By Azura Farid and Nabilah Said The pandemic led theatre collective HATCH to dream up Keturunan Ruminah (Ruminah’s Family), a play that takes place entirely on WhatsApp. Rightly, HATCH identified the potential of the WhatsApp group chat to be a site of potent family drama, this one centred on ghostly possession, complete with videos of […]
Keturunan Ruminah: WhatsApp play on family inheritance Read More »
After a short hiatus, the ArtsEquator theatre podcast is back. In the latest episode, Kathy Rowland, Matthew Lyon and Naeem Kapadia discuss three productions at the 2021 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival – a line could be crossed and you would slowly cease to be by Koh Wan Ching and Andrew Sutherland; i am not here
Podcast 86: M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2021 Read More »
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 to film, TV, and shorts with a genre fiction flavour, so I went around sniffing
SEE WHAT SEE (Mar 2021): GENRE FICTION Read More »
From now till 25 April, a truck carrying precious cargo will travel around Singapore, hoping to enchant you with its treasures and stories. Titled The Bottled City, this orange-hued truck contains art and design works curated and created in response to books by Singapore authors. Inspired by the concept of a cabinet of curiosities, the
So Lit: The Bottled City of mini objects travelling through Singapore Read More »
In the latest of our Cakap-Cakap series, ArtsEquator chats with Serene Chen and Krish Natarajan who star in Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT)’s new play, The Sound Inside, written by by award-winning playwright Adam Rapp. The Sound Inside turns the spotlight on an unusual connection forged between a pair of literary-minded people – a professor and
Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Serene Chen and Krish Natarajan Read More »
By Nabilah Said Against the backdrop of a battle of words, an impossibility is happening. SeptFest, one of The Substation’s most enduring annual programmes, is taking place this month, in March, six months too late. This, of course, is because of COVID restrictions last year, but it also feels strangely early, unseasonal – like when
The Substation’s SeptFest 2021: The last chapter Read More »
By Vithya Subramaniam (1,961 words, 8-minute read) We’ve taken more walks these days, haven’t we? Walking isn’t new to us. There hasn’t been a time when we were not walking. But this simple universal act has found new meanings over this last year. Here in Singapore, some of us walked along old train tracks for
A few walks-with: Vel Vel: A Sonic Walk and more Read More »
What is producing within the context of the arts? It is a question whose answer might vary depending on who you ask. Producers SG is a community of independent producers, arts managers and self-producing artists interested in nurturing support systems amongst producers and conversations around the practice of producing. Producers SG recently launched the Producers
Hitting up the Producers SG Directory: Taufik Darwis, Racy Lim and Khor Seng Chew Read More »
By Aditi Shivaramakrishnan Adapting its title from Lessons for Women <<女诫>>, a text by the first known female Chinese historian, Ban Zhao, Alternative Lessons for Women is a double-bill of two solo works: Hymen Instinct created and performed by Sonia Kwek and What? That’s It? created and performed by Tan Weiying. Hymen Instinct subverts the
Alternative Lessons for Women: Sonia Kwek and Tan Weiying on sex, desire and the erotic Read More »
“People always see us artists as cool. They think we paint on the streets, make big money, no need to study one. Ask them to try lah! We work for hours in the hot sun. And you need strong fingers to hold the can.” Artist ANTZ was working on a boom lift on the side
Mixtape: The Millennial, The Zoomer and The Spray Can Read More »
Brown Is Haram: Reconstructing The Brown Narrative is a performance-lecture exploring different aspects of the experience of being brown in Singapore, exploring issues such as social mobility and masculinity. This show is based on the work and ongoing collaborative project of writer and activist Kristian-Marc James Paul and writer-researcher Mysara Aljaru, and is directed by
Brown Is Haram: Kristian-Marc James Paul and Mysara Aljaru reclaim their space Read More »
ArtsEquator and Goethe-Institut Singapore are pleased to announce the launch of the inaugural AE x Goethe-Institut Critical Writing Micro-Residency 2021/2022. This is a digital micro-residency focusing on the development and promotion of critical writing about arts and culture in Southeast Asia. The residency programme is unique in its positioning of the online editorial space as
Open Call for AE x Goethe-Institut Critical Writing Micro-Residency 2021/2022 Read More »
By Ke Weiliang, with assistance from Nabilah Said Last updated: 12 Nov 2021 ArtsEquator has compiled a timeline of events that details recent developments surrounding the future of The Substation. The timeline – displayed in chronological order – begins from late 2017 when the National Arts Council (NAC) first informed The Substation of its decision
The future of The Substation: A timeline of events (Updated) Read More »
By Nabilah Said, with additional reporting by Ke Weiliang On Saturday, 6 March 2021, almost 300 members of the arts community came together in a Zoom Townhall to discuss the fate of independent arts centre The Substation. The Townhall had been called by the board of directors of The Substation after a month-long back-and-forth involving
The Substation: An unstoppable force and an immovable object Read More »
By Kathy Rowland What is the state of the arts media landscape in Southeast Asia? Based on global trends, the answer seemed evident: the landscape has shrunk, and its impact on the arts ecosystem is a growing concern amongst arts writers, artists and policy makers. Yet there are still vibrant spaces dedicated to arts coverage,
Mapping Asian Arts Media: Key Findings (Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia) Read More »
By Corrie Tan (2,050 words, 10-minute read) Over the course of Citizen X, my father nudges me in the arm several times, whispering loudly and theatrically: “It’s so similar leh!” All throughout the 75 minutes, he wiggles around in his seat, emitting sighs, laughter, tsk-tsks, and the occasional “wow”. My father – a stoic and
Citizen X marks the spot for a family treasure none of us can find Read More »
Every first Wednesday of the month, ArtsEquator releases our editor’s picks of shows/events/programmes that our readers can look out for in that month. This list in published in no particular order. 1. Little Mournings Physical show: 4-7 March, various timings / Delayed livestream: 11-17 March [SINGAPORE/In-venue & Online] Little Mournings is a puppetry show
ArtsEquator’s Hot List: March 2021 Read More »
In unprecedented times like a pandemic, artists, like everyone else, are focused on survival. Horizons for planning are more short-term. Even as we enter 2021 with cautious optimism, it is hard to think about longer term goals and aspirations. Yet, the continued survival of our arts organisations is crucial to building and sustaining a thriving
How they got their stART: ArtsWok, Paper Monkey Theatre and Bhumi Collective Read More »
Open Call for W.O.W. (Women on Women) Classics, a pilot literary project to increase awareness of forgotten or neglected classics by women. Do you want to know more literary classics written by Singaporean women? Are you keen to develop further your analytical skills? ArtsEquator and award-winning writer Elaine Chiew have launched Women on Women Classics
Open Call for W.O.W. (Women on Women) Classics: A Pilot Literary Project Read More »
By ila Many of us grew up with ghost stories. For some of us, it’s very much part of our belief system that we share the world with other presences. (If you’re interested, I wrote a speculative text about the Pontianak here.) When I was younger, my mom would use the word “pelesit” each time
Pelesits And Where To Find Them: A conversation with NADA and Teater Ekamatra Read More »
By Hoe Su Fern Since 1990, The Substation has been the sole occupant of the conserved building at 45 Armenian Street. Over the years, it has transformed the once-abandoned power station into Singapore’s first artist-led multi-disciplinary arts centre. However, in July 2020, the news that the conserved building would undergo renovations and that The Substation
The Substation: How many more canaries in the coal mine? Read More »
By Joel Tan Welcome to my new column for ArtsEquator, where every month I’ll be giving you a little line-up of Singaporean and other Southeast Asian streaming content that I think is interesting and worth talking about in my typically TLDR, long-winded way. I’m not even talking about Netflix (which I’ve already written about at
SEE WHAT SEE (Feb 2021): DESIRE Read More »
By Patricia Tobin (665 words, 4-minute read) The story of Oedipus is undoubtedly known to all. From the classic Sophocles’ play to Freudian theory, this Ancient Greek myth has bled into our cultural consensus over a few millennia. Yet, Nine Years Theatre’s (NYT) take on Oedipus feels fresh and timely. Held at KC Arts Centre,
A predestined fate: Nine Years Theatre’s Oedipus Read More »
ArtsEquator chats with producer and production stage manager, Charlinda Pereira and actress, Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai about their upcoming work subTITLED 1.0 by Bridging The Gap (BTG). The play tells the intertwining stories of three women, an activist, an arts intern and a criminal lawyer, and their involvement in a drug trafficking case. BTG, an initiative
ArtsEquator organised a webinar titled “Statistically Speaking: Analysing arts audience engagement in Singapore and Australia” on Thursday, 28 January. This panel brought together representatives from the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Australia Council of the Arts to elucidate on recent research results about arts engagement, and discuss what it tells us about the future
Snow Whitening Revisited presents an allegory on being a female artist in Cambodia, playing with imagery that evokes visceral feelings of clinging, and a sense of embodied helplessness that pays tribute to both cultural heritage and a deep historical trauma. Presented digitally as part of this year’s M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, the piece masterfully explores
Women making history: Snow Whitening Revisited Read More »
Walk around Kampong Gelam today and it’s easy to forget how much of a rich historical site it used to be. Historical markers abound, and yet, grab any young person hanging out in its many hip dining establishments and they might not know, for example, why Kampong Gelam is so named. Uncle: “It’s even medicinal,
Aliwal Tracks: Mr Gelam and the potential of virtual worldbuilding Read More »
By Vithya Subramaniam (915 words, 4-minute read) It begins with a provocation, asking if we can ‘change the way we make theatre in the future’. The concern here is in the way theatre is made, the process. While raising these questions might seem to suggest upending theatre as we know it, Offstage 3.0 presents a
Offstage 3.0: Of stage and on walls Read More »
Every first Wednesday of the month, ArtsEquator will release a list of recommended shows/events/programmes that our readers can look out for in that month. This list in published in no particular order. 1. Ulirát: Best Contemporary Stories in Translation from the Philippines Gaudy Boy has a new translation imprint, Gaudy Boy Translates, and is
ArtsEquator’s Hot List: February 2021 Read More »
Not many people can endure the traumatic experience of losing a child to suicide, let alone be of sound mind to write about it in a painfully self-aware manner. In Loss Adjustment, Linda Collins weaves together the late Victoria’s journal with her own journey as a grieving mother into a heart-wrenching memoir. This book is
Tender reading: A review of Loss Adjustment by Linda Collins Read More »
