SINGAPORE BIENNALE 2008
11 September – 16 November 2008
(Vernissage: 9 – 10 September 2008)
Wonder
Organised by the National Arts Council (Singapore), the second edition of Singapore’s premier
international contemporary art event, Singapore Biennale 2008 (SB2008) will be held from
11 September to 16 November 2008. The Biennale allows for interaction and engagement
between the local scene and the international world of contemporary art. As a platform for
collaborations with the global arts community, the Biennale provides new opportunities for local
visual artists and arts businesses, and is a significant opportunity to cultivate deeper public
engagement with the arts.
Highly accomplished curator and art critic, Fumio Nanjo has been re-appointed the Artistic
Director for SB2008.
“We are glad to appoint Fumio Nanjo as Artistic Director of SB2008. The opportunity to work
with the same artistic director for the sophomore edition allows for greater continuity for an
event that is still new and for the project to deepen in its reach and engagement with the city
and audiences. In addition, it also presents the unique opportunity for the artistic director to
reflect on what was created for the first edition and together with a new team of curators,
respond to the process and methodology of exhibition making. We had a very good working
relationship with Nanjo for SB 2006 and are pleased that he has agreed to work with us again to
build on the foundation of our successful first Biennale." says Lee Suan Hiang, Chairman of the
Singapore Biennale 2008 Steering Committee, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the
National Arts Council.
Internationally reputed for having headed the programming and adjudication of major art events
throughout the world, the Director of Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, Nanjo will once again chart the
direction and programming for Singapore’s visual arts biennale, continuing to boost Singapore’s
position as a distinctive global city for the arts.
Working with Nanjo on SB2008 are two emerging curators from Singapore and the region.
Formerly a curator at the Singapore Art Museum and the Lopez Museum in Manilia, Joselina
Cruz is an independent curator currently working on projects in Manila and Singapore. Matthew
Ngui is one of Singapore’s leading artists in contemporary art. The first Singaporean to exhibit at
Documenta in 1997, Ngui was also one of four artists who represented Singapore at its first
participation at the 49th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition, 2001. The duo makes an
interesting combination of an independent contemporary curator familiar with the museum
context and an artist playing the role of a curator.
Wonder is the theme for SB2008. Its conceptual scope issues a challenge to the contemporary
world, a world that no longer questions choices, nor allows for things and events to awe us.
Through contemporary art, Wonder calls on us to question and be curious; to reach beyond the
surface, surpassing the apparent and to allow ourselves be surprised, awed, tantalised and
challenged. All of which is an aperture to the World.
There are many issues that challenge our world today. The second Singapore Biennale
proposes other possible ways of seeing and arriving at truths and answers, resolutions and
compromises, and even the creation of new questions, to the challenges presented to and by
humanity. It seeks to revolt against our belief and trust in theories, logic, science and technology,
politics and economy that consciously regulate the world we live in. Criticism, skepticism and
doubt exist on the flipside of creative thinking, which brings about a different kind wonderment of
and to the world.
To wonder is a process of questioning, feeling or thinking about something. It is about looking at
things with fresh eyes and from different perspectives. The site of a creative critical spirit, it
operates either as a means to an end or as a sense generated when we encounter an object,
subject, thing, event, site, or experience. Embedded in the production and thinking of much of
contemporary art is this creative critical spirit. It challenges what we know and seeks to
encourage us to think about our now, our pasts, and our futures. To wonder and question is
thus a critical comment on the first edition’s theme, Belief, which at the same time
contextualises it.
“With Wonder, we want audiences to question the world around us, to inspire them to have a
healthy skepticism about what we know and believe, to be surprised and move them towards a
new revelation or understanding of our world. We aim to provide a commentary on the identity
of individuals in a multi-cultural world, recognise the dignity of individual human beings and their
communities and make reference to the fact that different cultural viewpoints are varied and
valid. We want audiences to be involved in the experience and creation of artworks through
greater interaction during the next Biennale, resulting in greater development of understanding
and critical thought regarding the events of the world.” says Fumio Nanjo, artistic director of
SB2008.
SB2008 aims to make people aware of this sense of wonderment and their capacity for it, as
contemporary art brings about moments of surprise, enchantments, shifts in perspectives, new
experiences and ultimately, enrichment.
A major part of the Biennale programming involves cultivating a deeper public engagement with
contemporary arts. This will be conducted through the Encounters series of talks, workshops
and events. These regular dialogue sessions provide a discursive platform for Singaporeans to
voice issues and concerns pertinent to our society and contemporary art. In addition, a series of
education projects focusing on primary and secondary school children will accompany the
Biennale. This programme will also include a number of artist residencies and workshops.
SB2008 promises to be refreshing and surprising for audiences. Together with the two curators,
Nanjo will be researching on artists and art practices from various parts of the world with a
special focus on Asia and its region; further establishing Singapore as the hotbed for research,
documentation and presentation of Asian contemporary artforms. They will provide for
accessibility of programming to multiple levels of audiences – local, regional and international
and pay special attention to outreach and education, allowing for a deeper engagement with
contemporary art by the people of Singapore.
