The museum's curators Joyce Toh and Tan Siuli co-head the team, which includes their colleagues John Tung, Louis Ho and Andrea Fam.
The preliminary list of artists participating in the event include Singapore's Han Sai Por, Indo- nesia's Titarubi and China's Qiu Zhijie, and younger artists such as India's Rathin Barman and Vietnam's Nguyen Phuong Linh.
The main venue for the exhibition will be the museum's premises in Bras Basah Road and Queen Street. The works will include commissioned site-specific creations. Artworks will also be on display elsewhere in the Bras Basah-Bugis precinct, including the National Museum of Singapore and Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Preparations for the biennale started in the middle of last year.After Dr Lingham leaves the museum at the end of March, she will continue to work for the biennale as its creative director and oversee the exhibition, ranging from its production to programming.
There are fewer curators and artists for this biennale than the last, which opened in 2013 and comprised 27 curators and 82 artists and art collectives.
Dr Lingham, who was involved in the last biennale, says the budget remains the same at about $6 million, but the approach this time is "more focused and cohesive" and the smaller number of participants does not mean that this biennale will be a lesser show.