SINGAPORE BIENNALE
Open Call for Artists in Singapore to Submit their Portfolios
The first Singapore Biennale organized by National Arts Council and National Heritage Board will open in September 2006 under the artistic direction of Fumio Nanjo and the curatorial team. This will be the first major international contemporary art exhibition in the Southeast Asian region featuring works by artists from around the world. As one open element of the curatorial research process, we invite artists working in Singapore to send us their files/portfolios. Students are also welcome to send files. All files sent will be looked at by the curatorial team of the Biennale. A selection will be made from the files sent in and several artists may be invited to meet with the curators for further discussions and possible inclusion in the Biennale. Conditions for the open call: All materials should be sent by post to the Singapore Biennale Secretariat, National Arts Council Singapore. Materials should adhere to the following conditions for ease of storage and fairness:- One A4 size file with images and information about your works or practice.- Any video or other media work should be sent in on DVD format only.- Proposals for works or projects should also take the above formats, if you wish to make new proposals.- Your CV or contact details should be included in the file.- Any texts and information should also be included. Please note that submissions will not be returned. They will be kept by the Biennale Secretariat and enter into a Biennale archive Files must be sent in by July 15 2005.
Artists will be notified of
further meetings with the curators between 20thto 31stJuly2005.Meetings with
selected artists will be held in and after August 2005.
Contact
Low Kee Hong
General Manager, Singapore Biennale
Singapore Biennale Secretariat
392 Havelock Road, #03-05/06 Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore
DID: +65-6733 6984 Fax: +65-67362092
Email: Type NAC_Sbiennale and followed by @nac.gov.sg
Artistic Director Fumio Nanjo Helms Singapore Biennale
2006
Singapore Biennale 2006
8 September to 12 November 2006
Singapore’s first visual arts biennale, Singapore Biennale 2006 (SB2006), will
be curated by the highly accomplished Fumio Nanjo. Nanjo is internationally
reputed for having headed the programming and adjudication of major art events
throughout the world. Commissioner for the Taipei Biennale in 1998 and Japan
Pavilion at the 1997 Venice Biennale, he co-founded the Yokohama Triennale in
2001. Nanjo was also a jury member for the Turner Prize by Tate Gallery (1998)
and Artes Mundi Prize in Wales (2004), and will adjudicate for the prestigious
Leon d’Or Prize at the Venice Biennale this year. Nanjo is the Deputy Director
of Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum and lectures at the Keio University in Japan. As
Artistic Director of SB2006, Nanjo will chart the direction and programming for
the iconic event that will boost Singapore’s position as a global visual arts
hub.
“The Singapore Biennale marks another milestone in the rich history of
Singapore’s visual arts development. Since the era of our pioneering artists,
our artists have captured the imagination of the international arts community,
receiving invitations to participate in prestigious visual art biennales and
events. Today, over 500 exhibitions are held in Singapore every year. Visuals
arts activity and appreciation here have reached a level of sophistication that
will be further enhanced with the Biennale,” says Lee Suan Hiang, Chairman of
the Singapore Biennale 2006 Steering Committee, who is also the Chief Executive
Officer of the National Arts Council. He adds, “Fumio-san has extensive
experience in curating, commissioning, as well as critiquing several key arts
projects in Asia and other parts of the world. He also has excellent
understanding and knowledge of Southeast Asian culture and will be able to
relate the role and importance of contemporary art practices in the region to
the global world, thus creating an impactful and unique Biennale.”
SB2006 is also the first such major international contemporary art event of its
kind in Southeast Asia. Organised by the National Arts Council and National
Heritage Board, SB2006 provides the platform for exchange, dialogue and
presentation of international art practices, with a focus on those from and of
Singapore and Asia. The Biennale will encompass a conglomeration of multi-venue
visual arts exhibitions, performances, symposiums, lectures and workshops
programmed such that the event will be accessible to multiple levels of
audience. It aims to draw interest from top local, regional and international
artists, art historians, critics, and practitioners, arts and cultural
organisations, museums, corporations and governments, as well as build new
audiences and participation across ages and demographics.
Setting the Biennale itself apart from other established events throughout the
world, Nanjo will profile artists operating in and from the equatorial belt
between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn and beyond. Several
important components pertinent to the rich and diverse cultural and historical
development within Singapore and ASEAN will be presented. The event seeks to
reposition the dreams, desires, conflicts and catastrophes found throughout
Central Africa, Middle-east, South Asia to Southeast Asia, Pacific Ocean and
South America, highlighting the artistic practices and discourses that are
relevant to the multiplicities of cultural morphing, examined in tandem with the
currency of economic flux and influences within each region. These creative and
innovative schemes of artistic practices will be introduced to the international
arts circuit and audience to initiate further dialogues and documentation of the
diasporal effect of globalisation.
Together with his team of curators, Nanjo will locate exhibitions and projects
in multiple sites within the city and beyond and create a comprehensive
educational, public, outreach and children’s program with artists in residence.
SB2006 will place Singapore’s contemporary visual arts development on the world
map, creating new opportunities for Singapore artists, curators and visual arts
businesses, and new content for our arts scene as well as for the international
art world. It will stimulate broader demand for visual arts in Singaporeans,
further cultivating and elevating their appreciation for contemporary art and
enhancing Singapore’s cultural image as a progressive and attractive
cosmopolitan city to live, work and play in.
SB2006 will coincide with Singapore 2006 - Global City: World of Opportunities,
an Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.
The Annual Meetings is an important forum for international cooperation where
representatives of the 184 member countries unite to discuss the course of
global economic development and challenges facing the world today.
Please refer to the following annexes for more information:
Annexes - Statement from the Artistic Director Fumio Nanjo
- Profile of Artistic Director
- Profiles of Curators: Roger Christopher McDonald PhD (Japan), Eugene Tan
(Singapore),
Sharmini Pereira (Sri Lanka/UK) and Ahmad Mashadi (Singapore)
Dear Friends,
The Singapore Biennale Secretariat would like to invite you to Encounters 02;
the 2nd in a series of public 'get-together' sessions that will allow for
interaction between the Singapore Biennale 2006 curatorial team and members of
the art community in Singapore.
Encounters 02
Date: 27th August 2005, Saturday
Venue: The Auditorium
LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts
90 Goodman Road
Time: 11am to 1230pm
Bus Stop Service Nos.
12, 14, 30, 196, 158 & CSS 608
Drinks and Light Refreshments will be provided
At Encounters 02, we hope to engage the Singapore Art Student Community and
inform them about the upcoming Singapore Biennale 2006. We hope to introduce the
place of curators within the context of exhibition circuits and large scale
events like Biennales, as well as their relationship with the development of
young emerging artists.
The session will also address what the Singapore Biennale can mean for art
students as well as introduce how they can be a part of the Biennale through our
volunteer programme.
The event will be facilitated by Mr Venka Purushothaman from LASALLE-SIA College
of the Arts, and the attending panel will comprise of members of the Singapore
Biennale Curatorial Team, led by Artistic Director, Fumio Nanjo and Mr Low Kee
Hong, General Manager for the Singapore Biennale 2006.
We look forward to your attendance to make this event a success!
Cheers,
The Singapore Biennale Secretariat
The Adelphi
1Coleman Street
#05-06
Singapore 179803
Tel: (65) 68379270
Fax: (65) 68373654
