Wretchedness and absurdity: Thoughts on Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite
By Teo You Yenn (760 words, 4-minute read) I watched Bong Joon-ho’s award-winning film Parasite later than most people I know, and after many people had told me I had to see it. It is indeed, as everyone promised, amazing….
Asian Arts Media Roundtable 2019: When Asian Critics Meet
By Akanksha Raja and Ke Weiliang (1,444 words, 6-minute read) The inaugural Asian Arts Media Roundtable (AAMR) took place between 24 to 25 May 2019 at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. Organised by ArtsEquator, the two-day gathering of over…
Mad women, divine punishment, and “Dionysus”
By Corrie Tan (1,700 words, eight-minute read) This review contains spoilers and/or plot points for The Bacchae, a 2,500-year-old ancient Greek tragedy; Beware of Pity, a 1939 German novel adapted for the stage by the Schaubühne Berlin and Complicité; as…
Podcast 59: The Truth About Voguing in Asia
Duration: 20 min Podcast host Chloe Chotrani (assisted by Chan Sze-Wei) uncovers the world of vogue culture and voguing in Asia from legendary mother, Koppi Mizrahi, who hails from Tokyo, Singaporean drag queen Vanda Miss Joaquim and Singaporean dancer Amin…
“Beautiful Water”: Intercultural Theatre Made in Threes
By Ken Takiguchi (1,229 words, 6-minute read) As I enter the auditorium of Kirari Fujimi, a public theatre located about one hour away from the centre of Tokyo, I find myself in the waters of somewhere in Asia. The audience…
“Jogging” To Survive: Hanane Hajj Ali at M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2019
By Stephanie Burridge (800 words, four-minute read) Metaphors abound in this complex work about living, loving and surviving. The broad canvas is a country at war. Jogging falls short of running full out, and this black clad woman has survived…
“Dionysus”: Suzuki Tadashi Brings Vengeance to SIFA 2019
By Kathy Rowland (642 words, three-minute read) Suzuki Tadashi is one of the brand names in the international tour circuit, whose productions have earned critical praise and inspired several generations of audiences. A decade on from his last production in…
ArtsEquator’s Top 10 Picks at the Performing Arts Meeting 2019
Established in 1995, the Tokyo Performing Arts Market (TPAM) was created to be a platform to network Japanese artists with producers and funders. 24 years later, TPAM has expanded in scope and purpose, to include live performance, panel discussions and…
Eleven New Elements from the Asia-Pacific Region Inscribed on the List of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage
Meeting in Mauritius until 1 December, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage inscribed eleven elements from the Asia-Pacific region on the Lists of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. Among them, two elements have been added to…
On Taipei Arts Festival with Tang Fu Kuen
By Yuka Sugiyama (480 words, three-minute read) The Taipei Arts Festival (TAF) began in 1998 as one of the main festivals in Taipei to mark the city’s contemporary consciousness through the staging of multiple artistic activities for international and national…
La Cie Maxmind’s “Isle of Dreams”: The Dark Fantastic
By Akanksha Raja (620 words, four-minute read) 拾念劇集 La Cie Maxmind’s Isle of Dreams (蓬萊) was the headlining event for the George Town Festival’s Taiwan-focused showcase this year. It is a three-hour long work of musical theatre, original in story…
The World Cup, The Japanese Occupation and Our Painful Inheritance
This article is republished from the Singapore International Film Festival editorial. It is part of New Waves 2018, an annual series of screenings and dialogues with regional filmmakers. For this third edition of the New Waves series, SGIFF invites participants…
Mayfly Docus: “Die Tomorrow” and “14 Apples” at SIFA’s “Singular Screens”
By Dan Koh (1,715 words, 15-minute read) At this year’s Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), the two films from Southeast Asia are documentaries, or hybrid-documentaries—just like last year’s three, curiously. Despite the glaring gaps that remain in the funding,…
Is Singapore losing its standing as the art hub of Southeast Asia? (via SEA Globe)
Despite the government’s desperate attempts to position Singapore as Southeast Asia’s arts hub, flagging figures at major shows and accusations of artificiality have put the city-state’s art scene under more scrutiny than ever Singapore has long tried to combat its…
Zai Kuning’s “Dapunta Hyang”: Homeward Bound From Venice
Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge by Zai Kuning returns from its showing at the 2017 Venice Biennale for a month long exhibition at Theatreworks Singapore. The exhibition runs from 12 April through 13 May 2018. A series…
Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab unveils second round of projects (via Screen International)
Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (SEAFIC) has finalised the selection for its second edition, focusing on first-time filmmakers from Laos, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Established producers such as Fran Borgia (A Yellow Bird) and Anthony Chen (Pop Aye) are attached…
Dance as Devotion in South India and Southeast Asia
By Chloe Chotrani (1400 words, 12-minute read) Dance was practiced as a devotional union between the ancestral and earthly realms through ritualistic performances in architectural spaces, with its genesis in India, extending into Southeast Asia. This essay examines the bronze…
One Man, Stand Alone: On the trail of the old movie theaters (via Asiola)
“After nearly 10 years of documenting the vanishing stand-alone movie theaters in Southeast Asia, I’d like to invite the public into my world, to experience exactly what it is that I experience when doing this work.” Philip Jablon is a cultural…
Art, autism and love: the world of Nem
By Ha Dao (970 words, 6-minute read) The Asia Europe Foundation’s Culture360 and ArtsEquator present a series of 5 co-commissioned articles that look at arts groups, artists and performances in Southeast Asia that are comprised of or address artists with disabilities. In…
Southeast Asia Stakes Its Claim in the Art World (via the New York Times)
“Until recently — the 1990s, let’s say — an American critic keeping tabs on new art would concentrate on New York’s museums and galleries; cast an occasional, often dismissive eye on Western Europe; and perhaps try to visit Los Angeles…
What Else is Disappearing With Southeast Asia’s Mangrove Forests? (via the Nib)
“There’s no other place on Earth where such a variety of flora and fauna can flourish together. And it’s in danger.” View Kazimir Lee’s infographic-comic on Southeast Asia’s endangered mangrove forests on The Nib.
Move over China, Southeast Asian art takes center stage
“Not to be outdone by North Asia, which hosts major events like Art Basel every year, Southeast Asia is rapidly growing its own art fair line-up. The inaugurating edition of Art Stage Jakarta attracted 15,000 people last month and pulled…
Book Review: “Photography in Southeast Asia: A Survey” by Zhuang Wubin
By Marina Zuccarelli (550 words, 5-minute read) Photography arrived in Southeast Asia soon after its discovery in Europe in 1839, provoking contrasting reactions and developing in different ways according to the environment where it was introduced, yet having indeed an…
Regional Forum on Creative Hubs: Connecting Creative Communities
By Akanksha Raja (900 words, 8-minute read) The Regional Forum on Creative Hubs and Cities, organised by the British Council, took place at the Thailand Creative & Design Center (TCDC) on 10 October 2017. It was an extension of a…
ArtsEquator’s Picks: Southeast Asian films at SGIFF 2017
By Meta Setiawan Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) returns this year from 23 November to 3 December 2017, presenting an exciting array of films from Singapore, the region and all other corners of the world. ArtsEquator.com is excited to see…
![ASEAN Music Festival: After K-pop and J-pop, what about ASEAN-pop? [Philippines]](https://artsequator.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/RADAR_ASEAN-Music-Fest-455x250.jpg)
ASEAN Music Festival: After K-pop and J-pop, what about ASEAN-pop? [Philippines]
“There’s K-pop, J-pop, Cantopop, and even Pinoy pop. But do we know what kind of music our ASEAN neighbors are producing? The dominance of Western music notwithstanding, ASEAN Music Festival organizer Annie Luis of the National Commision for Culture and…
![First Asean-China Film Festival to take place in Malaysia in December [SEA]](https://artsequator.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/RADAR_Asean-ChinaFilmFestival-455x250.jpg)
First Asean-China Film Festival to take place in Malaysia in December [SEA]
“This year is the the 50th anniversary of Asean (Association Of Southeast Asian Nations). To commemorate this, the Asean-China Film Festival has been announced to establish a long-term exchange and cooperation platform for the Asean film industry, in line with China’s Belt and…
Tikam-Tikam Japan: Site-Specific Monkeys by Pichet Klunchun
By Leow Puay Tin (911 words, 6-minute read) Pichet Klunchun was invited to create an outdoor performance at Minami Ikebukuro Park, a popular hang-out place for families and young people in Tokyo, by the Festival Tokyo 2017. It was an…
![ArtAsiaPacific: After Darkness, Southeast Asian Art in the Wake of History [SEA, USA]](https://artsequator.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Radar_USA_SEAArtWakeofHistory_AAP_review-455x250.jpg)
ArtAsiaPacific: After Darkness, Southeast Asian Art in the Wake of History [SEA, USA]
“A lasting impression one got from the exhibition “After Darkness: Southeast Asian Art in the Wake of History” at the Asia Society Museum in New York was the sense of art’s power to propel. Walking a tight rope between personal…
“SUNSHOWER”: Encounters with Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia
By Leow Puay Tin (1645 words, 14-minute read) The “SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now” exhibition in Tokyo has collected so much material that it could be split into two substantial halves, one at the Mori Art…