“‘Seeing’ itself is an important methodology for Robert to understand nature, which doesn’t share the same language and the same way of communication [with humans], and what it says to us,” Kim explains. “So seeing—and time—might be the only ways to get to a certain understanding [of the secondary forest]. And it doesn’t only mean how humans look at nature, but also how nature looks at us; how nature reacts to what’s happening around us. In this exhibition, you will see diverse interactions between humans and nature.”

Some of the moments captured in the video installation come from the artist’s visits to the forests, from motion capture and body temperature cameras he installed, and even sightings from his 26th-floor HDB flat in Bukit Panjang overlooking a strip of forest, with his five-year-old son, Noah, as his capable assistant. “He was the one who taught me how to look at the forest. During Covid, when we were all stuck in our apartment, he was the one who kept looking at the same patch of forest for months—and who told me that a very boring space like that contained a lot of stories,” shares Zhao. “He’s five this year and already he has seen three forests disappear around his neighbourhood.”

In conversation with the two-channel video installation is Trash Stratum (2024), a sculptural video installation featuring various creatures visiting a makeshift watering hole in the form of an abandoned dustbin, across ten screens arranged around a deconstructed cabinet of curiosities. A selection of found objects, discovered from a random one-square-metre spot behind an old colonial building in Queen’s Own Hill, a one-hectare secondary forest in Singapore, can also be seen within the structure, highlighting the presence of human histories entangling with those of nature.

“I wanted to show that the material history is quite rich, not like a typical cabinet of curiosities because it’s kind of like trash but, at the same time, shows the kind of histories that exist underneath the forest,” says Zhao. Some of these found objects include a fragment of a rubber cup used for rubber collection from the 1900s; fragments of bricks from a British Military Barracks built in 1935 and demolished in the late 1990s; fragments of a sake cup and alcohol bottles issued to the Japanese Imperial Army from the 1940s; fragments and glass found underneath a fallen Albizia tree from the 1950s; and alcohol bottles discarded by a vagrant living in the forest, laid in neat rows, from the 1990s.

And then there is Buffy (2024), a digital print of the buffy fish owl native to Southeast Asia, looking across the water of the Arsenale, one of two locations where the Venice Biennale is being held every other year. “You would normally associate the buffy fish owl with more pristine habitats, but this one particularly learned to live in a [cement] drain and feed off catfish. I felt like this is a narrative that goes against our usual understanding of animals, which is kind of unexpected,” says Zhao. 

“I kind of like the idea that there’s always something that cannot be categorised, and can be quite subjective when you’re in the forest. But all these creatures are linked narrative-wise, and with the map to consolidate everything,” he explains, referring to a digital printed map of an unnamed, imaginary forest, which visitors will encounter at the entrance to Seeing Forest. The work serves as a guide to the characters and histories conjured up by Zhao in his three works, bringing visitors into the natural and imaginative world.

On how visitors can go through the work, Zhao says, “I would suggest starting with the map. Come into [the space] and sit down to watch the video for as long as you can, before walking around to understand what I’m trying to weave together through the assemblage. The videos will do most of the storytelling.” 

Commissioned by the National Arts Council and organised by the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Seeing Forest marks Singapore’s 11th participation at the Biennale Arte. “The Venice Biennale is an important platform to showcase the best of Singapore visual arts, and for our artists to be connected to the pulse of the international arts scene. [It also] gives Singapore the opportunity to share stories of artists from Southeast Asia and Singapore, and present quality art that showcases our unique cultural identity,” says Edwin Tong, minister for Culture, Community and Youth and second minister for Law, who was in Venice to open the Singapore Pavilion. 

“The theme of this year’s Venice Biennale, ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, might be deliberately provocative, but I think it resonates with all of us because we are all foreigners somewhere, perhaps in different spaces,” Tong continues. “When you see the presentation, I think you get a sense that we are, in fact, foreigners in that forest space. Nevertheless, it is a powerful rallying call for everyone to embrace diversity, to recognise that we are all foreigners in some sense, and to have the humility to learn from people all around us.”

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STRONG SINGAPORE SHOWING

For the first time in the country’s history at the Venice Biennale, Singapore has been invited to present eight artworks from the National Gallery Singapore’s collection at the main exhibition, Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, as part of the Nucleo Storico section, in a sub-section called Portraits, which explores the history of modernism beyond Europe and North America by focusing on stories from the Global South over the 20th century. 

“The National Gallery Singapore has been dedicated to the research and presentation of Singapore and Southeast Asian art, so [this is] a recognition of all the efforts that we’ve put in. Southeast Asian art is as significant as art from any other part of the world and hence presented at this international platform,” says Eugene Tan, chief executive officer of National Gallery Singapore and SAM, as well as co-chair of the Commissioning Panel for the Singapore Pavilion. 

“Of course, this doesn’t happen in isolation, but through all the exhibitions, research publications, collaborations and exchanges that we’ve done. Since 2019, for example, 170 works from our collection have travelled around the world to different museums and exhibitions including the retrospective on Malaysian artist Latiff Mohidin, in collaboration with Paris’s Centre Pompidou. It’s about time that globally we recognise the significance of Southeast Asian art.”

The artworks comprises Jeune fille en blanc (Young Girl in White) (1931) by Lê Phổ (Vietnam/France); Self Portrait (c. 1946) by Georgette Chen (China/Singapore); Orang Irian dengan burung tjenderawasih (Irian Man with Bird of Paradise) (1948) by Emiria Sunassa (Indonesia); Road Construction Worker (1955) by Chua Mia Tee (China/Singapore); Self-Expression (c.1957/1963) by Lim Mu Hue (Singapore); Labourer (Lunch Break) (1965) by Lai Foong Moi (Malaysia/Singapore); My Family (1968) by Hendra Gunawan (Indonesia); and Self-Portrait (1975) by Affandi (Indonesia), which are displayed as part of the Central Pavilion in the Giardini, the other location for the exhibition.

Two Singapore contemporary artists are also showing at the main exhibition, this time within the Nucleo Contemporaneo section at the Arsenale. Multidisciplinary artist Sim Chi Yin presents Requiem (2017), as part of Disobedience Archive, a long-term project by Marco Scotini featuring a video archive focusing on the relationships between artistic practices and activism, while artist, documentarian and writer Charmaine Poh’s documentary series Kin (2021) and What’s softest in the world rushes and runs over what’s hardest in the world (2024) delve into queer domestic life and queer parenthood, respectively, in Singapore. “These are small, simple stories told in a kind of subtle way … and soft and slow-paced. I feel very honoured that [the works] are shown here at [the Venice Biennale],” says Poh, who is based between Berlin and Singapore.

Meanwhile, multidisciplinary artist Priyageetha Dia’s video work on ancestral migratory movements from India to the Malay Peninsula is presented at the The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, a collateral event of the Venice Biennale organised by Bangkok Biennale Foundation, at the Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana in Venice.

On the bumper crop of Singapore artists presenting works at the Venice Biennale, Tan expounds, “It just speaks to how our Singapore artists are having a more extensive network and how their works are being acknowledged and known outside of Singapore. I hope, with the continued growth in the profile of our arts scene and artists, it will become more commonplace for [Singapore] artists to be selected for important exhibitions such as [the Venice Biennale].”

Such participation is also made possible with the continued support of the arts from organisations such as the Charles & Keith Group Foundation, which is a key partner for the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. “Charles & Keith Group has always sought to inspire creativity by challenging boundaries and boldly experimenting with different expressions and styles. We’re passionate about extending this approach beyond our business and through our giving,” says its founders Charles and Keith Wong. “At Charles & Keith Group Foundation, we strive to be conduits of positive change in our industry and community, by supporting emerging creative talents—across fashion design and the arts—in their own journeys to inspire and experiment. It’s a privilege for us to be able to support Robert Zhao Renhui—an artist whose poignant works we’ve long admired—through this initiative and help fly the Singapore flag high at the world’s biggest art stage, the Venice Biennale.”

The Biennale Arte 2024 runs until November 24. Seeing Forest will return to Singapore in January 2025, where it will be reimagined for a second iteration at SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark.

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