The working processes of artists: Tim De Cotta
In this video, LASALLE students Nicole Kessler and Marian Saturno speak to musician Tim De Cotta on his (many) musical influences, how he talks about social issues through music and how to keep your art pure. Tim De Cotta is…
RAW Moves’ “Being, and Organs” and the unbearable whiteness of Block O
By Nabilah Said (890 words, 5-minute read) Draw a straight line. Draw a straight line freehand Draw a straight line freehand, with a 100g weight attached to your wrist. Repeat, ad nauseam. The moment you walk into Goodman Arts Centre’s…
CRITICS LIVE: A post-show response to “Merdeka”
Join critics Corrie Tan, Nabilah Said, Carolyn Oei and Teo Xiao Ting in a post-show conversation about W!ld Rice’s Merdeka. Critics Live is a critics-led programme series created by ArtsEquator to give arts audiences an insight into how critics formulate…
5 Singapore poems not to quote out of context
By Nabilah Said (2,500 words, 7-minute read) In 1968, Lee Kuan Yew uttered the words “Poetry is a luxury we cannot afford” to a roomful of University of Singapore students. There have been some quibbling over, even mythologising of, what…
Singapore Biennale 2019: Interview with artistic director and curators
By Lee Weng Choy (1,969 words, 7-minute read) Contemporary visual art exhibition the Singapore Biennale 2019 will return on 22 November with Every Step In The Right Direction, featuring artworks by over 70 artists from Singapore, Southeast Asia and beyond….
Translating Homeland: Tanah•Air 水•土: A Play In Two Parts
By Nabilah Said (1,900 words, 7-minute read) In less than a week, Drama Box will premiere Tanah•Air 水•土: A Play In Two Parts, a production revolving around the theme of histories, those that are remembered, and those who are sidelined….
The brutal examinations of “Constellation of Violence”
By Patricia Tobin (561 words, 4-minute read) Constellation of Violence consists of a very simple setup: a giant screen on stage, a historian, two artists and a group of individuals. These elements are combined, in varying degrees, to form…
The Personal, the Humour and the Horror: Interview with Irwan Ahmett
By Patricia Tobin (1,140 words, 6-minute read) The concluding production of TPAM 2019 was Constellation of Violence, a lecture-performance by artist Irwan Ahmett, which focused on the culmination of the Cold War in Indonesia in 1965, from its lead-up…
Say No To Droogs: Teater Ekamatra’s “A Clockwork Orange”
By Faezah Zulkifli (1,020 words, 4-minute read) “ORANG_” The wordplay in Teater Ekamatra’s A Clockwork Orange is no accident. An inventive linguist, author Anthony Burgess, who lived in Malaysia in the 1950s, borrowed the title for his magnum opus from…
The working processes of artists: Sheng player Michael Lee
In this video, LASALLE students Michelle Fonseca and Hazeline Ali speak to Sheng player Michael Lee, who has played the classic Chinese musical instrument for more than 50 years. Being a Sheng maestro has brought Michael Lee all around the…
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,…
Music as a love language: “Love! Be: Sing;”
By Shahril Salleh ( 1,000 words, 6-minute read) As cultural icons go, very few choirs have the same gravitas and history as the SYC Ensemble Singers. This ensemble is led by Cultural Medallion winner Jennifer Tham, the beloved doyen of…
The Traditional Body, The Contemporary Mind and The (Dancing) Mother
By January Low (1,693 words, 7-minute read) A little over a year ago, I was invited to be a part of MI(X)G, Festival Tokyo’s 2018 opening production, and the cherry on the sundae was to work together with legendary Thai…
Discovering and Re-discovering Kluang: The INXO International Residency Programme
By Akanksha Raja (1,493 words, 6-minute read) It’s almost 4pm as the KTM train I’m travelling on trudges to a slow halt at the railway station in Kluang, Johor. The first thing that catches my eye is Kluang Rail Coffee,…
Seven Views of “Seven Views of Redhill”
By Nabilah Said (1,670 words, 7-minute read) We are in a rehearsal for Seven Views of Redhill. Well, not me – I am just a hanger-on trying to fold myself into a corner of the Chesterfield-like sofa backed up…
The disturbing cruelty of Terre Thaemlitz’s “Deproduction”
By Luke Macaronas (765 words, 5-minute read) Content warning: References to sexual content, situations and violence The final line of Terre Thaemlitz’s Deproduction reads: “Admit it’s killing you, and leave.” It is a neat summary of the work—a deeply nihilistic…
Disturbing behaviour: “Deproduction” by Terre Thaemlitz
By Patricia Tobin (670 words, 4-minute read) Content warning: References to sexual content or situations Deproduction by musician-producer Terre Thaemlitz was released on December 28, 2017 as a multimedia album consisting of audio, video and text. In TPAM 2019,…
The working processes of artists: Raka Maitra from CHOWK
In this video, LASALLE students Ernie Martha and Raesmi Nambiar speak to Raka Maitra, founder and artistic director of CHOWK, on the practice of contemporary dance in Singapore, her roots as a classical Odissi dancer in India and the challenges…
KNOTS: An open letter to 艺族 STRANGER
By Ke Weiliang (1,131 words, 6-minute read) Dear 艺族 STRANGER, After spending my Saturday afternoon with you at the Esplanade Theatre Studio, I struggled long and hard to make sense of the titular ‘knots’ that your inaugural play endeavoured to…
Diasporic Dispatches: “The Cardboard Kitchen Project” by FK Co-Lab
By Rebecca Goh (977 words, 6-minute read) We step into the dimly-lit theatre of The Lion & Unicorn, a soft, almost dream-like blue wash over the noticeable emptiness of the stage – save for a skeletal cardboard cut-out resembling a…
Siapa Nama Kamu? – Questions to Answer a Friend
By Syed Muhammad Hafiz (1,823 words, 7-minute read) Recently I was asked by a friend, “How come I don’t see any local Malay artists in the current show at National Gallery Singapore (NGS)?”. My immediate response was, of course, that…
Podcast 65: M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival (Part 1)
Duration: 20 min Podcast host Chan Sze-Wei and guest Melissa Quek discuss works they saw at the recent M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival, specifically at the platforms DiverCity, Off Stage and M1 Open Stage. These include H A S E…
Conversations in a small room: “Dialogues And Reflections”
By Shahril Salleh (1,000 words, 6-minute read) New music is the epitome of unfamiliar territory. Even as someone who read music at university, often I find myself unprepared (and even dreading) to watch new music concerts. Part of my own…
The working processes of artists: ScRach MarcS
In this video, LASALLE students Heng Wei Ting and Syarifuddin Bin Sahari speak to dancers Rachel Lee and Marcus Tan, also known as ScRach MarcS, on the intricacies of street dance in Singapore, including its acceptance as an art form,…
Love me tender: “Eat Duck” by Checkpoint Theatre
By Nabilah Said (1,119 words, 6-minute read) There is a Malay proverb: “sedangkan lidah lagi tergigit”, that roughly translates as “even the tongue can get bitten”. It applies to groups of people, such as a husband and wife, or siblings,…
Full Hungarian splendour: Treble Voices Festival 2019
By Shahril Salleh (1,200 words, 6-minute read) Choral music festivals are gaining traction in Singapore. In my opinion, this is a good thing for both the choral music scene as well as the arts ecosystem. From a place-making perspective, not…
Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Burmese hip hop, and queer Vietnamese singer Tuimi
ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the…
“Medium Rare”, “God or Dog” and the makings of a Singaporean monster
By Alfonse Chiu (1,700 words, 7-minute read) Content warning: References to violent or disturbing behaviour In late January 1981, the body of a young girl was discovered in a brown PVC bag about a metre high by a young…
The working processes of artists: Nam Hwa Opera
In this video, LASALLE students Cherie Tan Yan Zhen and Lee Jia Jing speak to opera performer Chen Yu Zhi from Nam Hwa Opera, a Singapore-based Teochew opera troupe founded in 1963. They discuss what makes traditional and contemporary Teochew…
Crashing realities: “Acting Mad” by The Necessary Stage
By Nabilah Said (747 words, 5-minute read) Content warning: References to self-harm and sexual assault Someone cried. Someone squeezed my hand. Someone felt seen. Someone drank tea. — The Necessary Stage’s latest offering, Acting Mad, pulls no punches. It…