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Singapore’s premier contemporary art exhibition, the Singapore Biennale, will open to the public on October 26. This year’s edition named “If the World Changed” will have a strong Southeast Asian focus bringing in 27 curators from around the region. The aim is to develop a deeper knowledge of diverse art scenes, filling in the gaps where the Singapore Art Museum’s (SAM) curation may not be as strong. In choosing this year’s curators, former director of SAM and project director of the biennale, Tan Boon Hui, said that the selection process started from “where we don’t know, people who have access to the scene, new art practices.” With a greater focus and intensity on this part of the world, curators selected a wide range of projects to contextualize the unique practices, concerns and perspectives of artists from Southeast Asia. Hailing from 13 countries, the 82 artists and collectives presented reflect on the current state of the world while offering re-imaginings for the future. Many venues are clustered in the Bras Basah. Bugis Precinct—including SAM, 8Q, National Museum of Singapore and the Peranakan Museum—but select works can be seen beyond the main hub at locations such as Fort Canning and Taman Jurong. Here’s a teaser of the Singapore Biennale 2013’s offerings.
Dr. Susie Lingham, the new director of SAM (speaking in the center), Tan Boon Hui, project director of the biennale (to her right) and some of the 27 curators at the media conference on Thursday morning.
In one of the first corridors, viewers are greeted with Ahmad Abu Bakar’s Telok Blangah (2013), which features a kolek Melaka (traditional fisherman’s boat from Melaka) filled with thousands of bottles inscribed with messages from prison inmates. In these, the inmates share their thoughts, including their dreams for the future.
A message from an inmate in Ahmad Abu Bakar’s Telok Blangah (2013).
SAM’s curator, Tan Siuli, leads a tour.
Some of the biennale’s key themes.
An index finger in the lobby of SAM, by Vietnamese artist Tran Tuan, speaks about the Vietnamese war, where men were known to cut off their index finger, or “trigger finger,” in order to escape military conscription. Tran’s uncles asked his father to cut off their fingers—this work is a testament to the war’s continuing legacy.
Heading to the back gallery of SAM, one encounters the work of Oscar Villamiel, an artist from the Philippines. The installation Payatas (2012) is made from excavated dolls, from the Manila landfill of the same name, creating a haunting cottage landscape.
Interior view of Oscar Villamiel’s Payatas (2012), densely boarded with salvaged dolls.
Nguyen Oanh Phi Phi’s installation Specula (2009), made from Vietnamese lacquer, was used to create an imaginary cave covered with archetypes of world art. Phi Phi seeks to create experiential spaces with which one can physically engage.
Yogyakarta-based artist, Nasirun, drew inspiration from television in Between Worlds (2013). The artist reflects upon the role television plays in today’s society with his own reinterpretation using glass bottles, beakers and his own array of characters made from wayang puppets.
Commissioned for the Biennale is Cosmology of Life (2013) by Toni Kanwa. Consisting of some of the smallest pieces in the exhibition, the artist looks to Indonesia’s spiritual traditions to create talisman-like sculptures.
Filling an entire gallery wing of SAM is the collaborative project by AX (iS) Art Project. 150 participants, including art communities along the Halsema highway in the Cordilleras, the 13 works seen here address issues such as the salt trade, colonialism, indigenous tattoos, dog-eating and the bulol (totemic figures).
Over at 8Q is Anggun Priambodo’s Toko Keperluan (2010/2013), a provisions store commonly found in Southeast Asia. Filled with knick-knacks, Anggun offers an ironic critique of consumerism.
View from inside Eko Prawoto’s Wormhole (2013).
Rosid’s Lumbung Ilmu (Granary of Knowledge)(2005), a small hut used by farmers in Indonesia to store rice, brought over from the artist’s backyard in Bandung where it houses a library for local villagers.
Singaporean artist, Hazel Lim, worked with 150 students from local secondary schools to document botanical, insect and animal life. The final presentation of the sketches were shown as porcelain plates at the Peranakan Museum.
Yangon-based artist, Nge Lay, recreates a classroom from the village of Thuye’dan to comment on the role of education in Myanmar, which the government uses as a means of indoctrination.
Sylvia Tsai is assistant editor at ArtAsiaPacific.