Blog Assignments: Singapore Biennale 2008

Overall, I think the Biennale is a huge success. It shows diversity and gives tribute to the international Art scene. As you know Art is very much underrated in Singapore, hence with the increasing emphasis recently, by the government, to promote the local Art scene, it is giving the local Arts a voice in the international platform.

In the Biennale, the art pieces all have very strong concepts behind it and through the use of different techniques. The artist’s concepts are conveyed through surrealistic and conceptualistic approaches. They invoke us to question the world through their art and at the same time aesthetically entertain us. The process is both an enriching and entertaining one. Furthermore, the exhibitions brought us to local venues we would have not visited at all, such as the inside of City Hall and South Beach Development building.

There are many successful works in the Biennale, such as the Felice Varini Project: “Drill Hall” and the ‘I’m Not Expensive’ installation. And the most successful, in my opinion, is the ‘Bachelor - The Dual Body’.

In a dark room with nothing but a book floating in an aquarium of blue water, it catches anyone’s attention and blows everyone away with the impact of this installation. Everyone would be entranced by the book dancing around in the tank. I was blown away by it when I first sees it and my impression of the meaning behind it would be something like, the book epitomizes the past literature art while the blue tank symbolizes the modernity of it. I thought it meant that art is still present in the present but it is floating around loosely without anyone fully comprehending it. Furthermore with the fading text, it shows that art is losing its ground in the modern world.

The artist’s interpretation was something not too far away. The philosophical book is loose from its bearings due to the waves of globalization.

On the other hand, there are always some not very successful installations, such as the ‘Flight’ and ‘Lightlines’. But I guess the least successful one would be the three channel video installation ‘El naufragio de los hombres (The wreck of men)’. Without reading the description of the exhibit, one would be confused with what the artist is trying to portray with the images. The place was eerie and the shadow figures moving on screen are creepy.


Even after reading the description of the exhibit, it does not seem to help much in understanding the images. I think the artist meant to portray the problems of global warming with the solitary figures standing on ice bergs and in a vast empty landscape. Overall, the images was not very impressive and when you thought more would be shown to further enhance the experience, you are given another same shot and you just further question, why the need to stay in that room any further.