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<\/p>\nIn a colonial-era building in Singapore, a video of the world\u2019s tallest indoor waterfall at Jewel Changi Airport is projected onto white curtains concealing a dark room. Inside, viewers sit on a floor mattress which feels like a fragile raft, surrounded by visceral footage of Thailand\u2019s Vajiralongkorn Dam.<\/p>\n
The work, Drifting Bodies (2025) by the architectural duo field-0, encapsulates the theme of the eighth edition of the Singapore Biennale, called Pure Intention. \u201cThe idea is that intention is not the whole story,\u201d says Selene Yap, a co-curator of the Biennale. \u201cSystems can generate a certain kind of afterlife, and there are side effects.\u201d While the waterfall impresses, it also has consequences, she adds. The work uncovers how Singapore imports hydropower through transnational infrastructure, including the Vajiralongkorn Dam, whose construction has displaced Thailand\u2019s indigenous Karen hill tribe, forcing many to live in floating homes on the reservoir.<\/p>\n
Just as viewers move beyond the spectacle of the waterfall\u2014a symbol of Singapore\u2019s polished efficiency\u2014the Biennale exposes the hidden personal narratives behind various systems, exploring what the curators describe as \u201cthe incidental and peripheral\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c[In Singapore] we tend to promise some form of clarity, coherence and orderly progression. But the works assembled for the Biennale offer a preview into something that is more uncongealed or incoherent,\u201d says Yap, who collaborated with curators Hsu Fang-Tze, Ong Puay Khim and Duncan Bass.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2006, the Biennale is organised by the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and commissioned by the country\u2019s National Arts Council. While previous editions of the event have concentrated works in SAM, this year more than 100 works are spread across five neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n
The Biennale is billed as a signature event of SG60, Singapore\u2019s citywide 60th anniversary celebration. \u201cIt didn\u2019t occur to us as a nation-building project,\u201d Yap says, though ideas of place-making and civic identity linger subtly in the background. Yap stresses the significance of engaging with venues across the city, and the chief curator at SAM, Shabbir Hussain Mustafa, similarly describes Singapore itself as a \u201ccollaborator\u201d of the event.<\/p>\n
Works are embedded in a diverse range of sites, from vernacular spaces such as shopping malls, to early public housing at Tanglin Halt and former colonial grounds, such as Fort Canning Park.<\/p>\n
Deliberately open ended, the amorphous title Pure Intention embraces a litany of themes which ripple throughout the show, including invisible systems of control, resistance, ecology, war and colonialism. The cluster of video works (including Drifting Bodies) in the Wessex Estate\u2014a former colonial residential enclave for British military families\u2014is perhaps the strongest. While there is little connective tissue between works at other sites, here the underlying maritime themes and stories of island communities navigating displacement and erasure unite the pieces.<\/p>\n
On the ground floor, the Puerto Rican artists Allora & Calzadilla\u2019s Under Discussion (2004) shows a fisherman\u2019s son sitting on an upturned conference table turned motorboat, navigating a historic fishing route around Vieques, a Caribbean island once used by the US Navy as a weapons-testing range. Through an absurdist approach, the artists explore the idea of individual agency amid loss of sovereignty.<\/p>\n
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The Filipino Superwoman X H.O.M.E. Karaoke Living Room by Eisa Jocson is a makeshift karaoke lounge that puts the spotlight on the often difficult lives of Filipino domestic workers<\/p>\n
Courtesy Singapore Art Museum<\/p>\n
Upstairs, in a video, Seaweed Story (2022), a choir of elderly haenyeo women\u2014Korean free divers known for reaching the ocean floor to collect edible seaweed\u2014sing a solemn ballad. The work by the visual research group ikkibawiKrrr reflects the resilience of an aging community whose traditions are disappearing. The artists, who spent nearly two years on Jeju Island with haenyeo women, also worked with them to make playful seaweed wall reliefs.<\/p>\n
This community-engaged approach extends beyond the works in Wessex Estate. The Filipina artist Eisa Jocson, for instance, worked with the migrant worker rights group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) to hold workshops for Filipino foreign domestic workers (known colloquially as \u201chelpers\u201d). They chose personal anthems celebrating their dignity, and Jocson helped them to create accompanying music videos. What resulted is The Filipino Superwoman X H.O.M.E. Karaoke Living Room (2025), a makeshift karaoke lounge screening the videos in a shop unit in Lucky Plaza mall\u2014a gathering place for Filipino foreign domestic workers. Although the wall text mentions these workers\u2019 \u201cdisplacement and sacrifice\u201d, it treads carefully and is not overly critical, even though migrant workers often face marginalisation and mistreatment.<\/p>\n
The Biennale\u2019s strength therefore lies not in confronting socio-political issues, but in moments like Jocson\u2019s work, which spark dialogue with local sites. The works at Raffles Girls\u2019 School is another example\u2014Bandung-based Japanese artist Kei Imazu\u2019s monumental paintings explore the deception and violence of Japan\u2019s occupation of Indonesia. They are particularly resonant given that the the school\u2019s former campus was the headquarters of the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, during war years.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the institutional venues, such as the National Gallery Singapore and SAM\u2019s industrial space in Tanjong Pagar Distripark, lack potency and impact. SAM\u2019s ground floor is stuffed with so many disparate works that it dilutes the viewing experience. This was a similar case with the exhibition\u2019s 2022 edition, confoundingly titled Natasha, which filled two floors of SAM with largely underwhelming works.<\/p>\n
As the Biennale continues to find its footing, it is worth noting that the country\u2019s contemporary art scene is still young. \u201cThe Biennale is often described as a global format, but in Singapore, we recognise that it plays a very local role,\u201d Yap says. Given this context, placing art beside spice market vendors, hair parlours, Chinese medicine shops and a caf\u00e9 serving nasi lemak (a popular Malay rice dish) makes sense. Instead of boldly challenging the status quo, this is a quiet Biennale that shares deeply personal stories and pays homage to conversations and rhythms that already exist.<\/p>\n