From 27 May 2023 to 31 March 2024, the highly anticipated Children’s Biennale by National Gallery Singapore is returning for its 4th edition.
Venue: National Gallery of Singapore
Dates: 27 May 2023 - 31 May 2024
Admission: Free with ticketed programmes
Set to spark conversations around the pressing issues of today, the 4th edition of the Children's Biennale returns to the National Gallery of Singapore from 27 May 2023 to 31 March 2024 and uses questions such as "what kind of world do we live in today, and what kind of world would you like to livein?" to craft its theme of ‘Let’s Make a Better Place’.
Families can explore 11 new artworks by international artists that spotlight four core values: Care, Collaborate, Imagine and Respect for free.
Exhibitions for Children and Families
Each artwork is tied to one of the four core values and leverages artistic concepts to bring to the fore the relevant issues in an easy-to-understand manner for children.
The Biennale continues to offer families an immersive experience that invites open communication, creativity, and reflection about the future, and aims to inspire children to take an active role in shaping a better world for themselves and others.
Featuring Online Elements
Building on the success of its 2021 phygital format, the 2023’s edition of the microsite will showcase four games, each inspired by a core value, providing children from all over the world an opportunity to learn and discover through play.
Online visitors can look forward to playing with light and shadow, creating their own island filled with animals and music, and solving a detective mystery at a fictional art museum—inspired by imagine, respect and care respectively.
Combining the Online and On-site Experience
Online and on-site visitors can take part in a game titled "A Curious Connection", providing a unique and interactive way for visitors to collaborate with anyone in the world. This innovative experience requires two players to participate, one online and one on-site.
The online player is presented with an untitled artwork from the Gallery’s collection and is challenged to imagine a title for it using four words. The on-site player, who is physically present at the Gallery’s Padang Atrium, must then use the title provided by the first player as inspiration to draw their own artwork.
An On-site My Biennale Buddy
Visitors can also look forward to an exciting addition – My Biennale Buddy. This booklet provides further details about each artwork, the artists, programmes, and thought-provoking questions that children can use to deepen their understanding of each core value.
My Biennale Buddy is equipped with interactive features, such as a comprehensive map that aids visitors in navigating the festival, inviting them to collect stamps after visiting each artwork and eventually redeem a complimentary souvenir at the Visitors Services Counter upon collecting all 10 stamps. Children can also design their own character, which will come to life and interact with the artworks through Augmented Reality Activation.
Selected Artworks
HUTAN - Koh Seow Chuan Concourse Gallery | Level B1 | Supreme Court Wing
An immersive space suitable for toddlers, inspired by the Tree of Life and the forests of Southeast Asia to demonstrate the connective cultural and spiritual notions of nature and being. Children are invited to journey through the space, engaging with sensorial experiences including light-up mushrooms and a dynamic, evolving soundscape that uses recordings of visitors in the space.
Can you see the forest for the trees? - The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium Anteroom | Level B1 | City Hall Wing
Made up of repurposed textiles and recycled materials, this artwork invites children to care for communities who are affected by landfills. Children can participate in the making of this artwork by creating and attaching their own embroidered sculptures using materials available.
SAMA-SAMA (TOGETHER) | Opposite Keppel Centre for Art Education | Level 1 | City Hall Wing
This artwork brings forth the joys of childhood through the perspective of a
mother (or a parent). Visitors are invited to create artworks inspired by their favourite memories, build and spend time in a fort and to draw quirky portraits of themselves and their loved ones. Each activity invites parents and carers and children to experience her work by making memories through art making and interactive play together.
We Move This City - City Hall Foyer | Level 1 | City Hall Wing
This artwork incorporates the use of moving visuals and soft larger-than-life tetris blocks. The work is inspired by people being on the move–on the road and public transport—and even features its very own MRT cabin. The work invites
children, including toddlers to imagine vehicles and modes of transport of the future.
Tide - City Hall Foyer | Level 1 | City Hall Wing
Simulating the movement of the tide, Tide uses marine debris collected from coastlines of Singapore by non-profit groups like Our Singapore Reefs to draw attention to the dangers of pollution and the harm it causes to the environment.
When I Am With You - Padang Atrium | Level 1 | Supreme Court Wing
When I am With You is inspired by intertidal explorations at Changi Beach. The work invites children to walk through, feel, connect, and identify with marine life, learning to respect the creatures that call the intertidal areas home.
I Love You - Supreme Court Foyer | Level 3 | Supreme Court Wing
Explore the artwork with the aim to encourage interpersonal collaborations, allowing children to understand empathy, acceptance (more so
than tolerance) and harmony in their diverse environments. Children are invited to reflect on how they can show love to another through an art making activity and are encouraged to display their creations in the space.
Compound -Padang Atrium | Level 1 | City Hall Wing
The idea of distorting and skewing what we think of as real objects will tap into the innate sense of curiosity and their seemingly endless questioning of the world around them. In Compound, the artist was inspired by scenes of the home, and invites visitors to view and experience the sculpture from different perspectives to identify what they can see.
The Magic Forest - Opposite Keppel Centre for Art Education | Level 1 | City Hall Wing
The Norway institution presents The Magic Forest, which features artwork by children that responds to the theme of the ‘environment around us’. Visitors can admire the display of art, create their own pieces at the activity table, and contribute to the forest's growth.
Programmes
Families can also expect a series of programmes happening throughout the Biennale! Here's a selection of what's happening as part of the Biennale's opening.
- Children’s Choral Performance by Voices of Singapore, Sat–Sun 27–28 May | 2.30–3pm, 4–4.30pm | Level B1 Padang Atrium | For all ages | Free
- Soundmakers by LittleCr3atures®, Sat 27 May, 2 Dec, 16 Mar 2024 | 2–2.30pm, 3–3.30pm, 4–4.30pm | Former Supreme Court Wing, Level B1, Koh Seow Chuan Concourse Gallery | Ages 6 and below | $5 per adult- child pair
- Rhodo!: A series of interactive encounters by Five Stones Theatre, Sat 3 Jun, 2 Sep, 2 Dec, 9 Mar 2024 | 2-3pm, 4-5pm | Various locations | For all ages | Free, no registration required
Visit https://web.nationalgallery.sg/#/gallery-passes to sign-up for ticketed programmes.
