Singapore Biennale 2008, which started on Sept 11 and ended on Nov 16, featured 137 artworks by 66 artists and art collectives spread out over three main venues - City Hall, South Beach Development and the Central Promontory Site. --PHOTO: COURTESY OF SINGAPORE BIENNALE
THE second Singapore Biennale proved to be a crowd-puller, drawing in 505,200 visitors over the eight weeks it was on.
Visitors who went to the contemporary art show praised it for exhibiting unique artworks that were easy to relate to.
The show, which started on Sept 11 and ended on Nov 16, featured 137 artworks by 66 artists and art collectives spread out over three main venues - City Hall, South Beach Development and the Central Promontory Site.
The National Arts Council (NAC), which organises the Biennale, calls the response a fantastic endorsement from ordinary Singaporeans.
The final tally this year fell short of the 883,300 visitors who attended the inaugural Singapore Biennale in 2006.
But NAC says this is to be expected, since the first Biennale, which coincided with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings held here that year, was a larger one with a budget of $8 million.
It featured 198 artworks by 95 artists over 19 venues and was held over 10 weeks. But that sprawling show elicited complaints that the artworks were too spread out.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times' Life!
