EVERYDAY objects such as slippers, soap, sugar and gourds will be used to make art for this year's Singapore Biennale contemporary art show.
Visitors will be treated to some spectacular sights when the two-month long show opens on Sept 11.
For instance, a section of Marina Boulevard will be transformed into a 'slipper forest'.
Filipino artists Alfredo Juan Aquilizan and Maria Isabel Aquilizan are hoping to collect 4,000 used slippers from people here for the outdoor art installation, titled Flight.
The flip-flops will be mounted on bamboo poles 3m to 4m high, and people walking through the 'forest' will also hear wind harps humming.
Meanwile, Italian artist Paolo W. Tamburella, 35, is using 8,000 bars of soap to create an outdoor bathing experience in the centre. His installation will be at the South Beach Development venue along Beach Road, which used to house the former Beach Road police station.
On opening night, the centre of attraction will be a man who will take a shower in this soap scape.
The organisers say using everyday objects as art is a reflection of the relationship between people and their daily lives.
Artist Matthew Ngui, 45, one of the two curators of the Biennale, says: 'All materials used to create these works are ubiquitous. What the artists do with them it is interesting. They transform them into works that make you wonder.'
The Biennale, which runs till Nov 16, will feature 66 artists and over 70 art works. These will be displayed at three main venues - the Central Promontory Site in the Marina Bay area, City Hall and the South Beach Development.
It has a smaller budget - $6 million - compared to the $8 million allocated for the inaugural Biennale in 2006, which coincided with the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings in Singapore.
But that sprawling show, seen by over 800,000 people and which featured 198 works by 95 artists spread out over 19 venues, elicited complaints that the art works were too spread out.
So this year's show is more streamlined, but no less captivating.
Ngui and co-curator Joselina Cruz, 35, an independent curator, say the works promise to blow viewers away either by their sheer scale or through clever use of everyday objects.
Ms Cruz, who is from Manila, says: 'What we have looked for are not just pieces that stand alone, but works that raise questions.'
The slippers, for instance, deal with the issue of journeys that people make.
They have also included collaborative works to show how art brings not just artists but cultures together.
One example is September Sweetness, by Vietnamese artist R. Streitmatter- Tran and Myanmar's Chaw Ei Thein. They will use granulated sugar and and starch to recreate a temple at South Beach.
For Low Kee Hong, 38, general manager of the Singapore Biennale, the challenge for this year's visual arts event is to reach out to more Singaporeans.
This year, tour guides who speak Cantonese, Hokkien, Malay and Tamil will be on hand to take people through the art on display.
He says: 'At the end of the day, Singaporeans need to feel for it and we are engaging the community in various ways like asking for slipper donations, introducing a biennale for children and urging more volunteers to join us.'
And it might just be working.
He says: 'Just the other day, one of the contractors who always questioned what we were doing with all the painting, drilling and installation, told me he would be taking his grandmother to see the show. For me, that is a start.'
