Song-Ming Ang Named Singapore’s Representative Artist for 2019 Venice Biennale

On July 18, the National Arts Council of Singapore announced that artist Song-Ming Ang will be featured in the national pavilion of Singapore at the 2019 Venice Biennale. The pavilion is titled “Music For Everyone: Variations On A Theme,” and will be curated by Michelle Ho.

Ang’s proposal for the pavilion, and its title, refers to a series of concerts organized in the 1970s and ’80s by the Ministry of Culture to promote cultural appreciation. However, “Music For Everyone: Variations On A Theme,” will instead highlight the spirit of amateurism around the practice of music, in contrast to the state’s emphasis on professionalism. In addition to these works, Ang will reprise an older project, You and I (2009/2012), for which he made a CD-R mixtape as a reply to anyone who sent him a handwritten letter. Another component to the exhibition will be a new work, titled Recorder Rewrite, featuring the instrument commonly used in the music curricula of Singaporean schools.

Born in 1980, Ang is known for his interest in how individuals or societies interact with music. From 2008–09, he studied Aural and Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths College in London with Kodwo Eshun—a music journalist who is one half of the artist duo Otolith Group, with Anjalika Sagar. In 2010, Ang was a finalist for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, and in 2011 won the Young Artist Award from Singapore’s National Arts Council. He has held solo exhibitions at Spring Workshop in Hong Kong (2012); Fost Gallery, Singapore (2014); Camden Arts Center, London (2015); and participated in festivals, biennials and group exhibitions in Australia, the Netherlands, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Switzerland.

The Singapore Pavilion is located on the first floor of the Salle d’Armi building, within the Arsenale complex, one of two sites that hosts the Biennale. The 58th Venice Art Biennale runs from May 11 until November 24, 2019.

HG Masters is ArtAsiaPacific’s editor-at-large.

To read more articles by ArtAsiaPacific, visit our Digital Library.