Life is better with a little drama in it

SINGAPORE BIENNALE 2008 (PART 01)

Looking for any cool spots to bring your girl to this October? Check out the Singapore Biennale... an international contemporary visual arts exhibition organised by the National Arts Council, Singapore. And both of us (Charmaine & I) being art lovers, just couldn't miss this chance to view the artworks, & date at the same time. =P

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We met up after her training, & coincidentally bumped into Anli & Melissa @ City Link. We bought some Subway cookies & headed over to one of the exhibition sites @ City Hall (the other @ South Beach Development). On our way walking to City Hall, we saw one of the public artworks located outside Raffles City. It appears that various public artworks were also scattered around Raffles City, Esplanade Bridge, Suntec City, Clifford Pier, Central Promontory Site & Singapore Flyer. We saw another piece of such artwork the night before, located under the Esplanade Bridge, where I met up with Charmaine & sent her home, on my way back home from NTU.

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The public artwork we saw under the bridge was "Lightlines" by Hans Peter Kuhn. There were six 50m long rods of light, each looking like an enormous neon strip under the moonlight. In my opinion, it wasn't as impressive as it sounded to me. Alright but not fantastic. Take a look yourself.

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The other public artwork I mentioned outside Raffles City, named "Fantasmas" (Phantoms), was by Issac Montoya. The image is a rainbow-coloured portrait of a young woman, hair seemingly in dread locks, with her mouth open. But looking through two coloured screen booths nearby (one red, the other blue), the image completely changes. See for yourself.

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Arriving @ City Hall, we bumped into JunXiong & his girlfriend, walking alongside City Hall. We exchanged a few words & a few glances as he saw Charmaine with me. Before we continued into the building, it occurred to me that the exterior of the City Hall looked really nice with the huge stairs in front of the building, the tall majestic pillars, all that 18th century British colonial architecture & stuffs. Anyway I bought my ticket at the counter for only $5 (student price), while Charmaine just flashed her complementary ticket without paying anything. We also each received a Biennale guidebook which showed every artwork exhibited throughout the island.

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The first artwork we saw is "Maggots" by Ngoc Duong Pham, which I thought was kinda cute but disgusting at the same time. However the next piece was more interesting, and it had an very interesting concept which got everybody involved. It's called "Singapore" by Wit Pimkanchanapong. He has recreated a Google Earth image-map of Singapore covering the whole floor of the Chamber room in City Hall. Stickers or tags were provided, whereby visitors may tag their messages onto the map. Much like tagging information or messages on virtual maps, except this is done in the real, physical world, with the interaction between real people as they witness themselves performing the tagging.

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Just take a look at the floor - so many tags on the map!
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Look! Somebody tagged a message to my dragonboat coach Ah Hee too, "I LOVE AH HEE". The picture in the center is where we trained for dragonboat at Kallang. And lastly that's me trying to find where both Charmaine & I are staying.

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We finally found where we stayed. The first picture reveals where Charmaine lives, but I'm gonna keep it a secret =P. That's Serangoon Garden & Chomp Chomp in the center picture. And that's my home in Potong Pasir in the last picture, but some bugger already stuck a tag over my place so you can't see it.

And then there's even the map of Pulau Tekong, BMTC. I was totally escalated when I saw it on the map, cuz it brought back so many memories when I was in BMTC as a recruit & then, as a officer (instructor). I wanted to show Charmaine the location of Jaguar Coy, the company where I held my instructor role but once again, some bugger already pasted a tag over it & we can't see it anymore. This was the artwork that we spent the most time on, before moving on to others.

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Next we went upstairs where more artworks are located. At the staircase, there was a painting "Raw Canvas" by Jane Lee, on the wall. The Singaporean artist used thick swathes of paint to create an impression of woven fabric. Fabric covers & reveals; it shapes us. It can tell stories about the person, or hide them at the same time. Lee's 3D painting appears to drip with its grooves & folds making every obsessive wrinkle available for our inspection. It is like a cloth that speaks or keeps its secret.

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That's all for now... I shall leave the rest of the Biennale Tour @ City Hall to another post, cuz there's simply too many pictures/artworks to cover in one entry. Till then... Stay healthy & cheers, people! =]

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Exhibition Dates:
- 11 September to 16 November 2008

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Exhibition Hours:
- Tuesdays to Sundays, from 11am to 8pm
- Closed on Mondays

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Admission:
- Single Entry Pass: $10
- Each entry pass includes a one-time entry to City Hall & South Beach Development
- Entry to all other venues is complementary except the Singapore Flyer
- 30% discount for all PAssion Card holders
- 50% discount for Senior Citizens (60 & above) & students with valid ID