Satellite shows at Singapore Biennale

TANJONG Pagar Distripark (TPD) is abuzz with the newly-opened Singapore Biennale 2022 art show. But if you’re heading there in the next few weeks, don’t forget to check out other shows exhibited within the same Blk 39 Keppel Road building. These shows won’t run for as long as the Biennale, so it’s best to catch them soon.

Travel Agency A+ Works Of Art #01-05

This exhibition titled Travel Agency appears almost as a mini-Malaysian Biennale next to the Singapore Biennale. It is a showcase of 11 notable Malaysian artists, all tackling various aspects of life in Malaysia, from its culture to its politics. The show is mounted by A+ Works Of Art, a Kuala Lumpur-based gallery founded by Joshua Lim, and runs only till Nov 6.

There are several notable works here, including Minstrel Kuik’s highly-charged and political installation and wall sculptures, commenting on what she perceives as the complex and fractious history of nation-building in Malaysia. Izat Arif parodies his country’s status symbols (such as coats of arms and ornamental cloths) by recreating them using cheap linoleum. Liew Kung Yu challenges Malaysia’s Vision 2020 (a lofty national development goal set by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1991) with a collage of contradictory images that include ordinary Malaysians queuing for their vaccine shots at the height of the pandemic.