The Singapore Biennale 2008

Yay, it’s here again. The Singapore Be…Beh…Bi…Buh…B… WTF… (I’m having real trouble here) Biennale 2008 is back, with more arty farty stuff. A bunch of which was completely lost on me. Before I begin, how the hell do you pronounce this B-word again? After Googling for a while, I finally got it down to “Bian-narl-lay”… I think. No matter how it’s meant to be pronounced, Dictionary.com defines it as “any biennial art exhibition”. Ok, that’s cool. It’s actually yet another way to keep track of how you age.

The Singapore Biennale 2008 opened on 11 September 2008 and will end on 16 November 2008. 137 artworks by 66 artists from all around the world (and possibly some, I suspect, by visiting aliens from other worlds), worth about $6 million – quite a feast for art lovers. This time round, the organisers included a Kids Biennale, with art and workshops catered for budding artists, or parents who want their kids to be artists. For the rest of us, or just me perhaps, it’s a great opportunity to take some interesting photos, and spend some time away from the computer.

While there are various complimentary venues scattered all over our quaint island, the Warden and I paid for 2 tickets of $10 and explored the exhibits in City Hall and South Beach Development, where the main exhibits are. We skipped the guided tours and the audio guides, and simply roamed where the signs read, “More Exhibits”. Since this is the first time that I step into City Hall and South Beach Development (yeah I’m very much like a frog in a well), the building is as much a point of interest to me as the art.

The beauty of art is that while it may provide a glimpse into the emotions and thoughts of the creator, and in turn stir up feelings within, it is leaves very much to the interpretation of the viewer. Some like it, some don’t. Some shrug their shoulders and move on, while others stare at it and ponder the greater secrets and meanings conveyed. If you’re really into art and all that it involves, try not to miss this. If you have just a mild interest, but wonder if you will like it, why not spend an afternoon just to find out? Just keep an open mind, and the journey may yield some interesting returns.

These last two photos I took were not part of the exhibition, but I just wanted to take them. I stood at the doorway and took a quick snap, while some unfortunate couple walked past me. They thought there were some kind of invisible and interesting exhibits in the empty room, that I probably saw yet they could not see. Then they actually walked into the room! Gosh! I wanted to tell them, “Haha! Gotcha!”, but I did not. Just quickly turned and walked away. Some people are just so lost. But maybe being lost is an art form too

Sources:

American Psychological Association (APA):

biennale. (n.d.). Webster’s New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7). Retrieved October 18, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/biennale

Chicago Manual Style (CMS):

biennale. Dictionary.com. Webster’s New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/biennale (accessed: October 18, 2008).

Modern Language Association (MLA):

“biennale.” Webster’s New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 18 Oct. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/biennale>.