Recap: Singapore Biennale 2013

 

With every art exhibition I go to, I always look forward to personal reflections that will follow. And so this Chinese New Year, I went AWOL for a bit (sorry guys!) but with a good reason – I went on a trip down south to visit friends and relatives for CNY, and also to visit the Singapore Biennale 2013 which was happening from 26 October 2013 to 16th February 2014.

Biennales are large exhibitions that are held every 2 years. And what I love about large art exhibitions is that they feature the work of many artists all packed into one place, although it may not be technically be in the same building. This can be due to the size of the installations, and the nature of it (whether it’s an outdoor, indoor; whether it needs for a more complex mechanism to run it, etc).

For Singapore’s 2013 Biennale, the exhibitions were spread out across the Bras Basah area, with one installation at Taman Jurong. There were 82 artists whose work were spread out across the venue, and Mr. T and I had so much fun tracking them all down with the help of the guidebook (it came with the entry ticket) that documented each and every work available. I loved the variety of the artists work shown this year, and I wanted to share some of my favorites:

Shieko Reto’s Waiting Room installation featured paper cut outs that mimic the waiting room of a slightly seedy transgender/cosmetic surgery waiting room through illustration. It echoes the many episodes of “waiting” that they have to undergo (family’s acceptance, confirmation of regular employment, and even into society). The social messages are further spread by the zines and pamphlets that Shieko illustrated herself, and forms a big part of the installation in its entirety.

Eko Prawoto’s Wormhole is a grand installation made out of bamboo that punctuates the front of the National Museum of Singapore. Resembling a series of mountains, it’s a landscape that Prawoto is familiar with in his homeland of Indonesia, and yet alien to Singapore.  Wormhole refers to the theoretical opening of a galaxy which allows one to traverse through time and space, as well as the insignificant passage through earth created by a burrowing earthworm. One is invited into the Wormhole, and in turn, are made to feel as though they’re part of the landscape – we are the worms. Through a glimpse of the outside world through the clouds and sun above, it offers shelter and respite, and a complete sensory experience from the modern world outside.

Jainal Amambing’s experience of growing up in a Rungus longhouse in Kudat, Sabah is illustrated in a collection of artworks entitled My Longhouse Story. Bold, bright and filled with textures, these paintings seem to also belong among the pages of a children’s book. There’s mischief and adventure, with sidekicks and pets thrown in for good measure.

Irwan Ahmett & Tita Salina’s Urban Play is a series of interventions in public spaces that the artists have devised by using the element of play to connect communities and individuals to respond to specific problems. Their work is one of my favorites! Although not an installation, their ideas were expressed mainly through various videos taken of their project, which took place in different places around Indonesia and Singapore. One example of this was how they started a ball of trash (I’m not kidding!) by taping all sorts of wrappers, tins, paper, etc with tape and got the community to participate by picking up the trash around their neighbourhood to add to this ball. It snowballed to a size of a van or a small truck! And the best part was how they rolled the ball on its journey through the small streets and eventually, rolled it onto a busy road, as if it had a life of its own. It was fantastic and inspiring on so many levels – particularly if you’re living in places where civic consciousness isn’t as far along as it should be; especially when trash is a glaring by-product of such an environment.

I also appreciated how the information was presented, especially the artists statement – which was done professionally (with I assume was done with the help of a copywriter/writer). It was brief and simple to understand, and really gave great context to a work that might otherwise not have been understood easily. There’s nothing worse (at least in my eyes!) than trying to decipher big words which can alienate people from understanding art.

Here’s our route (plus tips!):

  1. We bought the tickets at Singapore Art Museum (SAM), and immediately went to work there first. The Biennale was organized by SAM, so this is where most of the installations were located. The ticket also stated that entry to SAM and SAM at 8Q is only allowed on the day of ticket purchase.
  2. Next up we headed down the road to SAM @ 8Q. Then we walked past Waterloo Centre, before heading to the National Library to check out the installations there.
  3. Since we split our visit into 2 days, the next day we went to the National Museum of Singapore. The Biennale ticket allowed us entry to the permanent exhibitions within the places that held the installations, so we took some time to visit other exhibitions not associated with the Biennale. We also walked past Singapore Management University and Fort Canning Park too (which only held about 1 – 2 installations). Our last stop was at Peranakan Museum. The ones that we didn’t manage to visit were the installations at Tank Road and Our Museum @ Taman Jurong.

The Biennale is held from 26 October 2013 to 16th February 2014 (which means that this is the last week to catch it!), so if you haven’t made the tour already, I suggest you hop on over!

For more information, visit the Singapore Biennale website at www.singaporebiennale.org/‎.

SHARE WITH ME:

Have you paid the Singapore Biennale 2013 a visit? Which artwork or installation was your favorite, and why? If there’s a large exhibition that has created a deep impression, do share with us too in the comments below!

Image credits: select images of Shieko Reito, Eko Prawonto, and Jainal Amambing’s work were taken from the Singapore Biennale website.

Q+A: How to land that first job

Hi Amy!

I’m a budding young interdisciplinary illustrator/creative writing. Right now I am closing in on my final months at school and I’m worried about finding a job. What was your first professional job hunt experience like?

~ Alicia

Hi Alicia!

Congrats on your impending move up into the real world! I always tell my students that life after graduation is the best part about being in school – to which they’d have groans and moans about how difficult life out there is.

Funnily enough, I didn’t think in that terms. Not because I was rich or anything like that (I still lived with my parents then though – but I was on my own financially.) I just thought about what I wanted first and foremost, and it was a simple enough a goal: I wanted to be happy.

Being happy is such a broad term, so let’s break it down.

Before I was allowed to graduate as a landscape architect, we had to go on a 6-month internship at a landscape consultancy. I got my feet wet researching about plant selection and design, and was being given a crash course on how tedious meetings were. I told myself before I started the internship that whatever I chose to do after graduation would hinge on this 6 months of me giving it my all in the field. I didn’t hate being a landscape architect, but I wasn’t exactly ecstatic at the prospect of having to work on AutoCAD for the rest of my career.

And so I gave it my all – and what that meant was trying to be the best darn intern that company has ever seen. I asked the big boss to take me along for his meetings (he was stunned because I was the first one to ever ask), and I gamely took on site excursions under the hot sun just to rack up some experience.

At the end of the internship, I knew what I wanted.

And it wasn’t the path that I had went along for the past 6 months.

So before I graduated, I worked on a plan. I had decided that being a landscape architect wasn’t for me, and I was interested in publishing instead. Specifically, I wanted to be a magazine editor, so I was on the lookout for vacancies that started at the bottom rung of what seemed like an impossible ladder – an editorial assistant post. I love books and magazines, and the desire to be a part of a fast moving arena really helped make the scary jump.

I was lucky. I saw an ad for an editorial assistant position at a spa magazine (it was a decent, classy one) within a few weeks. The ad mentioned that they were looking for graduates within the communications and PR field, with at least 1-3 years of publishing experience.

I had none.

So here’s what I did:

#1. I made a case for what I could offer them, and gave it my all… in my cover letter.

I had to strategize. I knew that a big part of getting my foot in the door relied on my cover letter. So I started to research about cover letters, heading to the bookstore for samples of great resumes and cover letters, as well as doing my research online. I aimed to write a letter that conveyed my passion for writing, and research. I also tried to allay their fears – I told them that if I didn’t know something, you’d bet that I would find the answer, and I wasn’t afraid to work hard at it.

#2. I wasn’t afraid to go above and beyond what a resume/CV looks like

In addition to the cover letter that I tailored for the magazine, I also researched about health and wellness – two topics that I was really into at the time. I asked myself – why in heck would these people hire me just by looking at my letter? I had an AHA moment – I wouldn’t just send a letter and a resume (which was looking pretty empty at this point) I would send them a mock-up of an article, in which I wrote about new age fitness, and – get this – I didn’t just send it in as a text document. Oh no. I made it all fancy – I laid out the article in Microsoft Word as a series of images and text, just like how it would appear in a magazine.

#3. I took a bit of a price cut. [scary, and optional]

The cover letter, resume and mock-up worked. I had an interview! And I was so excited too – it was a small, close-knit team and I was eager to show them my enthusiasm, and I was even more prepared to learn a whole lot from the experience. And what surprised me most of all was that I was hired on the spot – apparently they’ve never met someone who had enthusiasm bubbling out of their ears! They negotiated a slight salary adjustment because I had no experience – but they told me that it would be adjusted as I proved my capabilities within a few months.

In instances like mine, I knew that once I had my foot in the door, that slight salary cut would be nothing compared to the experience that I would gain. Plus, I knew that I could negotiate the industry rate (or higher) when I went to another magazine (which I did.) I lucked out because it turned out really well – I had an exciting career in publishing, and worked my way up to editor in the end (in a different magazine, with a fair bit of twists and turns along the way, but that’s a story for another time).

The biggest takeaway from my experience that you can apply to your own job search is this:

#4. Don’t be afraid to take risks in pursuit of what you want.

Perhaps you don’t know what you want yet. Maybe you don’t know if you’re happier pursuing writing or illustrating; or even both at the same time. Do one at a time, and see how you feel about it. Most of the time, even if we don’t know what we want, we are sure of what we don’t want, and that in itself is a good stepping stone to find what fits.

It’s okay to not have things work out right from the start. And that’s where the fun is – trying to figure out your career, and in the process, figuring out what you really want to do.

SHARE WITH US:

What about you? What tips and advice do you have to offer Alicia? Tell us your story – we’d love to hear it!

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Got a question? Nothing’s too crazy, too serious or off limits – just send it in through our contact form and I’ll do my best to answer your most burning questions!

Kickstarter: Hello Ruby & Loving Vincent

HELLO RUBY

I’m a big fan of technology and I personally believe that along with ABCs and Legos, we should start to equip young minds with the fundamentals of programming that can act like building blocks for the future. So when I saw this Kickstarter campaign run by Linda Liukas, I was just so thrilled. Hello Ruby is a combination of her two loves: storytelling and technology. Her goal is to create a children’s book (that combines a storybook and activity book) that teaches programming fundamentals through stories and kid-friendly activities.

Having been to one of Linda’s Rails Girls workshop in Singapore a couple of years ago, I was impressed with the movement and initiative, and I’m really thrilled to see that she’s bringing it to the younger set.

Already the campaign has bypassed its initial target of USD$10,000 and is now still going strong past USD$100,000 (it just went up another $1,000 after I wrote this post!)

To support her campaign, click here!

LOVING VINCENT

If your research and readings about Vincent Van Gogh was limited to books and occasional documentaries, then you’re in for a treat. From BreakThru Films (an Oscar award-winning studio) comes the world’s first feature length painted animation about the master.

From its Kickstarter campaign:

[quote] What is truly groundbreaking about “Loving Vincent” is that every frame of the film is an oil painting on canvas, using the very same technique in which Vincent himself painted. And what makes it a great story to experience is the intriguing, tragic, and inspiring story of Vincent Van Gogh himself. [/quote]

To support this film, you can back its campaign here!