Singapore Biennale

The Singapore Biennale is a large-scale biennial contemporary art exhibition in Singapore, serving as the country’s major platform for international dialogue in contemporary art. It seeks to present and reflect the vigour of artistic practices in Singapore and Southeast Asia within a global context, fostering collaboration and engagement between artists, arts organisations, and the international arts community.

First organised in September 2006 as an anchor cultural event for the Singapore 2006 series of events, subsequent Biennales have been held once every two or three years, and usually last around four months, including public engagement and education programmes that include artist and curator talks and tours, school visits and workshops, and community days.

The 2006 and 2008 editions of the Singapore Biennale were organised by the National Arts Council, Singapore. The Council then commissioned the Singapore Art Museum to organise the 2011, 2013 and 2016 editions. The Singapore Art Museum currently serves as the Singapore Biennale organiser from the 2019 edition onwards. As of 2019, six editions of the Singapore Biennale have been held, with a seventh slated for October 2022.

History

The beginnings of the Singapore Biennale has been traced to Singapore's Renaissance City Plan (RCP). Announced in Singapore Parliament in 2000, the plan for the promotion of the country's arts and culture famously sought to position Singapore as a "global arts city." Later in 2002, the Creative Industries Development Strategy report was released to chart the development of the arts and culture, design and media industries in Singapore. One of the report's recommendations included the transformation of the Nokia Singapore Art series into the Singapore Biennale, which would be the major visual arts event in Singapore featuring local and international artists. Based on this report, the 2005 Renaissance City Project 2.0 would involve the organisation of the first Singapore Biennale the next year.

2006

The inaugural Singapore Biennale employed the conceptual framework of "BELIEF", seeking to examine the relationship between contemporary art and beliefs, commencing on 4 September 2006 and ending 12 November 2006. The event was scattered over 19 sites, with City Hall, Tanglin Camp, and the then-newly refurbished National Museum of Singapore as its main three venues. Artworks were also exhibited in seven major religious sites in Singapore, such as the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple and the Sri Krishnan Temple, chosen to reflect Singapore’s multiracial and multicultural society, as well as the role of architecture in the construction of society's beliefs. Other locations included Orchard Road, the National Library, Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, and Singapore Management University.

The 2006 Biennale featured 195 artworks from 95 artists and collectives from 38 different countries. Some artists included Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Fujiko Nakaya, Ho Tzu Nyen, Jenny Holzer, Mariko Mori, Shigeru Ban, Yayoi Kusama, and Takashi Kuribayashi. The Curatorial Team for the Singapore Biennale was headed by renowned curator Fumio Nanjo. The other curators involved were Roger McDonald (Japan), Sharmini Pereira (Sri Lanka/United Kingdom) and Eugene Tan (Singapore).

The biennale was part of the Singapore 2006 series of events which included the 2006 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group held at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The first Singapore Biennale was organised by the National Arts Council (which also organised the annual Singapore Arts Festival) in conjunction with the National Heritage Board. The result of 18 months’ planning, the Biennale had a budget of nearly S$8 million and was attended by about 883,000 people.

2008

The second edition of the Singapore Biennale, themed "Wonder", was held from 11 September to 16 November 2008, with artistic director Fumio Nanjo reprising his role. Nanjo saw the theme as a challenge towards a world that neither questioned nor allowed things and events to awe individuals, with contemporary art a means of allowing ourselves to be "surprised, awed, tantalized, challenged." The 2008 edition was an event concurrent with the Singapore Grand Prix Season, a series of events organised in relation to the 2008 Formula One race in Singapore.

A total of 137 artworks by 66 artists from 36 countries were exhibited during the Biennale, featuring names such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Cheo Chai-Hiang, Dinh Q. Lê, E Chen, Fujiko Nakaya, Shigeru Ban, Shubigi Rao, and Tromarama. The 2008 edition had a budget of S$6 million, attracting a total of 505,200 visitors, with three exhibition venues: City Hall, Marina Bay, and South Beach Development. Compared with the 19 venues used in the previous edition, the 2008 Biennale was scaled down to allow greater ease of visiting and experiencing all the artworks, according to chairman of the 2008 Biennale, Lee Suan Hiang.

The programme featured education and outreach activities, such as the dialogue session Encounters, an educational arts programme for children aged 7 to 12 named the Kids Biennale, and educational resources for secondary school and junior college students. Parallel programmes such as the Showcase Singapore art fair, were also held.

2011

The third Singapore Biennale, themed "Open House", was held from 12 March to 15 May 2011 and led by Singaporean artistic director Matthew Ngui and curators Russell Storer and Trevor Smith. The 2011 Biennale featured 60 artists from 30 countries, seeking to examine multiple perspectives and myriad creative approaches to questions of how we move across borders, see other points of view, and form connections with others.

A key feature of the 2011 Biennale was the ''Merlion Hotel'', a temporary hotel built around the iconic Merlion statue by Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi. Other names featured included Arin Rungjang, Ceal Floyer