Singapore Biennale 2019: Every Step in the Right Direction

Boedi Widjaja’s conceptually charged practice engages deeply with his own lived experience of migration and diaspora, and reflects on the complexities of hybridity, travel and isolation.

The structure of this work, titled 'Black—Hut, Black—Hut' (2019), references the gap between ground and land in tropical and subtropical vernacular houses that are built on raised floors, such as the Javanese joglo, the Queenslander house and the Malay house, as well as the HDB void deck.

Key to the work is also its surface – rendered in concrete infused with salt, the salt will ‘bloom’ over time.

Min Thein Sung infuses seemingly typical objects or scenes with the potent properties of magic or allegory.

For SB2019, Min Thein Sung presents ‘paintings’ titled 'Time: Dust' (2017).

These paintings have come together into a shape and form through the dust that has collected and coalesced over time.

Temsüyanger Longkumer's practice deals with the concepts of history, memory, spirituality and ecology in relation to his Naga roots. The connection between culture and nature courses through his work, and he is keenly attuned to the decline of sensuality towards the environment and the lack of spiritual connection to nature today.

'Parallel Communes' is a series of terracotta sculptures.

Here, the artist conceives the human body as a microcosm of events in the universe by creating earthenware that takes an abstract shape, evoking human organs, flora or fauna.

'A Study on Endless Archipelagos' is an amalgamation of architectural elements from cities that Turkish artist Hera Büyüktaşcıyan lived and worked in over the years. For her, they represent particles of “restored memories.”

Anthropomorphised, the tiles have miniature bronze feet, suggesting a feeling of a burdened history moving in slow motion, floating on a sea of discrete memories, disconnected from time.

Intimate Apparitions' comprises commonplace objects that have been recomposed into something less familiar. Through these assemblages, Khairullah Rahim looks at a range of public and private spaces, such as the open field, gazebo, exercise corner and bedroom.

In doing so, he explores the adaptability and dual nature of these areas by the individuals or groups that use them. Concurrently, he considers how such spaces are imbued with powerful symbolic connotations when used by certain minority or non-mainstream communities.

For the Biennale, Maestro presents an installation consisting of a structure that holds over a hundred pieces of "capiz" (windowpane oyster) shells. The slightest breeze causes the capiz to rustle and move, resulting in a scope of sounds.

Nearby the structure are several white marble balls, with letters that spell “psst.” For Maestro, a dialogue arises from this moment of seeing, reading and imagining at the point of the mindful and sensitive encounter.