Strictly business!!!!!: Singapore Biennale

We visited the Singapore Biennale @ Old Kallang Airport today! This was one really engaging exhibition because I felt that every hidden meaning was so thought-provoking. I also think that the contemporary ideas are what kept me especially interested. However, our tour guide was constantly spoon-feeding information to us, disallowing us to form our own understanding of the works. But I'm sure everyone still managed to have some of our own first-impressions/interpretations, such as certain feelings. For example, once we stepped into the room of "Through a Glass Darkly" by Charles Sandison, there was already a sense of overwhelming darkness, and the spewing words built up the sense of foreboding. The guide asked us a few questions here and there to stimulate our responses (though we mostly kept them to ourselves) as well.

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Here are some works that caught my attention:

Deutsche Scheune (German Barn) by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset

Photos courtesy of Elmgreen & Dragset

This was the one I disliked the most hahahah because I really couldn't stand the stench of the hay. Of course I was mesmerized by the concept - a barn in the hangar. I did some research and learnt that it is typical of the two wacky artists to take things out of their context and place them in another. Just like in this work, where a commonly-seen barn in Germany, is brought into Singapore, a country with hardly any sign of agriculture. It was really an eyeopener for me, though I was seriously disgusted by the taxidermied goat (taxidermy= mounting dead animals for display). Another work of theirs, not in this exhibition: 'Prada store' in the middle of a desert! Check it out here!

Public Intimacy by Charles LaBelle

I really liked this series because of how intricate every detail was, every line, every curve every dark and light tone. I'm the kind of person who will probably never be able to achieve something like this, but ultimately, this work was inspiring. I especially enjoyed the fact that he did a series on Singapore's big and small buildings, ranging from the well-known Esplanade to a commonsight 7-11 branch that people don't usually pay much attention to. Yet in his drawings, he takes note on every single detail (see below), even up till the interior --- snack machines and cashier.