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 […]
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Bali 1928 is an ongoing international and interdisciplinary project established by American ethnomusicologist Edward Herbst in 2002 to “research, find, understand, document, explain, restore, re-release, and repatriate the first published recordings of music in Bali along with rare film footage and photographs of musicians and dance-drama performances from the 1930s”. With support from the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre’s Regional Mobility
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 »
Vietnamese singer and political activist Mai Khoi was detained for eight hours in a move that Human Rights Watch says points to intensified government efforts to stifle political opposition Vietnamese singer and pro-democracy activist Mai Khoi was detained for eight hours by authorities at Hanoi airport yesterday morning as part of an ongoing government crackdown
Duration: 26 min ArtsEquator’s dance podcast series returns this year, after a short hiatus, with a lively and thoughtful discussion between Chan Sze-Wei, (dance-maker, performance-maker and sometime trouble-maker; Chloe Chotrani (movement artist, writer and gardener); and Soultari Amin Farid (choreographer, arts educator and researcher of Malay dance) This month they discuss two programmes that took
Podcast 37: “Joget” and “Intersections: Traditionally Speaking” 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 »
If life is fleeting and death is certain, how do we make our days count? Over five productions, The Studios invites us to confront this question in our everyday. In this year’s series, Esplanade takes on the theme “Between Living and Dying” and presents a showcase of deep and thought-provoking works by five female creators: Edith Podesta, Faith Ng,
Esplanade Presents The Studios: Between Living and Dying Read More »
Alice in Wonderland by L’arietta, Aliwal Arts Centre, 29 Mar – 1 Apr This Easter, take a trip down the rabbit hole with your kids and your parents as Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of whimsy and wonder come to life again, reimagined into a 75-minute opera with a modern spin, which promises to be fantastical fun
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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
This is the book to own or read if you are in any way invested, connected and working with children as well as people with special needs. It is exactly as the title says: an effort to be inclusive, empowering and celebrate all people. The book is divided into five sections: Inclusive dance pedagogy; Equality,
Good Southeast Asian literature and its related commentary can be hard to find for some of the people living in this region’s – however, it is possible. One such gem is the Mekong Review, a quarterly literary journal that aims to bring the region’s literary and intellectual life to a broader audience. Publishing fiction, essays, reviews
Mekong Review, The Accidental Southeast Asian Literary Journal (via Eksentrika) Read More »
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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Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Solo, Yogyakarta and Jakarta from 19 – 25 March 2018 On Thursday, in Central Java, there are 2 music performances to watch for your Thursday night art entertainment. In Solo, the Parkiran Jazz series presents “Wanita Berkarya”, a jazz night dedicated to women. The night will feature
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In an example of cruel irony, October 20 is when we celebrate annual Vietnam Women’s Day, and also the anniversary of the passing of Mai Nga (commonly known as Nga Nhi), the lead singer of Go Lim – a Hanoi-based female post-punk band that, albeit short-lived, struck a blow for women’s representation in rock and
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 »
Duration: 22 min In March’s edition of Fresh Blood, we get to know Thereabouts Theatre, a new young theatre group interested in site-specific performances and dance theatre. Their first production Set Apart, which broadly explores the notion of the taboo through the use of movement and text, opens on the 24th of March at Emily Hill.
Podcast 36: Thereabouts Theatre 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”
By Akanksha Raja (780 words, five-minute read) Pangdemonium’s first play of 2018, The Father, revolves around the 70-year-old titular character, André (Lim Kay Siu), and the harrowing effects of his increasingly uncontrollable symptoms of dementia on daughter Anne (Tan Kheng Hua), her partner Pierre (Emil Marwa), and Laura (Frances Lee), one of a series of
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By Akanksha Raja The Singapore International Festival of Arts 2018 is just over a month away, and the programme offers an extensive palette of art and performance not only from Singapore but also as farther afield as Germany, Palestine, India, Cape Verde, and more. It’s hard to define or label the types of shows on
SIFA 2018: Top Ten Picks for the Art Lover Read More »
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 »
Duration: 30 min This year, Esplanade’s The Studios series runs from 29 March to 29 April at the Esplanade Theatre Studio, and features five deep and thought-provoking works by five female creators: Edith Podesta, Faith Ng, Kaylene Tan, Michelle Tan, and Zizi Azah. Corrie Tan speaks with Edith, Faith, Kaylene and Michelle about their inspirations, the
Podcast 35: Esplanade’s The Studios 2018 Interview 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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Hanoi: Mai Khoi Do Nguyen has long been described as Vietnam’s Lady Gaga. In more recent years, as her political activism has come to the fore, her expressions of rude dissent, she has also been compared to Russia’s infamous protest band, Pussy Riot. Both comparisons hold true, and yet neither do. Mai Khoi is both a serious
Vietnam’s answer to Pussy Riot furiously dissents (via The Sydney Morning Herald) Read More »
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
