Making a personal connection
ART can be intimidating. Which is why the organisers of this year’s Singapore Biennale have decided to put a friendly face – or rather, name – to it: Natasha.
Most biennales are given titles or themes, but the organisers want Natasha, the main events of which will take place between Oct 16 this year and March 19 next year, to be perceived in a slightly different way.
Artist, curator and publisher Ala Younis, one of its four co-artistic directors, says: “Naming can produce a sense of familiarity or intimacy, and this is important for a large-scale event such as the biennale as it encourages a connection on a personal level.”
This will be the seventh edition of Singapore Biennale, organised by the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and commissioned by the National Arts Council (NAC).
There will be more than 50 artists and collaborators from countries including Germany, India, Jordan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and the Netherlands.
Younis, 47, who is from Jordan, adds: “With Natasha, our audiences are no longer just passive observers that are engaged in an artwork’s final form, but rather honoured as active participants that help us bring the biennale to life.”
The collaborative work of Singapore’s Heman Chong and the Netherlands’ Renee Staal, titled The Library Of Unread Books, will invite the audience to interact by borrowing donated unread books, while Singapore’s Zarina Muhammad will stage her immersive work at Lazarus Island and St John’s Island.
The biennale will feature not only visual artists, but also musicians, writers, researchers, academics and art professionals.
Italian artist and writer Valentina Desideri and Brazilian artist Denise Ferreira da Silva will bring their ongoing studio process, which is about collaborative studying and experimenting with different tools for reading and healing.
SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark will host the opening exhibition, which will feature art across two levels. Other unusual venues include Sentosa Cove and Yan Kit Playfield, the former Yan Kit Swimming Complex, as well as regional libraries in Tampines, Jurong and Woodlands.
Apart from Younis, there are three other co-artistic directors – Binna Choi from South Korea and the Netherlands, Nida Ghouse from India and June Yap from Singapore. All are art practitioners or work in art institutions.
Choi, 45, who is also director of Casco Art Institute in the Netherlands, says naming the biennale is “an artistic act”. It was a spontaneous decision, she adds, noting that Natasha is a popular name in many countries, including South Korea and those that her co-artistic directors come from.
While other names were considered, Choi says: “It was important we chose a female name.”
She cites Israeli artist, writer and psychoanalyst Bracha L. Ettinger, whose matrixial theory proposes an unconscious feminine or maternal space in all genders as they all emerged from a woman’s womb.
“Every single person, whether you are male, female or non-binary, has a deep relationship with (a woman) as you shared a body.”
Tickets for the biennale are on sale now, with a two-for-one early-bird promotion until Sept 30. – The Straits Times/asia News Network