Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Jo Kukathas for Air Con
We cakap-cakap (chit-chat) with Jo Kukathas about The Instant Café Theatre Company’s upcoming screening of Air Con, an award-winning 2008 play written by Shanon Shah. The play revolves around the murder of a sex worker near an elite boys school…
OPEN CALL: Southeast Asian Arts Censorship Documentation
ArtsEquator invites applications for the position of Researcher for a regional arts censorship documentation and publication project it is piloting. The programme runs from Jan 2022 – Dec 2023. There are six positions available, one each based in Cambodia, Indonesia,…
The working processes of artists: Luqman (Flair Brothers)
Singapore hip-hop dancer Luqman from Flair Brothers gives us a lesson in the dance and also the lifestyle, introducing terms that are well known in the scene, and sheds light on how the scene has changed over the years. “If…
Dear Waterloo Street, From An Emerging Arts Manager
Text and illustrations by Ho Shu En (1,600 words, 4-minute read) Waterloo Street is for me, a place of beginnings. It has accompanied me through my journey as an arts management student from Singapore Management University (SMU) to my current…
Festival of Women N.O.W. 2021: Bold claims on identity
By Patricia Tobin (1,382 words, 4-minute read) Led by artistic director Noorlinah Mohamed, this year’s online edition of the Festival of Women N.O.W. 2021 explores issues pertaining to women that are often forgotten or overlooked. There is Not Grey: Intimacy,…
The working processes of artists: Bani Haykal
Artist, composer and musician Bani Haykal shares about his video work Trouble With Harmony, created in collaboration with art critic and writer Lee Weng Choy, as well as his other experimentations with text and music. In this video, directed and…
Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Salty Xi Jie Ng
In this month’s Cakap-Cakap (chit-chat), ArtsEquator speaks with artist Salty Xi Jie Ng, whose most recent project, Not Grey: Intimacy, Ageing & Being, excavated what intimacy means for older Singapore women (hint: it’s not all about sex!). The digital experience, comprised…
Saya Takut Untuk Mengkritik Sehinggalah Saya Berjumpa Sekumpulan Pengkritik: Refleksi Terhadap AAMR
Oleh Sukhbir Cheema dan diterjemah oleh Fasyali Fadzly Bila anda mendengar perkataan “pengkritik”, apakah yang anda bayangkan? Saya sering membayangkan orang yang pakai cermin mata; ulat buku, sangat serius, dan payah untuk puaskan hatinya. Daripada pandangan saya dulu, pengkritik adalah…
The performing arts industry of Malaysia is drowning
By Joe Hasham (986 words, 2-minute read) As many parts of Southeast Asia are hit by recurrent waves of Covid 19 infections, arts industries across the region face imminent collapse due to prolonged closures and scant state support. In Malaysia,…
Master Conversations: Multimedia Design with Shimpei Yamada and Bilqis Hijjas
Japanese video designer Shimpei Yamada shares about his practice in multimedia and video design and installation, for both theatre and dance, alongside KL-based critic-facilitator Bilqis Hijjas. This session took place on 8 June 2021 as part of the Asian Arts…
I Was Afraid Of Critiquing Until I Met A Bunch Of Critics: Reflections on AAMR 2021
By Sukhbir Cheema When you hear the word “critic”, what image do you conjure? I used to imagine a bespectacled person; bookish, extremely serious, and tough to please. From my point of view back then, critics were people you would…
Master Conversations: Set Design with Tuxqs Rutaquio and Katrina Stuart Santiago
Manila-based set designer Tuxqs Rutaquio shares about his practice and process in set design alongside theatre critic Katrina Stuart Santiago. This session took place on 1 June 2021 as part of the Asian Arts Media Roundtable at SIFA 2021. The…
Podcast 90: Critics Live: The Year of No Return by The Necessary Stage at SIFA 2021
Singapore critics Clarissa Oon, Lee Shu Yu, Nabilah Said and Naeem Kapadia discuss The Year of No Return by The Necessary Stage, presented at Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA). The performance took place from 21-22 May 2021 at…
Drama Lessons: Key takeaways from the SDEA Theatre Arts Conference 2021
By Sarah Tang The much-anticipated SDEA Theatre Arts Conference came to a close on 30 May after nine days of workshops, masterclasses and presentations by theatre practitioners and drama educators from 14 countries including India, Greece, United Kingdom (UK), Singapore…
Expand, Exchange, and Beyond: A reflection of the Asian Arts Media Roundtable 2021 at SIFA
By Gladhys Elliona It was a laid-back day at the end of April, when I got the email from ArtsEquator informing me that I had gotten into the Asian Arts Media Roundtable (AAMR) at the Singapore International Festival of Arts…
_T0701_ by Zeugma: How power mutates
Nabilah Said speaks to Safuan Johari, Rizman Putra and Brandon Tay of Zeugma on their current show _T0701_ (say “toyol”, it’s much more fun), currently available via video-on-demand at the Singapore International Festival of Arts. The show explores a pseudo-futuristic…
Meeting Point 2021: The cultural worker in a time of social change
By Wennie Yang (2,000 words, 8-minute read) Laptop fully charged, professional Zoom background selected – Meeting Point 2021 organised by Mekong Cultural Hub and its partners took place virtually between 20 to 22 May 2021. Artists, cultural intermediaries, academics, and…
A Dream Under The Southern Bough: A Look Back and A Look Forward
Alongside Goh Boon Teck, artistic director of Toy Factory, we look back at the journey of A Dream Under The Southern Bough, an ambitious trilogy retelling of Tang Xianzu’s 16th century epic of the same name, which combines Kun opera…
OIWA – The Ghost of Yotsuya: Primal story of love, or the failures of it
An epic set, an epic story, and epic four years of painstaking training is one way to describe The Finger Players’ OIWA – The Ghost of Yotsuya, an aching horror story that retells the classic tale of vengeance revolving around…
Who’s Afraid of the VOD?: Highlights of SIFA On Demand
Let’s face it. In the early days of the pandemic, we mourned for live theatre. Zoom theatre felt like the next best thing, if not quite the real thing. And yet, that period was also one of great experimentation, and…
Master Conversations: Lighting Design with Lim Woan Wen and Daniel Teo
Singapore lighting designer Lim Woan Wen shares about her practice and process, and chats with critic Daniel Teo about the impact of lighting in a performance, and whether critics should be expected to write more about lighting design in a…
Master Conversations: Costume Design with Catherine Kodicek and Lyn Gardner
Costume designer and supervisor Catherine Kodicek shares about her practice and process, and issues around costume awareness and advocacy within the UK theatre context, alongside UK theatre critic Lyn Gardner. This session took place on 25 May 2021 as part…
Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Daryl Lim for Local Flavours
In this month’s Cakap-Cakap (chit-chat), ArtsEquator speaks with poet and critic, Daryl Lim Wei Jie, who curated the poems featured in Local Flavours, an interactive site based on the concept of food delivery mobile apps. Produced by digital storytelling studio, Tusitala,…
SDEA Theatre Arts Conference Keynote Interviews: Drama lessons in a pandemic (Part 2)
By Sarah Tang SDEA is holding its first fully online Theatre Arts Conference this year, since its inaugural run in 2011. Expanding from the traditional weekend format to an 8-day event, the conference will feature 70 presentations, workshops, and masterclasses…
SEE WHAT SEE (May 2021): SOUTHEAST ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES
By Joel Tan To borrow and distort the title of David Shield’s lyrical manifesto against fiction: I’ve been HUNGRY for reality in the month of May. And so for this month’s edition of SEE WHAT SEE, I’m training my sights…
SDEA Theatre Arts Conference Keynote Interviews: Drama lessons in a pandemic (Part 1)
By Sarah Tang SDEA is holding its first fully online Theatre Arts Conference this year from 22 to 30 May. Expanding from the traditional weekend format to an 8-day event, the conference will feature 70 presentations, workshops, and masterclasses by…
Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Anaïs López for The Migrant
In this month’s Cakap-Cakap (chit-chat), ArtsEquator speaks with visual artist Anaïs López about her multimedia exhibition The Migrant which is currently showing at the Chapel Gallery, Objectifs. Through audio, video, text and photography, López discusses migration, urbanisation and human-animal relationships…
8 online programmes not to be missed at SDEA Theatre Arts Conference
The SDEA Theatre Arts Conference is back in 2021 with a fully-online programme, featuring presentations, workshops and masterclasses responding to the theme of Creative Disruption: Exploring New Ground. The conference, first started in 2011, is an international platform for artists,…
Artistic intervention: An orange truck lands in… Yishun?
By Crispin Rodrigues As a resident of Yishun, I do not usually expect any sort of art exhibition to come to my town. As a town notorious for cat killing and the occasional murder, you wouldn’t expect any cultural experience…
SEE WHAT SEE (Mar 2021): GENRE FICTION
By Joel Tan Welcome back to See What See! It’s our monthly round-up of interesting stuff by Singapore and regional makers that you can stream right here on the Internet. In this edition, I thought I’d pay a little attention…