Singapore Biennale 2011

Over the Good Friday weekend, I finally found time to visit the Singapore Biennale (part of). We started off with brunch @ Food for Thought. Never expected it to be so crowded though but we got to our seats quite soon.

Right after food, we visited the biennale's exhibits at SAM @8Q. 4 storeys worth of art to explore. One of my favourite was this installation by an Indonesian artist, Roslisham Ismail. He had lived in Singapore for quite some time and had spent time with 6 different Singaporean families. His inspiration for Secret Affairs stems from the time spent and observation made of them. He felt that the fridge is often telling of the family and especially in the Asian culture, it is considered rude to open someone else's fridge without the person's permission. Indeed, when we opened the fridge, even without any description and explanation, we could guess how many people lived in the house and the character of the owner etc. based on the items found in the fridge and the way they are organized. And here, we have located the fridge that most resembles ours:

Another interesting exhibit is this room where news articles related to art are collected and displayed by this passionate collector. His collection started off as part of an art project @ NYJC when he was a student. However, he continued with this habit of collection long after his project ended. Here from these articles, it's telling how art influences all aspects of life. It's just that we often do not pay close enough attention to it. It also shows how far Singaporeans have progressed with the kind of art they accept now as compared to in the past. There was one article that particularly intrigued me; about how Singaporeans used to view nudity as an art form. The article was published in the late 80s and it is interesting how in the article, many people then felt that nudity is more obscenity than art. And how the thinking has changed so much since then.

There are many interesting work in the exhibition and I haven't even have time to visit the Old Kallang Airport site yet. Surprisingly, the biennale is not as abstract as what most people have claimed it to be. You just need to be a little more creative and open minded of your interpretation of the piece of art. Afterall, viewing and appreciating art is an experience that you personally own. No one can say for sure whether or not you are right or wrong. That's my 2 cents' worth.