Proposed Helsinki Garden at the Singapore Biennale
2011

Commissioned by the Singapore Biennale

with Susie Lingham and National Institute of Education art education students Lim Hui Chi and Yashini d/o Renganathan, Nuraniza Binte Jalil, Lee Shi Hua Candice and Noor Faizah Mohd Jalal, Ng Jingge Jeanne and Huda, Suvitha Prakass and Diana Ghazali, Shi Sarah and Tiayan Sim, Nur Shahidah Binte Mohd Diah, Rachel Subramaniam, Umamageswari, Sheaha Zualzmi, and their students; Shawn Lum and Lucy Davis, School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University and students; Ximena Aristizabal, Sophie Anne Cameron, Chong Kai Fen Bernadette, Han Shengyi, Ong Fang Zheng, Frankie Tee, Teh Shi Wei, Hera, with the collaboration of Tan Shu An Lauren, Wong See Hua, Tan Jing Ting, Gan Li Juan, Clara, Lee Jia Yan Candice, Lio Shi Qi Joanne, and volunteers Erica Denison and Kate Antonich; Shirley Soh and Brendan Goh; Sha Najak (Migrant Voices) with members of Indonesia Family Network and Filipino Family Network: Davy Animas, Rhemz Capanas, Sarialam Daulay, Nurida, Eulenia Prudente, Ria, Tukinah Rogildionti, Parmini Sunardi, Turiyah, Ummairoh with Mujiati; with the assistance of Mohamad Azmi Shahbudin at the National Parks Board and Lay Hun Chen and the workforce of Prince's

Special thanks to Amanda Heng, Deborah Kelly, Dana Lam, Chen Shian Lim (Archaeology Society), Hazel Lim, Sylvia Lim, Felicia Low, Margaret Tan, Tan Qian Hui, Suzann Victor, May Ee Wong, and Stephen Squibb

For the 2011 Singapore Biennale, Rosler invited local collaborators to create projects with living plants near the long-disused Kallang Airport. Participants included artists, art professors and their students, community groups, the Nature Society, and migrant household workers—almost all women. The community garden, whether interpreted literally or metaphorically, provided them with an opportunity to weave together a collective interpretation of life in the city-state. This was particularly significant in a society where expression is policed, and there is almost nowhere for women to gather and be heard. Although the garden project was eminently local, its name, as well as its airport site, signaled the globalized nature of contemporary biennials and their peripatetic artists. It also referred to Singapore itself, often called the Garden City by its founder, Lee Kuan Yew, himself known as the Master Gardener.