By Ng Tze Yong

THE typical visitor at a 'high-brow' art show has a signature walk.

Slow steps. Pensive looks. Hands clasped behind the back.

He thinks, he contemplates. He opens his mouth only when he has something intelligent to say.

Silliness, after all, is the ultimate faux pas.

On this Thursday afternoon, however, the stately galleries at the Singapore Biennale is filled with the sound of shrieks and giggles.

The unlikely visitors today are 70 Primary Four students from St Anthony's Convent.

Carrying Barbie Doll bags, the girls scurry from gallery to gallery, hand in hand, tripping on the stairs, waving digital cameras, blurting out comments and questions which stump even the adults.

They are like Alices in Wonderland.

The theme of this year's Biennale, indeed, is Wonder. But an adult's mind can be cynical.

As the Biennale enters its final week (it ends this Sunday), it is on track to meet its target of 500,000 visitors, said the National Arts Council (NAC).

As of 27 Oct, with three weeks left to the end of the nine-week-long Biennale, visitorship was standing at a healthy 325,000.

But the Biennale got off to a rough start when it opened on 11 Sep, attracting sharp criticism from various quarters.

On 31 Aug, days before its opening, an editorial in The Straits Times called the Biennale artworks puzzling.

It asked: 'Where is the aesthetic pleasure, that communicated sense of beauty, purposeful effort and workmanship that are the hallmark of a work of art?'

It prompted a scathing reply from Mr Lee Weng Choy, the president of the Singapore section of the International Association of Art Critics.

In a forum letter published a week later, he wrote: 'One would have thought that the national newspaper should have the discipline to keep an open mind before this major international arts event has even opened...

'Perhaps the good people at The Sunday Times would like to join the rest of us in the 21st century, and put aside their prejudices.' (See report on Page 10.)

Cynicism may be the Biennale's biggest enemy. The first Biennale in 2006 generated the same kind of debate.

It was what prompted the NAC to 'make public engagement our top priority' this year.

It started initiatives such as the Kids' Biennale, guided tours in Hokkien and Cantonese, and made a call to the public to donate slippers for an artwork.

Since then, 30,000 students from more than 100 schools have participated in the Biennale's outreach programmes.

'We see the Biennale as an extension of the classroom,' said Mrs Dora See, 35, an art teacher.

But just how do you explain to giggly, puppy-eyed schoolgirls artworks which stump even the adults?

'There are many levels of meanings when it comes to art,' said Mr Cliff Neo, 22, a volunteer guide at the Biennale.

'Adults come with a wealth of knowledge and life experiences so their takeaway is usually darker. Kids' interpretation of art is usually more colourful. They like it simply because it is beautiful and it excites their senses.'

He begins his explanation at every artwork by asking students a simple question: How does this make you feel?

When they ask questions, he squats down. He doesn't give answers; he offers clues.

'I help them explore their feelings,' he said.

Not every adult gets it. But the children do.

Said 10-year-old Pamela Teo: 'Art is not something you can explain. You can only feel it.'

Added classmate Divialakshmi Rajalingam: 'I understood almost all the pieces. They were very easy to understand.'

No kidding!

'Yah, I know some people say they do not understand modern art. But maybe that's because they were stressed and they did not bring their heart with them, and that's why they did not think and feel.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on 11 Nov 2008.