I love Singapore Pavilion.

The feedback that we have been getting has been extremely positive. Many people have coined the Singapore pavilion "The best thing in the Biennale". Many have returned with friends to share it's experience. It is a real honor to have been part of this project...

I leave with you with some thoughts from the press;

http://www.artearti.net/magazine/articolo/estremo_oriente_quando_larte_sbarca_in_laguna/

http://www.axisweb.org/dlForum.aspx?ESSAYID=18163

http://www.revuenoire.com/

http://mistermotley.nl/Mister_Motley/2011/06/09/Bi_nnale_van_Veneti__de_tips_van_mister_Motley/

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/15218/ho-tzu-nyen-singapore-pavilion-at-venice-art-biennale-2011.html

http://derstandard.at/1304554313078/Schatzsuche-in-der-Lagune-von-Venedig

http://roughversion.blogspot.com/2011/06/top-ten-venice-biennale-2011.html

http://www.cultframe.com/2011/06/ho-tzu-nyen-padiglione-singapore-biennale-arte-venezi/

http://www.artearti.net/magazine/articolo/estremo_oriente_quando_larte_sbarca_in_laguna/

http://www.axisweb.org/dlForum.aspx?ESSAYID=18163

We are the eye of Graii.

The Venice Biennale is widely considered the white-hot centre of the Art world. Being the privileged few to have been selected to come here, we humbly present you some of our favorite pavilions and art works so that you may experience this prestigious event vicariously through us. Today, we are talking about the few works seen at the Arsenale.

FRANZ WEST. I love this dudes work. It's usually shocking, humorous, provocative… all at the same time. One piece that spoke to me especially was an artwork where he covers an old photograph with sticky tape. You can barely make out the image. It's like a painful memory where one physically tries to "mask" it out. Genius.

FABIAN MARTI. Sun Oh! A huge structure is built in the Arsenale space. At first you are amazed by it's architecture, then you realize, you are able to enter this structure! You follow this passage and you are led to a large screen showing an image of the great outdoors. Bellisimo!

HAROON MIRZA. The National Apavilion of Then and Now. Another structure that piqued my interest just by it's peculiar shape. You enter this white polygon and you are immediately shrouded in darkness! And shrouded not just by plain sight, but also shrouded from your sense of sound. Mounted on the interior walls of this structure are sound dampening devices that creates an illusion that you are in a vacuum. A black hole if you will, devoid of sound and sight. As you clamber your way into this "black hole", you will begin to notice the sound of electric static. You will then notice a ring of light getting brighter as the static gets louder and then suddenly, darkness! Silence! A dead, dark silence.

ELAD LASSRY makes one of my favorite films of the Biennale; Untitled(Ghost). It's a quirky, silent film about the ghost of a ballerina joining a troupe in this bizarre dance choreography. It's hauntingly beautiful! (Pun intended)

Another film I enjoyed thoroughly was SHAHRYAR NASHAT'S Factor Green. It's a fun little piece about a man opening a parcel in a museum and discovering a little green box! Beautiful use of space, music and projection.

One of the star attractions to the Arsenale is URS FISCHER'S wax sculptures. The beauty of the work is that the work is constantly changing because the work is, in its essence, a huge burning candle. Fischer reconstructed Giambologna’s The Rape of the Sabine Women in wax with another wax sculpture of a man (The curator?) staring at it. It was interesting to return to the artwork a couple of days later and find that the "Curators" head had fallen off as the candle burnt away.

Stay tuned for more updates of the 54th Venice Biennale soon! Till then… Arrivederci!

P-A-R-T-Why... Because we love you!

We decided to hold the most epic party last night at our apartment and invited everyone we knew in venice. Docents from other pavilions, friends of friends, university students we met at pubs and wandering artists. We dished up asian food to give the close to authentic Singapore experience. Regretfully, no char kway tiao and hainanese chicken rice, but we managed stir-fry vegetables and jiao zhi!

And like all good parties, we had candles, plenty of prosecco, the best mojitos and good conversation ranging from art to politics to oriental studies to plate tectonic movements to the evolution of languages to the semiotics of tango! At some point in the night, someone started to give tango lessons on the rooftop under the moonlight. Romantic indeed, but of course booze and complicated footwork always results in slapstick fun.

Some friends leaving the party last night commented that it was the best party they have gone to since the biennale started. We cannot agree more - good vibes and Freddy Mercury all round - one of those parties to be talked about for years to come.

Party Week

OMG! LOL! WTF! FTW! ETC!

What an AMAZING experience!

During the Vernissage period (which in lay men terms, refers to opening week of the Venice Biennale) everyone is holding a party!

We went to the opening of the Icelandic pavilion and it was a blast!

 

 

They had a guest DJ that was playing 80s disco remixes! Funny man! He would stop the music once in awhile and pick up his fugelhorn (or something like that) and rant about how awesome he was! It was funny because he wasn't really awesome at all, it was the irony that made him awesome, and it was because of this irony, that he is more awesome than you! OMG! LOL! WTF! The most awesome thing about him was his incredible moustache! It was orange…

 

The party later evolved to a full fledged, hipster concert! What, with drunken vocalists singing from an iPod, a new mother with her clueless child and many beautiful people with incredible moustaches and pretty summer dresses! It was a night to forget and remember in pieces

We ended the night in true Singaporean fashion and headed out for some supper! It was pizza night and the queue was long… But hey! We're Singaporeans! If there is queue then it must be the best! And if it's the best… DIE DIE MUST TRY! The pizza was AMAZING!!!! FANTASTIC!!! DAMN SHIOK!!!

We rolled back to the apartment on our fat bellies and said… "It is good."

The Seventh day, we rested.

When the clouds drft apart...

It didn't open with a bang. Instead, it was to low rumblings that raised the hairs on the nape of one's neck. And then a jolt from the thunderous drum beats escalating to a frenzied hacking of the drummer on screen.

The Singapore pavilion officially opened yesterday and the crowd was wild with excitement at the end of the 30 minutes audio-visual feast by Ho Tzu Nyen.

We laid out a scrumptious spread at the reception while the guests mingled and tried to meet the artist. It was well received and undoubtedly a success! Tzu Nyen commented that his job is finally done.

But for us (interns) it has only just begun…