The Singapore Biennale was established in 2006 as the country’s pre-eminent platform for international dialogue in contemporary art. It presents and reflects the vigour of artistic practices in Singapore and the region within a global context, and fosters productive collaborations and deep engagement with artists, arts organisations, and the international arts community.
The Singapore Biennale cultivates public engagement with contemporary art through a four- month exhibition, and its accompanying public engagement and education programmes that include artist and curator talks and tours, school visits and workshops, and community days. It complements achievements in other areas of arts and culture, collectively enhancing Singapore’s international profile as a vibrant city in which to live, work and play.
The 2006 and 2008 editions of the Biennale were organised by the National Arts Council. The NAC commissioned the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) to organise the 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2019 editions.
Singapore Biennale 2019: Every Step in the Right Direction
Helmed by Patrick Flores as Singapore Biennale 2019 (SB2019) Artistic Director, and with a curatorial team of six members from Singapore, Southeast Asia and beyond, Singapore Biennale 2019: Every Step in the Right Direction focuses on the imperative of making choices and taking the steps to consider current conditions and the human endeavour for change.
SB2019 reflects on the potential and abilities of the artists to rework the possibilities of the world. It also invites the audience to be open to such works and to such a world that is made different through the making of these works, and, thus, also attempting to make the world right. Through the act of artistic exploration, SB2019 invites participation to transform the world around us, and to get things done the right way. This process begins with a step, from a crucial decision to make changes happen. The reiteration of this commitment leads to the right direction – a direction that each of us is entitled to move towards. Informed by such an impulse, SB2019 offers a sustainable, self-renewing project of change, and moves everyone to act – to make a step.
Singapore Biennale 2019 Online Symposium – Right Here, Right Now: Constellating Worlds in the Contemporary
The Singapore Biennale 2019 Online Symposium builds on the Biennale’s title Every Step in the Right Direction to explore ways of confronting and re-working the world through contemporary art. Comprising the symposium keynote, recordings of two live panels on 7 March 2020, and audio and written publications, the Singapore Biennale 2019 Online Symposium and its material can now be accessed online at www.singaporeabiennale.org/symposium
Music performances by 10vacations, Quite Quiet, Akid Amir and the Kribo Brothers, Subsonic Eye, and Sobs, were broadcasted live on Saturday, 21 March 2020, as part of the Singapore
Biennale 2019 closing weekend performances.
#BiennaleFinaleDay 2
Dance and music performances on the final day of the Singapore Biennale
2019 closing weekend, were broadcasted live on Sunday, 22 March 2020. The
performers line-up :
Unexpected Sounds – Reimagining the Erhu, Performance by Actor and
Musician Ayden Sng
En/Un/Re/Multi Fold, Dance Performance by LASALLE College of the Arts
Circus Performance by Edwin Cirque
Cajon Performance by Beat’ABox
and music performances by Bani Haykal, Leon Wan, and Jorud.
What does it mean to regard a place as ‘public’ or ‘private’? Are there types of activities that are restricted to these places, and if so, what constitutes their distinctions? Intimate Apparitions comprises commonplace objects that have been recomposed into something less familiar. Through these assemblages, Khairullah Rahim looks at a range of public and private spaces, such as the open field, gazebo, exercise corner and bedroom. In doing so, he explores the adaptability and dual nature of these areas by the individuals or groups that use them. Concurrently, he considers how such spaces are imbued with powerful symbolic connotations when used by certain minority or non-mainstream communities.
Lani Maestrositsit sa kuliglig. (whatever circles from the center)
2019
Mixed media installation: wooden structure, capiz shells, marble and metal
In Maestro’s practice, materiality is central. A fascination with how things evoke presence, or how words concretise or become material in themselves, define her thoughtful and heartfelt projects. For the Biennale, Maestro presents an installation consisting of a structure that holds over a hundred pieces of capiz (windowpane oyster) shells. The slightest breeze causes the capiz to rustle and move, resulting in a scope of sounds. Nearby the structure are several white marble balls, with letters that spell “psst.” For Maestro, a dialogue arises from this moment of seeing, reading and imagining at the point of the mindful and sensitive encounter.
Verónica TroncosoTelling stories from outside and inside
2019
Fabric scrolls, photographs, sketches, audio recording and performance
Verónica Troncoso’s practice is informed by an abiding interest in memory and trauma, exile and migration, particularly through investigating institutional and personal archives. Delving into stories of migration and mobility across different generations in Singapore, Troncoso’s work for SB2019 draws upon a range of material derived from interview transcripts from her conversations with migrant workers and local students. Troncoso takes on the role of an archivist: selecting, indexing and revealing. History, much like memory, is an act of remembering as it is an act of forgetting.
