With a short stay in Seoul in between, I recently visited Singapore and Gwangju, both with the aim to check out the respective current Biennale. The one in Singapore was the first ever, and the Gwangju Biennale celebrates with the 6th event its 10th anniversary. Not only the two events' histories, but also in other respects both Biennales are quite contrasting.
The theme in Singapore is "Belief". In reference to the actual situation of the city state in which multiple races, religions and languages coexist, artistic director Nanjo Fumio chose to adopt a straightforward theme. A unique characteristic was the choice of exhibition venues. In addition to the City Hall, originally a courthouse, former army barracks, and on the street and in shops lining the central Orchard Road, exhibitions took place in a catholic church, an Armenian chuch, a Buddhist temple, a Hindu temple, a Jewish synagogue, an Islamic mosque, etc. While viewing artworks, visitors were automatically finding themselves on a sightseeing trip around town.
The number of participating artists amounted to a total of 95 individuals and units. With the help of an international network of curators, Nanjo, who previously had been in charge of the 1st Taipei Biennale and the 1st Yokohama Triennale (an associate curator at the latter), put together a well-balanced lineup of artists, including next to such big names as Jenny Holzer or Kusama Yayoi also young, up-and-coming artists from several different countries. As we're talking about large-scale exhibition, naturally there are both gems and rubbish. But even though some sharp-tongued foreign journalist commented that "compared to the strong venue, the works presented there are rather weak", among them were a number of really impressive displays that made clever use of the venue’s characteristic features, including installations by Jane Alexander, Liu Jianhua, and Kuribayashi Takashi. Strong were also the works of Carsten Nicolai and Bigert & Bergstrom, shown at the National Museum that is going to open officially in December. According to a local journalist, the fact that there finally is a place to exhibit works of contemporary art is most welcome.
Including various satellite events, the Biennale conveyed the impression of an extraordinarily well organized event. For an international art show staged in Asia, I think this one deserves to be called a success, especially since this is the very first time! In the years since 2004, Singapore’s GDP has grown rapidly by 7.5% and 6.7% respectively (according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore), and for 2006 experts are again talking about an expected rate of 7.1%. Against the backdrop of such favorable economic situation, the anual meeting of the IMF and World Bank is taking place between September 11 and 20, during which another approximately 16,000 visitors from 184 countries are expected to flock to Singapore. Perfectly timed in this respect, the government has pumped a huge budget into the Biennale, obviously with the aim to make diplomatic use of it as evidence of a cultured nation (not unlike the Rokumeikan — literally "Deer Cry Pavilion" — in Meiji era Japan). An official of the National Arts Council explained in fact, "we are not thinking at all about covering the expenses with the revenue of ticket sales."
As this event battling for a country’s prestige is being staged in one of the best-controlled nations in Asia, it’s only natural that everything is in perfect order. However, every rose has its thorn, and according to officials, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts espressed a couple of forceful "desires" concerning some of the rather politically inspired works to be shown, including contributions by Jane Alexander and others. Aida Makoto’s "Video of a man calling himself Binladen staying in Japan" was de facto only screened after a part ridiculing Japanese prime minister Koizumi Junichiro was erased. Also, native journalist claim that prior information was not sufficiently communicated to the regional society. The amount of information will no doubt increase after the event, but in a small community of just 4 million people, that is not really used to facing contemporary art and that doesn't even have any serious art magazine, it’s certainly not that easy to allow art itself to take root (prior to the Biennale). In this sense, the launch of a Singapore edition of the Australian urban culture magazine "Broadsheet" is absolutely good news.
The theme in Gwangju was "Fever Variations", promoting a head-on approach to explore and pursue the identity of Asia in the age of globalism. Different from the Singapore show, here the exhibits were presented chiefly in the main venue, and the majority of artist came from all across Asia, many of them now based in other parts of the globe. Curators from overseas that were invited to the opening commented that, "compared to the previous two installments, the exhibition methods have become much more professional this time!" Nonetheless, from the side of the participating artists there are also expressions of dissatisfaction, accusing the management of not giving unified orders, complaining about the badly organized construction work, or explaining the sudden "professional" impression with the fact that it was just far too bad last time.
With the exception of a few purely concept-ruled displays, the exhibited works didn't look at all pale against those in Singapore. A clear minus factor in Gwangju, however, is certainly the lack of tourist resources. Asked about the expected number of foreign visitors, artistic director Kim Hong-hee only stated, "we can't give you concrete figures, we just hope that there will be more than last time." Considering that visitors from overseas have to travel via Seoul, and that accommodation facilities in Gwangju are limited, the disadvantages in comparison with Singapore are undeniable.
Nanjo claims that "international exhibitions are primarily for the local people" and "the contents of a Biennale must not follow interests of tourism", and Kim basically agrees with this opinion (see "ART iT", December 2006 edition). Tobias Berger, one of the associate curators of the Shanghai Biennale, asserts, "Biennials are not done for the international curator jet set. If you visit a biennial, sure you want to show off to your colleagues but it doesn't matter if some artwork was shown three times in the last year at Sydney, Venice and Istanbul, if you show it in Gwangju not that many people have seen it before" (in "Art AsiaPacific" vol. 50). Symposia with curators from various countries held immediately after the opening of the Gwangju Biennale were discussing such questions as "What is a good Biennale?" and "Whom is an international art show for?"
Quite in contrast with Nanjo’s theory, the Singapore Biennale seems more attractive to foreign tourists than to the local community. The situation is of course different in countries that depend on tourism and those that don't, but in an age where travelling from one country to another is virtually easy, it’s simply impossible to ignore "cultural tourism" as an option. An international exhibition that presents contemporary art, which is required to reflect "art historical knowledge" and "contextual understanding", to a broad public, has little choice but to invent and adopt advanced popular enlightenment strategies, including such things as festive elevation. This applies not only to Singapore and Gwangju, but anybody involved with international art events should give this issue a thought.
Ozaki Tetsuya / Editor in chief / REALTOKYO