Contributors

Akanksha Raja

Amek Gambar

The History of Photography in Singapore Through Peranakan Eyes (via Invisible Flaneuse)

The exhibition Amek Gambar: Peranakans and Photography at Singapore’s Peranakan Museum (from May 5 to Feb 3 2019) is a rare glimpse into the very first and early days of the history of photography in Singapore through the lens of the peranakans — an ethnic group of mixed race Malay–Chinese with a richly distinctive culture, e.g. costumes (usually involving kebayas and […]

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Ho Keen Fi

Lim Chin Huat and Negotiating Positionalities across Time (via Talking Circles)

Lim Chin Huat shares about his journey of learning one artistic discipline after another, his approach to creating work, his struggle with calling himself an artist, and how his current project In Her Hands traces its origins back to more than ten years ago. He currently teaches movement full-time at the Intercultural Theatre Institute. CH: I was a science

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Sohieb Toyaroja

Semar in the eyes of Sohieb Toyaroja (via The Jakarta Post)

For artist Sohieb Toyaroja, Semar is his favorite jester in Javanese mythology because the character is divine and very wise. Semar, one of four famous punakawan (jesters), has three sons: Petruk, Gareng and Bagong. Each has a different form, representing different philosophical characteristics of human beings. In Javanese wayang (shadow puppetry) stories, Semar is portrayed as a powerful figure,

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Venopian Solitude

Malaysian Band To Perform At Europe’s Biggest Electronic Music Fest! (via Eksentrika)

Seven-piece band The Venopian Solitude is set to become the first Malaysian band ever to perform at Sónar! For those who’re in the dark, Sónar is a three-day electronic and advanced music festival which was started in Barcelona, Spain in 1994 by music journalist Ricard Robles and musicians cum visual artists Enric Palau and Sergio Caballero.

Malaysian Band To Perform At Europe’s Biggest Electronic Music Fest! (via Eksentrika) Read More »

Seelan Palay

Artist charged for illegal one-man procession from Hong Lim to Parliament House (via The Online Citizen)

Seelan Palay, a local artist, has been charged by the Attorney-General’s Chambers for participating in a public procession from Hong Lim Park to the National Gallery, and to the Parliament House on 1 October 2017. It is written in the charge sheet that the public procession is to publicise the cause of “the illegal detention

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A Singaporean Photographer’s Pursuit of Happiness in Bhutan (via New York Times Style Magazine Singapore)

“These are not the places we discussed, nor I wanted to go,” Singaporean photographer Billy Mork exclaimed in exasperation to his Bhutanese guide. Mork had just flown via the Royal Bhutan airline and landed at the taciturn kingdom’s Paro Airport. The guide picked him up and amiably brought him to take in some of the town’s famed tourist sites. Upon

A Singaporean Photographer’s Pursuit of Happiness in Bhutan (via New York Times Style Magazine Singapore) Read More »

New Cambodian Artists

Modern dancers go toe-to-toe with Cambodian tradition (via the Christian Science Monitor)

Performing a dance in red stilettos is not allowed at Angkor Archaeological Park, but that’s not stopping Khun Sreynoch from working on it. As members of Cambodia’s first contemporary dance company, Ms. Sreynoch and her closest colleagues have known each other since they were children studying Cambodian classical dance, or Apsara. But in fusing old

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Indonesian Cinema

Beyond the Boxoffice: On the Cultural Relevance of Indonesian Cinema (via Cinema Poetica)

One might argue that we are entering the new golden era of Indonesian cinema. For the first time in the history of post-Reformation cinema, in two consecutive calendar years, the boxoffice top ten are fully dominated by films with more than one million viewers. In 2016 Anggy Umbara’s Warkop DKI Reborn: Jangkrik Boss! Part 1 took the pole position

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Art Hub

Is Singapore losing its standing as the art hub of Southeast Asia? (via SEA Globe)

Despite the government’s desperate attempts to position Singapore as Southeast Asia’s arts hub, flagging figures at major shows and accusations of artificiality have put the city-state’s art scene under more scrutiny than ever Singapore has long tried to combat its reputation as a cultural desert. An influx of state funding in the past two decades

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Crispian Chan

“I am trying to say something true”: A Distant Intimacy

By Akanksha Raja (950 words, five minute read) Even before watching Michelle Tan’s monologue, I am trying to say something true, the title struck me: the sentence-case format portends a quiet sense of conversational intimacy, compared to the conventional, title-case naming of theatre productions. The proclamation folds the struggle of confession with emotional vulnerability while

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Donna Ibarra

This Rapper Is On a Mission to Empower Filipino Women (via Broadly)

Ruby Ibarra is a rapper you’ve probably heard, but haven’t heard of—at least not yet. The Filipina-American recently made the rounds in a nationwide Mastercard commercial that also featured musicians like SZA, Radkey, and Victoria Canal. Each artist performed their take of the 1962 Bo Diddley song “You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover.” For

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One year of Filipina punk feminism and rebellion (via Dazed)

Recently, GRRRL GANG MANILA, a feminist collective inspired by DIY ethics and punk aesthetics, celebrated its first anniversary in the Philippine capital. A long discussion of women’s issues, a film screening, spoken word performances and art exhibitions, and then hours of outspoken and confidently excellent music, brought together a frankly impressive gathering of young Filipinos

One year of Filipina punk feminism and rebellion (via Dazed) Read More »

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Crispian Chan

Many Lives in “A Good Death”

By Akanksha Raja (1,000 words, six-minute read) Four of the five productions from this year’s season of The Studios are commissioned works revolving around the theme of “Between Living and Dying”. Most of these are new, original monologues recounting deeply introspective journeys that navigate the melancholy of loss and seek hope and meaning within grief.

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The Legacy of Kak Channthy, Cambodia’s Rock and Roll Heroine (via Saigoneer)

For many Cambodian music fans, March 20 was a heartbreaking day because Kak Channthy – the 38-year-old female vocal of the band The Cambodian Space Project – passed away in an accident in Phnom Penh. Founded in 2009, The Cambodian Space Project is widely known for their 60s-influenced psychedelic tunes, Channthy’s soaring vocals and playful persona.

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Citra Sasmita

Citra Sasmita captures the Indonesian contemporary art spotlight (via Life As Art Asia)

The most significant display of contemporary art on the island during 2015 featured many of Bali’s finest artists exhibiting side-by-side with emerging talent. Violent Bali – Bali Art Intervention #1, opened at the Tony Raka Art Gallery, Ubud in November presenting eighty-five works raising issues such as identity, gender and cultural conflicts, and the New Order regime

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Walter Spies, c. 1936

Documentation, Restoration, and Repatriation? Reflections on a dance film screening for the ‘Bali 1928’ project (via New Mandala)

Bali 1928 is an ongoing international and interdisciplinary project established by American ethnomusicologist Edward Herbst in 2002 to “research, find, understand, document, explain, restore, re-release, and repatriate the first published recordings of music in Bali along with rare film footage and photographs of musicians and dance-drama performances from the 1930s”. With support from the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre’s Regional Mobility

Documentation, Restoration, and Repatriation? Reflections on a dance film screening for the ‘Bali 1928’ project (via New Mandala) Read More »

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