Change Agents

The Singapore Biennale 2019 will also present site-specific commissions never before seen on the biennale circuit, including Malaysian artist Sharon Chin’s In the Skin of A Tiger: Monument to What We Want (Tugu Kita, 2019), a large-scale installation featuring fabric from discarded political flags; Myanmar artist Min Thein Sung’s Time: Dust (2017-2019), where seemingly mundane objects or scenes are infused with the potent properties of magic and morals; London-based Céline Condorelli's Spatial Composition 13 (2019) of "support structures" that hold the archives of five artists and inviting visitors to sit down; and Singaporean artist Dennis Tan’s Many Waters to Cross (2019), which explores the making of the kolek, a traditional timber racing yacht that was once a common sight along Singapore’s coasts.

(Related: What To Do In November 2019: Attend Singapore Biennale, Watch The Sweeney Todd Musical And More)

Other works include Reincarnations (Hopea Sangal and Sindora Wallichii, 2019) by Thai artist Ruangsak Anuwatwimon, who examines the resurrection and protection of extinct or endangered species through the use of science and technology; and National Language Class: Our Language Proficiency, a video installation by Malaysian artist Okui Lala, who looks at the complexity of multilingualism.

“Artists always respond to things happening around them and to the context that has shaped what they can do as creative agents. Geography is only one aspect. Geopoetics is another. As the place makes the art, the art makes the place through rearticulation in a creative form that gives rise to a range of possibilities: interpretation, speculation, critique, appropriation, and so on,” explains Flores, who is an art studies professor at the University of the Philippines and curator of the Vargas Museum in Manila.

It is only natural that Flores’ roles as art historian and academic have informed his curatorial approach to the Singapore Biennale. “As an art historian, I value the history of past efforts to create form and to deeply reflect on what those efforts mean and how they inform the present and the future”. As such, the line-up this year also includes artists whose artistic practices lie on the threshold between the modern and contemporary such as late Filipino‑American artist Alfonso Ossorio, who is known for his distinct abstract expressionist work as well as inter‑media Congregations series derived from found objects and detritus.

(Related: Song-Ming Ang, Venice Biennale Artist, On The Definition Of "Music For Everyone")

What is also interesting to note is that Flores leads a team of six curators from independent and institutional backgrounds, all born in the 1980s and early ’90s, and whom we refer to as millennials—considered the most influential generation today. Citing this as a conscious decision, Flores believes that “young curators should curate the biennale of their time. They also bring to the process a distinct intelligence and intuition. There’s so much to learn from them. They have inherited a world not entirely of their making, and now they are remaking a world not entirely for their taking”.

And with the SAM and SAM at 8Q buildings closed for renovations, this year’s Singapore Biennale will take place across various locations, including the National Gallery Singapore and Gillman Barracks. So how can visitors approach their visit? Flores shares this tip: “I would encourage them to explore the city in the spirit of Amanda Heng, and renew their experience with Singapore by walking, getting lost and finding places.”