Singapore Biennale, ten years after it has been first opened, derives itself with a distinctive identity amongst the four previous editions. This year, Singapore Biennale focuses on contemporary art in Southeast Asia. It will also feature an importance in nurturing further appreciation for its neighbours' culture and histories.
Opening this coming Thursday, the Singapore Biennale, which is titled this year as 'An Atlas Of Mirrors', will feature several works of art that shows the complex social, geographical, political and historical relationships mutually known and experienced by people and places within Asia. This year's edition targets to make its viewers consider how they see the world and themselves from the perspective where they stand.
Organized by the Singapore Art Museum, the biennale will be held at eight (8) exhibition venues featuring 58 art pieces by 63 artists and artist collectives from 19 countries and territories in the region.
During its first launching way back 2006, the Singapore Biennale was an international exhibition casting its net across 38 countries and regions which featured 198 works by 95 artists and artist collectives in 19 exhibition venues within the country. It was then facilitated by the National Arts Council.
According to Ms. Tan Siuli, Singapore Biennale's Curatorial Co-head, biennale's fifth edition this year may be modest in size, but numbers do not tell the full story.
"The quality of the biennale experience, rather than a numbers game, was foremost in our minds. And it will be extremely rich and varied because the artists have responded to the theme in "beautiful and wonderfully imaginative ways," Siuli furthered.
The Associate Curator of biennale's fifth edition, Michael Lee, says: "The exhibition's move from an outlook that was international in its first three editions to a regional focus since the last edition in 2013, has allowed it to be more introspective and self-directed."
Lee furthered that although it is sticking with a regional approach, the biennale has not stayed stagnant. It can be remembered that on 2013, the biennale emphasized artists who practiced away from Southeast Asia's usual art capitals. This year, biennale's approach has been extended beyond Southeast Asia which put East and South Asia in the picture.
"It brings together a variety of art practices and opportunities for research and long-term collaborations that can continue even after the biennale comes to an end," says Suman Gopinath, an independent curator based in Bangalore who is also one of the Associate Curators for this year's biennale.
During the opening weekend, aside from participating in the biennale, several artists will also hold performances.
The first Singapore Biennale which employed the theme of "Belief" commenced on September, 42006 and ended on November, 12 2006. The 2016 edition, on the other hand, will take place from October 27, 2016 to February 26, 2017.
Join the Conversation