Singapore Biennale 2008 Throws Us a Bone

Malaysian Artists at Singapore Biennale 2008

Beyond Recognition

Nadiah Bamadhaj, 2006

Click here to see highlights from Bamadhaj's Single Channel video installation of scenery with words from Joseph Conrad's The Lagoon appearing to be slowly carved onto the landscape.

Excellence, Glory, Distinction
Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang
Liew Kung Yu, 2008

The proportion of regional art to the rest of the world stands at around 30... says Ngui. Doing the math one discovers that Ngui is correct, but because a good portion of the Southeast Asian quota is filled by Singapore artists, the section does not go far into giving viewers a balanced picture of Southeast Asia's creative wealth and breadth. This is an opportunity wasted, especially since though there are other similar art events in asia, the Singapore Biennale is the regions's most internationally-promoted and biggest.
- Iola Lenzi, Wonder: Is it Art or Commerce, C Arts Magazine -Volume 5

The 2nd Singapore Biennale, an international contemporary visual arts event, organised by the National Arts Council, is going on now until 16 November 2008 at City Hall and South Beach Development. Led by Artistic Director Fumio Nanjo and curators Joselina Cruz and Matthew Ngui, the Biennale features 137 artworks by 66 artists and art collectives from over 36 countries and regions including Malaysia.

The artist list include Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Deborah Kelly, Isak Berbic, Hans Op de Beeck, Anthony McCall, Isaac Montoya, Faisal Samra, Fujiko Nakaya, Ki-bong Rhee, and Felice Varini, to Southeast Asia and Singapore, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Heman Chong, Shubigi Rao, Tang Ling Nah, Willy Koh and Sherman Ong.

Singapore Regional art makes up about 30% so we're oh so grateful 2 of ours, namely Liew Kung Yu and Nadiah Bamadhaj made the cut. Not too sure if the other 3 Malaysian born artists (Heman Chong, Joshua Yang, Sherman Ong) are considered Malaysian or Singaporean. (?) Thailand, Phillipines and Indonesia only got 5 combined! Considering how important those countries are in the art world they were quite nice to us-lah.