Xiao Ting Teo, Author at ArtsEquator

Installation view of Maile Meyer & Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick’s KĪPUKA [for “Natasha”] (2022), as part of Singapore Biennale 2022 named Natasha. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

Installation view of Maile Meyer & Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick's KĪPUKA [for “Natasha”] (2022), as part of Singapore Biennale 2022 named Natasha. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

Natasha: A Biennale By Any Other Name

Striving to experience Natasha on their own terms, Xiao Ting Teo runs through the gamut of emotions, from exhaustion to uncertainty, to amusement, to moments of connection at the Singapore Biennale 2022.

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Image credit: Ezzam Rahman.

Slated for [ ]: on Declutter Me! and Frequencies

Xiao Ting Teo is moved to consider how the detritus of being shapes us anew as she encounters two works, “Declutter Me!” and “Frequencies” at the The Substation’s annual SeptFest 2022: uproot | rootless.

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Olivia Kwok

Contortions and Gentle Songs: SEA at Venice Biennale

By Teo Xiao Ting (1,414 words, 6-minute read) A vivacious viscous zoo swirling with prestige and art, the Venice Biennale spins me exhausted after 45 days. When I was asked to write about the Southeast Asian artworks I’ve encountered here, a lingering sense of lightheartedness arose, lilting humour almost dry. There is humour, uncanny warmth

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Tuckys Photography

To V and S in “Off Centre”

By Teo Xiao Ting (1,103 words, five-minute read) Dear Saloma and Vinod, I first met the two of you seven years ago, when I was 16. I dissected your words, and tried to live alongside you in Off Centre. I fear I have outlived you. Yet after meeting the both of you again, I know

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Mark Benedict Cheong

Letters to and from “yesterday it rained salt”

By Teo Xiao Ting (and Nabilah Said) (1,600 words, eight-minute read) Dear yesterday it rained salt, You crept up on me. After I met you that Saturday afternoon, after those initial moments of inexplicable resonance with what you presented — about the intricacies of a father-son relationship, about a sea goddess that is at once

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Asrari Nasir of Paradise Pictures

Walking Alongside “BITTEN: return to our roots”

By Teo Xiao Ting (1,420 words, seven-minute read) Taking a right turn towards Camp Kilo Charcoal Lounge (formerly Sam Tat Building) at Kampong Bugis, I spot a crew member sweeping the rainwater from the late afternoon downpour clear from the path that I will later walk on. To prevent people from slipping, I presume. These

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Crispian Chan, crispi photography

Down the Fast Food Chain of Desire in “The Reunification of the Two Koreas”

By Teo Xiao Ting Click here to open the Twine in a new tab (if you’re reading this on a mobile browser, or otherwise have trouble viewing the Twine.) The Reunification of the Two Koreas by TheatreWorks was originally written in French by Joël Pommerat. Directed by Jacques Vincey, this staging ran at 72-13 from 1

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Truth or Dare with “Lear is Dead”

By Teo Xiao Ting (1,069 words, six-minute read) After a gleaming heap of corpses dissipates into the afterlife and comes back for a closing bow, Lear is Dead ends with the quiver of revelation. But wait, what was it exactly that we gleaned? A sideways glance at the audience around me, and everyone is already

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Bernie Ng

Growing up Everywhere and Nowhere in “Peter and the Starcatcher”

By Teo Xiao Ting (1,300 words, seven-minute read) What does it mean to be a child? Specifically, what does it mean to be growing up, to be young, in this milieu? While set in the sepia of 1885, Peter and the Starcatcher by Pangdemonium asks questions that still resonate now, opening up to an extended

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