kingdom and an associated record label. It was ranked fourth in the 2010 DJ Magazine top 100 clubs poll 2010. As well as the nightclub in London, there is another in Egypt and...
. The VIP tent was open to all artists, organizers, and invited guests including Lee Hsien LoongLee Hsien LoongLee Hsien Loong is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. He is married to Ho Ching, who is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew....
, the Prime MinisterPrime ministerA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Exclusive events included a performance by the Tang Quartet inside a latexLatexLatex is the stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic.Latex as found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants . It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins,...
tent by artist Ana PrvackiAna PrvackiAna Prvacki is a Serbian-Romanian-Singaporean artist whose work draws on daily practices and social research. Her interventions into daily life are meant to transform the viewer's perception and experience of daily life and routine, providing solutions to our daily problems, worries, and fears...
. This performance was enjoyed by the Prime MinisterPrime ministerA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
on cardboard furnitureCardboard furnitureCardboard furniture is a furniture designed to be made from cardboard, or heavy wood-based types of paper.Although people have lived on and around cardboard for as long as it has existed, it was probably first introduced to the design world by Frank Gehry . The line, which is still made and sold by...
designed exclusively for the Singapore Biennale by designers Nathan Choe and Robin Wau. This furniture was based on a modular, flexible concept and changes function depending on position.
Integration with the Singapore Art Show
The Singapore Biennale is part of a framework of two bi-annual visual arts platforms which together provide a diverse showcase of visual arts in the country. The other event is the Singapore Art ShowSingapore Art Show
The Singapore Art Show is a bi-annual show organised by the National Arts Council focusing on local visual artists. The inaugural show was in 2005.-Overview:...
which serves as a platform for local visual artists.
These two biennials, organised on alternate years, nurture Singaporean talent and engage audiences both nationally and internationally.
See also
- Singapore Arts FestivalSingapore Arts FestivalThe Singapore Arts Festival is an annual arts festival held in Singapore. Organised by the National Arts Council, it is one of the most significant events in the regional arts scene. The festival, usually held in mid-year for a stretch of one month, incorporates theatre arts, dance, music and...
- Singapore Art ShowSingapore Art ShowThe Singapore Art Show is a bi-annual show organised by the National Arts Council focusing on local visual artists. The inaugural show was in 2005.-Overview:...
- Culture of SingaporeCulture of SingaporeSingapore was a part of British Malaya for many centuries. It was ruled by the Sultanate of Johor. In 1819, the British came to the Island and set up a port and colony. During British rule, the port of Singapore flourished and attracted many migrants...