The National Arts Council of Singapore has announced that the country’s first visual arts biennale, Singapore Biennale 2006 (SB2006), will be held between 8th to 12th September 2006. SB2006 is also the first major international contemporary art event of its kind in Southeast Asia and aims to provide the platform for exchange, dialogue and presentation of international art practices, with a focus on those from and of Singapore and Asia. The Biennale will showcase a range of multi-venue visual arts exhibitions, performances, symposiums, lectures and workshops programmed to be accessible to a wide audience. Lee Suan Hiang, Chairman of the Singapore Biennale 2006 Steering Committee, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the National Arts Council, said: “The Singapore Biennale marks another milestone in the rich history of Singapore’s visual arts development. Since the era of our pioneering artists, our artists have captured the imagination of the international arts community, receiving invitations to participate in prestigious visual art biennales and events. Today, over 500 exhibitions are held in Singapore every year. Visuals arts activity and appreciation here have reached a level of sophistication that will be further enhanced with the Biennale.” The event will be curated by the current Deputy Director of Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, Fumio Nanjo. Setting the Biennale apart from established world events will be a major challenge for Nanjo who intends to profile artists operating in and from the equatorial belt between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn and beyond. “This exhibition should serve as a new occasion to mediate international contemporary art to the people of Singapore and to show the ways that it can be encountered in daily life and for everybody,” he said. Organisers hope that SB2006 will place Singapore’s contemporary visual arts development on the world map, creating new opportunities for Singapore artists, curators and visual arts businesses, and new content for the country’s arts scene as well as for the international art world. SB2006 will coincide with Singapore 2006 - Global City: World of Opportunities, an Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. For further information, CLICK HERE