Take a peek at next Singapore Biennale

The Singapore Biennale will return for its sixth edition from Nov 22 next year to March 22, 2020, said the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) yesterday.

A teaser event during Singapore Art Week next month will feature some of the artists in the Biennale line-up. The Biennale, a platform for international dialogue in contemporary art, is commissioned by the National Arts Council and organised by SAM.

At the teaser event on Jan 26, artists Dennis Tan from Singapore and Vandy Rattana from Cambodia will speak with SAM curators about their work, which in Tan's case involves rebuilding and racing a kolek, a traditional South-east Asian racing yacht, and in Vandy's case, making art in a rapidly changing Khmer landscape.

SAM will also screen Vandy's deeply personal works Monologue and Funeral. Monologue focuses on a small plot of unmarked land where Vandy's sister and grandmother were discarded and buried alongside 5,000 others during the Khmer Rouge's rule in 1978.

The night will conclude with experimental performances by sound artists Arnont Nongyao from Thailand and Britain-born, Singapore-based Zai Tang that make use of a range of sounds, from field recordings of creatures in endangered Singapore habitats to audio recordings of weekly markets in northern Thailand.

The Biennale's artistic director Patrick Flores said in a statement: "The practice of these artists conveys the energy of Singapore Biennale 2019. It responds to the need to reflect on the condition of our time and invites a broad public to do this in the always shifting, and thus always urgent, contexts of contemporary art."

  • VIEW IT / SINGAPORE BIENNALE 2019 TEASER

  • WHERE: Singapore Art Museum at 8Q, 8 Queen Street, Plaza

    WHEN: Jan 26, 4 to 9.30pm

    ADMISSION: Free with ticketed registration for some events

    INFO: www.singaporeartmuseum.sg

More details such as the Biennale's title, curatorial model and venues will be revealed during Singapore Art Week, the museum said.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 15, 2018, with the headline Take a peek at next Singapore Biennale. Subscribe