Singapore Biennale 2022: Challenges abound

THE seventh Singapore Biennale is complex, sprawling, ambitious, globally-plugged and community-conscious – but it mostly lacks the kind of visual spectacle that would draw visitors who are less accustomed to the ways of contemporary art. At times, it feels like a curator’s show for other curators, artists and academics.

Some works brim with ideas, strategies and possibilities on paper, but the manifestations of these ideas are less striking in the flesh. Other works are politically potent and germane to contemporary discourses, but engaging with them may depend on the visitor being up-to-date with the issues.

The Singapore Biennale 2022 is – in short – challenging for a layperson, with not many simple pleasures to be had.