"Belief" in Contemporary Art

Singapore's first Art Biennial has opened its doors. Artists from 38 countries will present their works in a wide range of locations. The exhibition takes place under the motto "Belief". Bernd Musch-Borowska reports

The first biennial held in Singapore is being regarded as the most important cultural event of the year. The biggest and most comprehensive exhibition of contemporary art takes place under the motto "Belief", tying into the multi-cultural nature of the Southeast Asian city-state.

At a total of 19 different locations throughout the city, including not just museums and public institutions, but also unusual venues such as vacant buildings, churches, temples and mosques, artists from around the world explore the diversity of religious cultures in a globalized world.

The Japanese artistic director of the Singapore Biennale 2006 is Fumio Nanjo, deputy art director of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. He emphasizes the unique nature of this biennial: "Buddhist temples, Hindu temples, synagogues and mosques – we are presenting art in highly diverse locations, including the City Hall, the historical seat of the Parliament; Tanglin Camp, a former military barracks; and on Orchard Road, Singapore's most important shopping street. This way the exhibition locations represent very different centers of power."

Singapore as a cultural center

The biennial is a way for Singapore to present itself as a "global city", as a world of opportunities, creating a platform for dialogue between the international art scene and Southeast Asia. 95 artists from around the world are participating. Germany is represented by the Chemnitz-based artist Carsten Nicolai. Roger McDonald, curator of the Singapore Biennale 2006, enthusiastically reports:

"Carsten Nicolai is building an enormous sculpture called 'Syncron', an architectonic object the visitors can enter. It reflects the light of a laser that in turn is linked with sound. In other words, it's a work of art that can be experienced with the entire body."

Nearly 200 artworks are featured at the Singapore Biennale, including spectacular installations intended to reach people in their everyday life, in the stations of their daily routine.

McDonald also hopes for spectacular effects: "Some of the artworks are quite simply big. For example, Kusama Yayoi wraps trees on Orchard Road and hangs balls on them. No doubt that will be especially spectacular for the passersby. But actually I would like to get away from this way of viewing art and simply regard the work in itself."

Harmonious coexistence

The artistic confrontation with religious cultures in the centers of the various faiths definitely has the potential to cause problems. In Singapore it is considered unacceptable to provoke believers of any religion. The city-state at the southern tip of Malaysia is little larger than a big German city such as Berlin or Hamburg.

Here 4 million people with different religions, languages and cultural traditions live peacefully together. The government places high priority on harmonious coexistence between the different ethnic and religious groups, and would immediately intervene if this harmony were disturbed.

Yet there was no censorship and no restrictions, says artistic director Fumio Nanjo – on the other hand, the biennial's intent was not to provoke. "All biennials are subject to restrictions. Sometimes there is a conflict between the exhibition space and the work of art, sometimes there is a conflict between the artist and the organizer, sometimes the time frame is too tight. So there are restrictions everywhere."

The Singapore Biennale 2006 will be accompanied by several special exhibitions, including one presenting Southeast Asian art from the 1970s, when abstraction was both an expression of progressive attitudes and a way of critically examining the process of transformation in the post-colonial states of Southeast Asia.

Bernd Musch-Borowska

Translated from the German by Isabel Cole

Qantara.de

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