Open Calls and Job Opportunities: October (Singapore)
Check out the list below to find out the list of open calls and job opportunities that are currently available in Singapore: IMPART Awards 2019 Open Call for Submissions Calling all Singaporean & PR Visual Artists and Curators: The IMPART…
Coda Culture: A Space for Freedom
As told to Akanksha Raja In the latest instalment in our series covering independent art spaces in Southeast Asia, ArtsEquator.com spoke with artist Seelan Palay to learn about his practice, his inspirations, and his journey setting up the independent alternative…
“Hijrah”: In Between Body and Gender ‘Migration’
By Michael HB Raditya (1018 words, five-minute read) Read this review in Bahasa Indonesia. Baca review ini dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Rianto, 37, has attracted public attention with his Lengger Lanang dance performance. This dance is a type of dance from Banyumas that…
“Hijrah”: Tubuh di Antara dan Migrasi Gender
By Michael HB Raditya (1000 words, five-minute read) Read this review in English. Baca review ini dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Sejak kemunculannya, Rianto Manali (37) telah mencuri perhatian publik dengan tari yang ia pertunjukkan. Adalah Lengger Lanang, salah satu jenis tari dari Banyumas…
SMU Series: More Than Just Managers, Enabling the Arts
This article is the third in a series of essays by students from the Singapore Management University Arts and Culture Management programme. By Carissa Lim (1480 words, four-minute read) The arts has always been a significant and cherished part of…
Padmini Chettur’s “Varnam” and Pichet Klunchun’s “I Am A Demon”: An Instructive Contrast
By Bilqis Hijjas (975 words, four-minute read) If you have ever felt that classical Indian dance is too melodramatic – if you have ever rolled your eyes at a dancer’s fervid abhinaya, or a poem narrator’s extravagant diction – or…
Yangon’s well loved Palace of Literature (via The Myanmar Times)
The four storey yellow painted building with big masonry work of books in black and white pages for its motif loomed high at the corner of Merchant Road and 37th street. Its architecture stands out from other commercial buildings in…
Norah Lea Reclaims the Transgender Experience from Mainstream Media (via Frieze)
The walls of Norah Lea’s exhibition, ‘In Love’, are painted millennial pink. Photographs are displayed on the walls, salon-style, in an assortment of frames donated by the artist’s friends. Fairy lights line the ceiling. A sizeable bed sits in the…
Vietnamese director’s debut feature The Third Wife wins award at Toronto Film Festival
The directorial debut from Nguyen Phuong Anh, also known as Ash Mayfair, won the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award at last week’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The Third Wife tells the story of a 14-year-old girl in northern…
“The Misinterpreted Futures of George Town 2068”: Missing Futures
By Akanksha Raja (960 words, four-minute read) Prior to stepping into the mystifying world of The Misinterpreted Futures of George Town 2068, I was curious and fascinated by that science-fictioney title, coupled with the exciting premise of a performance with…
“Tiger of Malaya”: The Body Remembers What the Archive Cannot
By Corrie Tan (2,080 words, 10-minute read) Spoiler alert: this essay discusses certain plot points about Tiger of Malaya in detail. The Drama Centre Black Box, on level five of the National Library, is bracketed by floors and floors of…
Cartoonist Zunar on his sedition charges & fight for political reform (via Star2)
It’s a Saturday afternoon at a major bookstore in the Gardens Mall in Kuala Lumpur. A small crowd has gathered for a session with Malaysian cartoonist Zunar. Zunar, looking dapper in a black jacket, is candid as he speaks. His…
MervEspina and the Green Papaya Art Projects (via The Myanmar Times)
With the support of Japan Foundation and collaboration of Myanm/Art, MervEspina, artist and researcher from Philippines talked about Green Papaya Art Projects whose essence can be rendered as ‘never ripe, never rotten’. The talk was moderated by Aung Myat Htay,…
The photographer capturing the eerie illustrations of Thai legend Hem Vejakorn (via SEA Globe)
Photographer Pattana Chuenmana has reimagined the illustrations of Hem Vejakorn, a well-known Thai artist and writer, in moving black-and-white still images. Chuenmana talks with Southeast Asia Globe about his latest project. After Hem Vejakorn pays homage to the revered illustrator who was famed…
SHIFT (Your Perspective) at Esplanade’s da:ns festival 2018: A Sneak Peek in GIFs
Esplanade’s da:ns festival returns this year from 9 – 21 October. The 13-day celebration of movement features powerful performances from around the world, internationally acclaimed acts and exciting new works. Apart from ticketed performances, the festival offers free programmes, including…
On Taboos, Touring and Cultural Representation: Sight/Unseen Asian Drama Conference
By Benedict Leong (1700 words, 10-minute read) The Sight/Unseen Asian Drama Conference was a two-day event on 26 – 27 April 2018 at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Tara Arts. Billed as an event to “tackle challenging issues facing playwrights…
U Maung Maung’s blast from the past (via The Myanmar Times)
To some people, these maybe nothing more than trash, some useless pieces of equipment from a forgotten past, but to others these are rare gems that brought back some bittersweet memories from not so long ago, when strife of all…
“7Voices 2.0” by Yayasan Chow Kit and Dramalab at George Town Festival 2018
By Akanksha Raja (830 words, four minute read) Before entering the performance space on the first floor lobby of The Whiteaways Arcade where 7Voices 2.0 takes place, my friend Denise and I are approached by two young “inspectors” demanding documentary…
On The Level with Theatre Students of Taiwan and Thailand (via The Nation)
A new Taiwan-Thailand drama school collaboration is as delectable as pineapple tarts. One of the joys of attending a student theatre work – when it’s not the typical graduation project for which many of the aspiring artists have to do…
Biennale seen posing challenges for artists (via The Nation)
The Bangkok Art Biennale beginning on October 19 will have as its theme “Beyond Bliss”. The event puts the Thai capital along cities around the world, from Berlin to Beijing, that host biennials, bringing together creative minds to construct their…
Those Long Haired Nights: Filipino film highlights struggle for transgender rights (via SEA Globe)
With its true-to-life representation of transgender sex workers in Manila, Gerardo Calagui’s 2017 film Those Long Haired Nights is not afraid to court controversy. Southeast Asia Globe spoke with the Filipino director about the film and the challenges facing the LGBT+ community in his…
Short film fest to send winner to Hollywood (via The Manila Times)
Ten bold and emotionally stirring stories have been selected as finalists the 2nd Viddsee Juree Philippines, a festival of short films that celebrates and supports filmmaking communities in Asia. A wide range of independent filmmakers from different backgrounds turned in…
Cambodia Town Film Festival presents perspectives beyond ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ (via Long Beach Post)
Kilong Ung was just a teenager when the Khmer Rouge overtook his hometown of Battambang in Cambodia. Under the new regime, he and his seven sisters, along with their parents, were forced into concentration camps, where they worked 13 hours…
How Dép Tổ Ong Goes From Timeless Family Keepsake to Millennial Icon (via Saigoneer)
Back in 2014, amid the weekly cycle of news, a particular image was more striking than most: Doctor and Professor Ngo Bao Chau stood in the middle of a makeshift classroom in a rural village in Thai Nguyen Province while teaching local…
Sitting in the ‘gap’: Faye Lim explores body autonomy for children (via Talking Circles)
Faye Lim dances, facilitates, performs, improvises, makes, and mothers. In Singapore, she presents works with the Strangeweather Movement Group, a collective she founded to create and perform dance works at off-stage venues around Singapore. As part of Singapore’s Contact Improvisation (CI) community,…
Getting schooled on the arts (via The Star)
From surprise visits to schools, replacing white shoes with black, and referencing the Finnish education system as a possible one to emulate, the new Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik has made waves with his fresh approach. Expectations are running high…
Book Review: “Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art, 1945–1990”
By Reaksmey Yean (950 words, five-minute read) A result of a research collaboration organised by the University of Sydney’s Power Institute in partnership with the Institut Teknologi Bandung and National Gallery Singapore, Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art,…
Q&A: AO Show Creative Director Tuan Le Had a Vision for Performance Art in Vietnam (via Saigoneer)
Some may say that modern performance art in Vietnam looks the way it does thanks to the works of Tuan Le and his colleagues. Almost two decades into a series of smashing theatrical successes across the country, Le invites Saigoneer into the…
Book Review: “Writing the Modern: Selected Texts on Art & Art History in Singapore, Malaysia & Southeast Asia”
By Carmen Nge (1300 words, five-minute read) In the vast firmament of Singaporean-Malaysian art history, no star illuminates as radiantly as T.K. Sabapathy. An art historian by training, Sabapathy initially began his career in the early 1970s by reviewing art…
Book Review: “Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre”
By Felipe Cervera (1600 words, eight-minute read) Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre, edited by Charlene Rajendran, Ken Takiguchi and Carmen Nge, is a long overdue resource that sheds light on important aspects of the cultural, artistic, and…