In The Silence of Your Heart by Kaylene Tan, Esplanade Theatre Studio, 5 – 8 April In the Silence of Your Heart is an invitation to enter the world of a charming politician and inveterate drinker. Thian has been paralysed for 13 years. He’s been still and silent all this time, but his mind […]
Weekly Picks: Singapore (2 – 8 April 2018) Read More »
An art installation in Hai Phong has become the butt of jokes online. You’ve probably seen them by now on your newsfeed: a set of 12 stone statues, each taking the form of one of Vietnam’s astrological sign animals. While the statues retain the heads of an animal in the local zodiac – from pig
The Curious Case of Hai Phong’s Nude Zodiac Sculptures (via Saigoneer) Read More »
Despite being nearly 14,000 kilometres from her hometown in America, Myanm/art gallery director Nathalie Johnston has managed to create a home for herself – and Myanmar’s growing contemporary art scene – in the bustling city of Yangon. Johnston’s first encounter with Myanmar took place over two decades ago, in 1997, when her family visited a
Nathalie Johnston: Creating a home for contemporary art in Myanmar Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Medan, Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Jember from 26 March – 1 April 2018 Indonesia’s ocean contains some of the most beautiful coral reefs in the world. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of the population cares about the ocean and have the wisdom to preserve the reefs. One of Indonesia’s
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SINGAPORE: Jalan Besar Town Council has taken down the gold mylar sheets, which were hung by Singapore artist Priyageetha Dia at Block 103 Jalan Rajah four days ago, after receiving complaints from residents saying it reminded them of joss paper. Dr Lily Neo, who is the MP for the Jalan Besar GRC, told Channel NewsAsia on Thursday
By Corrie Tan (2,400 words, 12-minute read) Art that Moves is an occasional series where we ask artists and other creative workers to reflect on artworks, performances or events that were personally important to them. Minzayar Oo is a Burmese photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Yangon, Myanmar, and represented by Panos Pictures. He studied
Art That Moves: Burmese Photojournalist Minzayar Oo Read More »
By Akanksha Raja The Singapore International Festival of Arts 2018 takes place at different venues across the Civic District, including Victoria Theatre, its sprawling Empress Lawn, and the Esplanade Theatre. Nestled comfortably between these locations is The Arts House, dubbed the Festival House. If SIFA 2018 were a living, breathing person, the Festival House is
SIFA 2018: The Festival House and The Outdoors Read More »
Dinh Q. Lê: Monuments and Memorials, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, 17 Mar – 12 May 2018 Dinh Q. Le’s “Splendor and Darkness” series of woven photographs is a depiction of the Cambodian history that blends images of Khmer temples with portraits of Khmer Rouge victims killed at Tuol Sleng. Singapore Tyler Print Institute presents these
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For nearly three decades, the American master weaver Carol Cassidy has been working with Laotian silk weavers on the grounds of a grand old colonial mansion in Vientiane. The outdoor workroom in a lush garden not far from the mighty Mekong River seems a world apart from Paris. A dozen Laotian women talk among themselves
The Woven Art of Laos (via The New York Times) Read More »
In the assembly hall of Chatsworth International School hang six statues of Sir Stamford Raffles. However, these aren’t your typical heroic effigies of Singapore’s chief colonist. They’re headless, legless, composed of patchwork fabric with Javanese words stitched into their skins, dangling from the ceiling at odd angles, as if participating in an erotic rope bondage
The Artists’ Colony: A Review of OH! Emerald Hill Read More »
These days you can find all sorts of Indonesian YouTubers, from travel vloggers, makeup tutorials, to those specializing in pulling pranks. While these videos might be entertaining – addictive even – there’s more to life than on-point makeup or adventurous travel or silly stunts. Enter Frame and Sentences, a YouTube channel created by two Indonesians
CHIANG MAI, Thailand – Works by 18 established and emerging artists from Southeast Asia offering their personal experiences of global migration, notions of identity and ongoing humanitarian crises in Myanmar are on currently on display in a group exhibition in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. The contemporary art exhibition “Diaspora: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia”
Much like meeting your idols, seeing your favourite artists’place of work is fraught with danger. What if you discover that the birthplace of their artistic creations looks more like what you’d find in an Ikea catalogue rather than the paint splattered artistic equivalent of a hydrothermal vent where ideas spring to life on the canvas? What
North Dagon: A hub of artistic creation, who knew? (via Myanmar Times) Read More »
Singapore Improv Festival 2018, Aliwal Arts Centre, 15 – 18 Mar Remember that rib-tickling TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which brought comedic improv theatre to the masses? Catch Singapore’s own improv talents take the stage for the second annual Singapore Improv Festial (SIF) at Aliwal Arts Centre this weekend where they present impromptu sketches and
Weekly Picks: Singapore (12 – 18 March 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Yogyakarta and Jakarta from 12 – 18 March 2018 Start your week with a ceramic workshop that also helps support coastal and marine ecosystems! The Coral Triangle Center (CTC), a non-profit foundation that promotes the conservation of marine biology, organizes a Coral Wall Ceramic Workshop this Monday.
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Sandar Khine, 46, is one of the few women artists in Myanmar who paint nudes, a courageous choice in a country where some equate images of a naked human body with pornography. A member of the Myanmar Fine Arts Collective who exhibits at New Treasure Art Gallery in Yangon, Sandar Khine was one of the
Textures – A Weekend With Words, The Arts House, 9 – 11 March Presented by The Arts House and co-commissioned by #BuySingLit, Textures – A Weekend With Words is an inaugural literary festival taking place from 9 – 11 March, chockablock with performances, workshops, book-themed exhibitions, and over 30 panel discussions, all in honour of homegrown literature, and the
Weekly Picks: Singapore (5 – 11 March 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Bandung and Jakarta from 5 – 11 March 2018 We start our picks this week in Bali. Photographer Syafiudin Vifick invites you to Perjamuan Terakhir, or The Last Supper. Through this solo photo exhibition, Syafiudin would like to engage visitors to reflect whether Bali is truly a
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By Akanksha Raja (920 words, four-minute read) On the heels of Objectifs Centre’s January showcase “we will have been young”, a group exhibition of works by fledgling Southeast Asian photographers themed on contemporary youth culture and the future, comes a very different solo showcase. This latest exhibition reverses its gaze, looking backwards on snippets of
Lui Hock Seng: The Past and Passing Read More »
Cambodian photographer Ly Min has been recognised in the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards, with his image Cave of Skulls being selected among the top 50 in the world in the Open Travel Category The Open competition rewards the best single image across ten categories, and Min’s photo has been acknowledged as one of the
Cambodian photographer’s image honoured as one of the best in the world (via SEA Globe) Read More »
By Corrie Tan (1,300 words, eight-minute read) We’ve all met the gaze of this pair of narrow, red-pupilled eyes – whether with a torchlight under the bedcovers, or in school, snuck into class beneath a desk. The predatory stare on the cover of Russell Lee’s True Singapore Ghost Stories still follows us from the shelves
“Out of Print”: classic Singaporean texts get a contemporary makeover Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Jakarta and Bandung from 26 February to 4 March 2018 We would like to begin by inviting you to Tour Nyanyian Anak Bintang event in Bali this Monday at Denpasar Kolektif. Nyanyian Anak Bintang is an album of songs that are written and sung by children from
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (26 February – 4 March 2018) Read More »
You can’t go to the Myanmar Art Museum to study the evolution of Myanmar art because there is no such thing as an art museum in Myanmar. Some even fail to notice that there is an art booth at the National Museum, which has been in existence for 66 years. Paintings in the booth by
Evolution of Myanmar Art On Display in New Exhibit at National Museum (via The Irrawady) Read More »
By Will Low (780 words, four-minute read) When I meet someone newly arrived in Myanmar, we usually end up talking about the experience of living in its busiest and largest city, Yangon. They’ll ask how long I’ve been here: five years, on and off. At some point they’ll say, “Yangon must have changed so much!”
Back to the future with Yangon Time Machine Read More »
A Malaysian artist and prominent opposition activist was jailed for a month on Tuesday for publishing a caricature of Prime Minister Najib Razak looking like a clown, a ruling likely to exacerbate concern about free speech. Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy recently announced plans to amend a law to stamp out fake news, the latest step
Malaysian court jails, fines artist for clown caricature of PM (via Reuters) Read More »
There is an unspeakable tranquil that washes over the audience seated inside the chapel at Objectifs – Centre for Photography and Film in Singapore. For the first five minutes of Be Longing by Sara Tan and Yejin Kwon, the windows are thrown open and we watch the traffic of Middle Road roll past. Passers-by unknowingly become performers as
“Be Longing” moves between home and away Read More »
By Akanksha Raja Presented by The Arts House and co-commissioned by #BuySingLit, Textures – A Weekend With Words is an inaugural literary festival taking place from 9 – 11 March, chockablock with performances, workshops, book-themed exhibitions, and over 30 panel discussions, all in honour of homegrown literature, and the energetic, growing community that has contributed and
ArtsEquator’s Picks: TEXTURES, A Weekend with Words Read More »
Duration: 14 min Latest in our Fresh Blood podcast where we chat with young emerging art-makers and arts workers, we caught up with LASALLE College of the Arts graduate Priyageetha Dia, who, even before graduating last year with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, made something of a name for herself when one of her
Podcast 34: Interview with Priyageetha Dia Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Bali from 19 – 25 February 2018 We begin our first pick this week in Jakarta with the launch of Goenawan Mohamad’s new book: Si Majenun dan Sayid Hamid. In his new book, Goenawan discusses several areas from the famous Spanish novel Don Quixote, particularly
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (19 – 25 February 2018) Read More »
Singapore Cult & Underground Film Festival, SCAPE, 23 – 25 February The films in this inaugural showcase organised by the Society for Cult & Underground Movies explores the murkier sides of humanity and the underbellies of society, across the world: from the 1972 Yakuza cult classic Wandering Ginza Butterfly to the 2017 Golden Horse winner
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