BIENNALE SINGAPORE 2008: WONDER

1. Introduction

A: Objective
Festival and events play a part in the tourism industry. In order to gain real-life situational knowledge and understanding this subject, I have chosen to study the Singapore Biennale 2008 (SB2008).

This report will analyze the effectiveness of the event's marketing strategy. It will also evaluate SB2008's contribution to Singapore's tourism economy.

B: Methodology
Multiple visits were made to the Biennale to observe how the event was presented.

Other sources include feedback from the Chairman of the National Arts Council (NAC) as well as research from newspapers magazines and the internet.

C: Profile/background of chosen event

Organizer
SB2008 was organized by the NAC, a government council set up to lead the development of art in Singapore. The NAC aims to position Singapore as a global city of the arts - the Singapore Biennale is an integral part of this drive.

Profile & Background
The Biennale has always been presented in unique locales around Singapore. This year, SB2008 showcases artworks in 3 main venues - an iconic historical building of political significance, a disused military camp in the heart of the city and downtown waterfront precinct.

The inaugural Singapore Biennale 2006 (SB2006) was highly successful in that it prominently enhanced Singapore as a regional thought leader in the field of contemporary visual arts. It attracted more than 883,000 visitors from Singapore and travelers from all over the world.

The exhibition generated positive feedback from international media and art critics. It attained an audience reach of 103,000,000 with more than 1000 articles generated worldwide and an event website that clocked 1 million page views, which is evidence that the event was well promoted and distributed.
(Source:SB2006)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Evaluation of the Effective Use of Marketing Mix

I) The Event Product experience

This year, SB2008 aims to create surprises for visitors with the theme“WONDER”. The biennale is Singapore's largest contemporary visual arts exhibition featuring 137 artworks by 66 artists and art collectives at 3 main venues – City Hall, the South Beach Development, and the Central Promontory Site in Marina Bay.

Unusual ways have been created to exhibit art works from huge installations such as stunning light work and a sublime fog sculptures to media art and interactive works of local and foreign artists.

The format of SB2008 makes viewing the art works very interesting because the works are exhibited in spaces (indoor and outdoor), which are different from each other thus further creating a sense of individualism and uniqueness of each work and the artist.

The 66 artists who contributed to SB2008 are established and emerging artists from Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Americas. All works follow the theme of Wonder and offer apertures and prisms to infinite possibilities.

The 137 artworks aim to draw the audience to question, surprise, tantalize and challenge themselves – a process which the organizer dubs as “wonderment”. Visitors are opened to varied approaches of art - new media installations, drawings and sculptures, photography and video.

Fumio Nanjo, the biennale's artistic director, pointed out that wonder is the feeling of surprise and admiration caused by something beautiful and unexpected. ''To experience wonder is to open one's mind; wonder calls on us to question and be curious, to reach beyond the surface,'' he explained, adding, ''I hope the biennale creates some critical thinking; in the end, what is beauty and what is reality?''
(Extracted from The New York Times: “In Singapore, putting accent on beauty ART” - 3 Oct 2008: Refer to Appendix).

In order to create this experience, the artworks presented have to go through a very careful selection process to ensure that it is able to bring out the feeling of “wonderment”.

Based on my own experience, the experiences of those whom I went to the exhibition with and the people I met on the site, I feel the event reflects the theme well. I would often find myself staring at the art with so much awe that I actually do let my mind wander in wonder.

The production of this event encourages local artists and Singaporeans to be involved with the international community of art. It provides collaboration opportunities for local visual artists and arts business and an opportunity to cultivate deeper public engagement with the arts.

The question is, why such a small participative ratio of local artists? To clear this doubt, feedback was garnered from the Chairman of NAC, Singapore, Mr. Edmund Cheng:
Below: Lee, Jane (singapore) - Raw Canvas, 2008

Deciding on the artists that will exhibit in an art show is the most important part of the curation process - the artists presented determines the positioning of the show. The NAC’s goal is to transform Singapore to become a global city of arts. As such, the choice of artists in the biennale should reflect this goal. The NAC believes that having an art show of predominately Singaporean works presented would not meet this objective. Neither will having a 95% international artist pool as the Singapore Biennale will only become another Venice (The Venice Art Biennale is the pre-eminent show in the art world today).

In line with the NAC's objective, he said that Singapore hopes to carve a niche for itself in the global art scene by being the hub for aspiring Asian contemporary artists to present themselves. This allows Singapore to create a biennale that sets itself apart from the others.

At the end of the day, while the origin of the artist is important, what is more significant is the quality of works that are presented and how they are presented.

Besides, there are already a number of institutions showcasing local artists that are presenting concurrently with the Biennale.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

II) Programming of SB2008
In line with aims of The Singapore Biennale 2008, efforts have been made to create programs that involve the public - children, students, adults and other members of society.

The launch of SB2008, held at the South Beach Development, was officiated by Singapore’s Senior Minister Mr. Goh Chok Tong. This, coupled with the involvement of international DJs gave recognition to the event.

The launch party was continued at The Cannery - the choice of venue, one of Singapore’s top nightspot, created awareness and increased participation opportunities for young and hip.

During the opening days of the SB2008, a premium invitation-only boutique art fair was held at level 1 of City Hall. This was a strategic move that cemented Singapore's place in the global art trade. The art fair featured top 25 galleries from around the world - a gathering for dealers, collectors and artists to engage in the exchange and dialogue of the business of art collection.

Sessions with artists who participated in SB2008 were held for them to share the artistic inspiration behind their works. This gave art enthusiasts a personalized art experience.

To encourage interaction between participants of the biennale, art conferences were held from the 11 September to 1 November. Where participants are given 4 minutes to have a one-on-one chat about a specific topic for that night in a speed-dating format.

SB2008 partnered with Jet Airways and Little Art Bug Workshop to develop an Education & Outreach Programme. This brings Singapore's first Kid's Biennale, which hopes to inspire, instill and engaged children in art through participation in various activities.

Some of these activities are: On-the-spot Art competition (their works are exhibited in the biennale), Kids' Zone (displays art exhibition of kids, provides art & craft classes and other activities such as doodling on walls). Wining prizes of these activities are air tickets and art classes sponsored by Jet Airways.

SB2008 was also involved in a charitable cause. On the 2nd of November, children were invited to make thousands of windmills. Schools are encouraged for mass participation and these

windmills are sold to the public with proceeds going to a children’s charity. Mugs, tote bags and other Singapore Biennale merchandise are also being sold at the main venues.

As part of the Education and Outreach Programme, guided tours available for group bookings and school tours. There are also scheduled tours for different language groups such as Japanese and Mandarin. Audio guides are also provided for a self-guided tour.

These programmes have encouraged the public to participate in SB2008. As parents accompany their kids to participate in the Kids Biennale, parents are seen returning again on their own to visit the exhibition. The peek into the biennale with their kids may have developed curiosity about the event.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

III) Packaging experiences

Besides the exhibitions of SB2008, NAC have partnered with multiple institutions to creating a more interactive, valuable and wholesome experience.

External events organized by other art institutions whose focus is primarily on Asian and local artists were presented with SB2008. By collaborating with these institutions, it has helps NAC to achieve its objective in creating a niche for a global arts centre.

The Art Galleries Association Singapore carried out a Night Art walk to various locations. The Singapore Art Museum presented a historical context in the development of contemporary art in Singapore and the NUS Museum presents 3 solo projects from the Philippines and Malaysia.

SB2008 has also packaged its experience with one of Singapore’s iconic attraction - The

Singapore Flyer. An exhibition named “Sky Duet” requires one to listen to an audiotape recording, which was made to follow the movement of the Ferris wheel.

This provides an opportunity to promote Singapore’s new iconic attraction and participating retail outlets at the Singapore flyer with exclusive offers for ticket holders.

Besides the Singapore Biennale, there are 4 other cities in the Asia-Pacific region that are holding their own leading contemporary art event. These 5 cities (including Singapore) have collaborated and produced Art Compass 2008. Art Compass 2008 provides the convenience of creating travel packages, allowing visitors to customize according to their preference of which city to visit and their length of stay. With this strategic collaboration, each country is able to promote itself and increase its visitor-ship.

The Singapore Biennale’s website also helped introduced Singapore as a destination and provided traveling essentials.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IV) People and Partnerships

The Visitors
SB2008 hopes to reach out to all sectors of the society and people through art by breaking new grounds for creative expression as well as interests in the art scene. A blog has been set up specially to facilitate discussions about their experiences to the event.

The event met praises from visitors from all walks of life. Visitors like Swiss artist Jean-Jacques Muletier and a Sadamoto Atsushi a Japanese engineer and his wife Yumi came to Singapore especially for the show. Mr. Sadamoto could only describe the show in one word – “wonderful”.
(Refer to Life! – Life Arts article “Biennale a hit”, 30th October 08 in Appendix below)

Surprisingly, children are enjoying the art works of the biennale too. Girls from St Anthony’s Convent have commented that they are able to connect with the art and feel the wonder. Questions were raised during tours around the venue and this showed that there is an on-going engagement with art.
(Refer to The New Paper article – “Alices in Wonderland”, 11 November 08 in Appendix below)

Low Kee Hong, general manager of Biennale says that visitors this time to the SB2008 are more curious about the art and perhaps responding to the theme, which is “Wonder.”

SB2008 has targeted to meet 500,000-visitor ship for the eight-week contemporary art show. On 30th October, visitor ship is already at 325,000 and the NAC is confident it will meet its target by the end of the event on 16 November.

During my visits to the event, I noticed the varied mix of participants in the exhibition. There were children, secondary school and tertiary school students, people from the office and tourists – especially the Japanese.

The Staff
There are volunteer guides on site who are available to take you around. I think these people involved are very important and it is good to have them around to help visitors understand what they see.

As these guides have knowledge about the biennale and art works, they are able to guide visitors around the venue, providing additional information. This gives a more comprehensive experience for visitors at the event.

Sponsors & Partners
A total of 45 sponsors and partners support this year’s SB2008. These sponsorship and partnership bodies range from well-established firms, well-known brands, respected institutions, and important government bodies such as Land Transport Authority, Singapore Land Authority and Preservation of Monuments Board.

In Singapore, performing arts, i.e., dance, theatre performances has traditionally been able to command greater sponsorships than Visual arts. But, sponsor interest in visual arts is growing and it is important to have a sustainable growth of sponsorship in visual arts. This prevents erratic sponsorship dollars that would affect the sustainability of the biennale from year to year.

The fact that the event was officiated by Senior Minister Mr. Goh Chok Tong and its ability to obtain government and institutional support proves the significance of contemporary arts in Singapore.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

V) Pricing and entry

Location of booths

The ticketing booths are situated in the 2 of the 3 main venues of the event: City Hall and South Beach Development. There are single entry passes for adults and concessions for students, senior citizens and children.

The 3rd main venue located at Marina is free of charge and targets mainly to people who happen to be in that area.

Complimentary tickets can only be collected here. I feel that this is rather inconvenient because visitors will have to travel further to Marina Bay. However, in another point of view, perhaps it is also a way of drawing people to visit the site at Marina Bay as it is further away from the rest.

Pricing Admissions
Each single entry pass entitles a one-time entry for one person to the two main exhibition venues at City Hall and South Beach development. This price packaging strategy makes the experience more convenient and value for money by combining the price of the two main locations together so that visitors do not have to pay twice. I feel that this provides at effect of having purchasing two tickets for the price of 1.

A ticket for adults is S$10 and a ticket for students/senior citizens are S$5. A guidebook will be given with a purchase of the ticket.

Complimentary tickets such as registered family-member tickets and VIP passes are issued but these ticket holders will need to purchase a short guide at S$6 at the ticketing booths. Complimentary ticket collection booth is at the main venue in Marina Bay.

A separate ticket is needed to enter the Singapore flyer chargeable at S$21 for adults, S$20.65 per child/student and S$23.60 per senior citizen with valid student or senior citizen identification.

There are ticket promotions available for Passion cardholders and McCafé customers who are entitled 1 discount redemption per meal.
Source: Events and visitor's info

Reflecting the age-old notion that arts should be made accessible to any community, the ticket pricing for the biennale is rather reasonable.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VI) Event place, physical setting

Event place and physical setting

The format of this year's biennale is stretched between 3 main venues, located in the heart of Singapore's city, being: South Beach Development, City Hall and the central Promontory site at Marina Bay.
Right: Central Promontory Site. In the picture; blue containers on the left and paper columns on the right.

City Hall is a historic building, which will become the world-class national art gallery by 2013 with plans to develop Singapore’s civic district as a bustling arts and cultural hub.

South Beach Development will be redeveloped and envisaged to be the Revolutionary New Eco-Quarter in Singapore with while conserving the historic buildings currently used as the exhibition spaces. Marina Bay will be the new hot spot of Singapore's first integrated resort in 2010.

With the hosting of the biennale in these places, it gives visitors a chance to see the transformation in the future and introduce future developments that are happening in the coming years.

From an air-conditioned old court house to a humid abandoned camp, to a pavilion made of only paper tubes and containers (is an installation itself), the physical setting that presents these art works contributes largely to the visitors' experience.

A huge igloo like structure sits in the middle of the pavilion. It is the most beautiful installation I've ever seen. I almost believed that the landscape is made of real snow.

Above: Location (6) by Op de Beeck, Hans (Sculptural Installation)

An installation of rubber thong slippers on bamboos called ‘Flight’ by two Filipinos surrounds the pavilion. I felt that this installation was very meaningful because it made me appreciate how lucky I am by walking through the forest of slippers that once belonged to a group of people who were fleeing due to social dislocation. Especially as it is being set on an unkempt field of wild grass, it has enhanced the experience of the installation.
Left: Flight by Aquilizan, Alfredo Juan and Guadinez Maria Isabel (Installation)

Being able to find and create unique spaces is important. It is about the organizer’s ability to marry the environment with the core product. as it will provide the intended experience to achieve the event’s objective. I feel that this is most important in determining the successfulness of the event – the experience of the visitors.

SB2008 creativeness in presenting the works is well praised for. For some installations, the physical setting allowed visitors to be engaged and indirectly be part of it.

I felt that the layout of the venues rather confusing and sometimes I find myself lost. I suppose that the confusion one may experience is part of the fun of the biennale as I found myself wandering around the venues in wonder.

The location of the 2 main venues are very accessible and in walking distance. The Central Promontory Site in Marina Bay is further away but it still managed to draw crowds of people.

In comparison to SB2006, although there were more than 19 venues, these places are not very accessible and it was difficult to move between the venues.

Public Venues
Between these venues, there are also installations exhibited in unexpected public areas. These exhibitions allow an introduction of contemporary arts to those who are unfamiliar with the Singapore Biennale.

It gives an idea the kind of art one would expect to see and maybe become interested to visit the actual biennale exhibitions held in various locations.

Under the Esplanade bridge displays a huge waterfall-like fog that surprises passer-bys creating an experience of wonder as intended by Fujiko Nakaya, the creator behind this large-scale installation.

A particular art work that I found the most interactive and in strategically good location would be the installation outside Raffles City Shopping Centre. Located outside an MRT exit, taxi stand and the exit of the shopping centre, it attracted crowds of attention that pass by. I would like to believe that this installation has stirred curiosity in many about the Singapore Biennale.

However, I did not seem to see any signage or information about where these people can go to view the main exhibition itself. Some may not know about the event at all and may think it is just a temporary display. I suggest that it will be a good idea to place information about the SB2008 and a map showing where and how they can go to the exhibition venues. This increases the opportunities of unique visitors or who may happen to have the time to visit the exhibitions especially tourists who happen to be touring that area.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VI) Integrated marketing communication

With the advancement in technology today, marketing communication is no longer confined to flyers and posters. The Internet is an amazing timeless instrument of information revolution for communicating with people anywhere in the world every single second. This has definitely benefited the biennale as organizers have taken full advantage of this tool in creating a platform to reaching audiences all over the world.

The Singapore Biennale has its own website to communicate its event updates and information for all visitors including local residents and tourists. The website also provides a virtual exploration of the event for those who are unable to attend.

A blog has also been created specially for the Singapore Biennale for the community. This blog allows anyone involved in the Biennale to establish a dialogue with other participants. This completes the whole experience of the event, as participants are able to interact with people of the same interest and share their views on Sb2008 and contemporary arts.

However, while art websites and blogs serve the needs of those involved in the arts, the general public needs to be made aware of the event as well. This is usually achieved with main-stream advertising through typical advertising channels such as TV, radio and banners. One of the criticisms that was raised with this years biennale was the lack of main stream advertising.

In order to clear my doubts about the marketing communication strategy of the biennale questions were put forward to Mr. Cheng about why there is a lack of banners and posters.

He explained that last year's budget for SB2006 was larger due to two reasons; 1) because it was the inaugural event and 2) there was extra financing from the Ministry of Finance due to the IMF, which took place concurrently to SB2006.

With a lower budget for SB2008 comes a smaller advertising budget. While mainstream advertising can be effective to build awareness of a certain product or event, another effective medium is through media coverage such as editorials and forums in magazines, newspapers and television, and also through informal word-of-mouth public debates. SB2008 had to work with these constraints and rely on these non-traditional advertising mediums.

I've observed that the Singapore Biennale has certainly been successful in this marketing aspect despite the lack of banners and posters of typical marketing. A debate has been on between the comparison and pros & cons between SB2006 and SB2008. There were also people discussing about an artists work, which is a form of word-of-mouth advertising. These discussion activities have taken attention of the press and thus added to the communication value of the event. This is seen as a healthy marketing strategy for the Singapore Biennale. The success in this marketing strategy is evident in the more than 150 newspaper and magazine articles generated over the course of Biennale.

3. Role of the Singapore Biennale to Singapore and her tourism economy

Singapore is being seen as a business hub, medical hub and a developing sports hub. Like the youth Olympics and IMF 2006, events have also been a way to attract tourists to Singapore. In order to keep the visitors coming into Singapore, the government is continuously upgrading and improving the attractiveness of Singapore by tapping into new types of attractions like the IRs.

If the NAC is successful in positioning Singapore as a global city of the art with a niche in Asian contemporary arts, tourists will use Singapore as a one-stop art hub for Asian contemporary art.

With the NAC in line with the government’s objective to redevelop the civic district into a culture and art district, hosting the biennale has contributed to the transformation of a new but growing tourism trend here In Singapore, as a culture and arts destination.

International events like the biennale (with a niche in Asian art) has added value to the chain of arts in Singapore by exposing our city to the international arts community. This breaks new grounds for tourists to add Singapore as one of their culture and art destinations.

As SB2008 created exhibition venues in the heart of the city within walk able distances; it has created a two-pronged effect. While walking from venue to venue, it enables foreign visitors to explore the city of Singapore at the same time.

The heart of the city also being the civic district, sits many historical landmarks, attractions and entertainment between the sites for tourists to explore like Chijmes, Raffles hotel, historical monuments in the esplanade park and the Merlion.

The event directly/indirectly promotes Singapore as a destination and benefit the community around the event locations especially since the biennale is spread over a few places.

One of the art works "The Sky Duet" is exhibited an attraction itself: The Singapore Flyer. An installation sits below a bridge of Singapore's iconic landmark: The Esplanade. There are also public installations at shopping centers: Suntec City (also a convention centre) and Raffles shopping centre.

The Singapore Biennale being an international contemporary and visual arts event, it attracted tourists who came to Singapore specially for this high-brow event.
Furthermore, with the collaboration with other biennales happening in the region through Art Compass 2008, it has helped promote Singapore as an arts destination.

Art Compass 2008 is a collaboration of the 5 Biennales in the Asia-Pacific region: Sydney, Gwangju, Shanghai, Singapore and Yokohama Triennale. This gives the convenience for art enthusiasts. The travel packages can be tailored to their preferences of the number of destinations and duration of each stay.

With Singapore Tourism Board (STB) as one of SB2008’s preferred sponsors, it shows that STB sees potential in biennale’s as a role in Singapore’s tourism.

4. Conclusion

Art has always been a preferred communication channel to convey messages or ideas. Overall, I would say that the Singapore Biennale 2008 has been successful because its presentation of the product and programming of the event achieved its objective of drawing people from all walks of life.

Most importantly, the event enabled interaction between the people and the core product (art works) through conferences with the artists, interaction with the guides on-site, discussions on the official blog of SB2008 and collaborations with other art institutions to further communicate arts in Singapore.

Not only is it important to marry the product and its environment, it is also important for the programming of the event to be able to create that experience. Its successfulness is also contributed by the ability to bring out the experiences in line with the theme “wonder”.

The responses received from many audiences praised the event for creating a feeling of “wonderment” and they truly enjoyed the experience. I myself am impressed by the presentation and experience created.

Kudos to their location strategy for this year’s biennale, the venues were very accessible as it supported by an efficient transport system and it helps to promote Singapore.

Arts Tourism is part of culture tourism. If Singapore is successful in creating a name for herself as a global arts city, she would be able to create new opportunities for tourism here. Together with our existing culture and heritage activities especially since the government has plans to develop the civic district into a hub bustling with arts and culture activities, events like SB2008 can increase tourism arrivals and their length of stay.

I am particularly in favour of the Art Compass as I would definitely sign up for the travel package if I had the time and money.

Although their marketing communication strategy is not obvious; they have managed to attract enough media attention in the press and magazines and even the hype about a debate online. What is more important is that they have achieved the objective in their marketing communication of creating awareness not in the form of advertising on banners and posters but though the word of mouth and interaction in discussions among the people.

In comparison with SB2006, this year's biennale is on a much smaller scale in terms of budget, the exhibition and visitor ship. SB2008 was unable to participate fully in its marketing and advertising distribution due to the reduced budget. I feel that the sponsorship team could have worked harder to source for more investors and sponsors.

It is understandable that the IMF helped to boost SB2006's visitor ship but during SB2008, there was also a major event that was held during the Biennale. The organizers could have taken advantage of the F1 Grand Prix’s first night race to help promote and distribute SB2008.

I am glad I chose Singapore Biennale 2008. As I've enjoyed my visits to the exhibitions very much. Without multiple visits, I would not have understood the art works better. I learnt from this event that art needs time, thought, feelings and a positive mood to understand.

5. Appendices

Articles:

1. The Straits Times Life! Life Arts - Biennale a hit, 30th Oct 2008

2.The New Paper - Alices in Wonderland 11 November 08

3. The Straits Times Life! Life News - Biennale Blog War

Proof of Visit:

Below: Invitation Package to "Wonder World" the opening of the event

at South beach development

South Beach Development:
Fei Zao, 2008

Artist: Tamburella, Paolo W.

[An old man sits in th midst of soap bars. Its a real man the artist employed to sit there with a red tub]

Cityhall:

Maggots, 2004 Scuptural Installation

Artist: Pham, Ngoc Duong (Vietnam)

[Me with the maggots. I think they are cute!]

City Hall:

Singapore, 2008
(Installation)
Artist: Pimkanchanapong, Wit
A large scale map of Singapore from google in the historical chambers of City Hall allows visitors to stick post-its of their personal details.
individuals contribute and give meaning to this map - A metaphor for nation building.