Singapore Biennale 2016 - An Atlas of Mirrors

What I took away from visiting just one area (the Singapore Art Museum) of the Singapore Biennale was the benefit of having conceptual ideas. 

In Chou Shih Hsiang's Good Boy, Bad Boy, Chou's art piece is made up of recycled engine oil in between two frames of perspex that forms a "painting". The petroleum stays in a liquid form and will never solidify, as a oil painting does. It formalises the relationship between himself, his family and the materiality of petroleum, and also considers the relationship of petroleum in the age in which we live. 

The concept of using the petroleum as a medium to replicate a painting is most unique. It is this kind of 'out of the box' thinking that can be applied to areas in graphic design. It makes for more creative design that will encourage the viewer to think and create an engagement between the two be it physical or mental. Conceptual thinking can definitely be applied to areas such as way finding. What ways could the designer tell the user to navigate the area that incorporates the buildings architecture for example or in areas such as user experience where new technologies such as VR could open up a multitude of creative ways the designer can communicate to the user. Having more conceptual ideas will help push the definition of what graphic design can be. 

Front Cover

Map of artists nationality

Map of the museums showing the Biennale's artwork 

It was also worth noting the branding used for the Singapore Biennale. Using Gotham as the official typeface gave the Biennale had a contemporary identity that not only aligns itself with the current trends in typography today, i.e a rounded sans serif, but would make it appeal to a younger demographic as well. This would hopefully get the younger generation of Singapore more interested in Art. The booklet received upon entry supplied the reader with a map of the where the artists come from, maps of where the artwork is displayed and other key information such as visitor & venue information and the overall descriptions of each artist. 

Visitor information

Artist descriptions

Titles of galleries

This will be beneficial in understanding the information needed to provide a visitor when designing for a museum. Furthermore the booklet also provided information on 'parallel projects' that run concurrently with the Biennale if visitors would like to see more. 

Each gallery with own title page and floor plan on next page

Marker 19 in green with Chou Shih Hsiungs work

Marker 19 in top right corner

With such a large range of artwork being displayed, having colour coded reference points for each artist inside the given booklet upon entry made it easier for the reader to know what areas housed which artists as the signage along the art museums were also colour coded.