Country Archives

Artists, writers urged to promote culture, people development [Vietnam]

“President Tran Dai Quang has asked artists and writers to show stronger performance in implementing the Party and State’s orientations in building literature and art in the new period as well as developing the culture and people of Vietnam to suit the requirements of the country’s sustainable development. The President made the request while addressing […]

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Photo Essay: “Knives In The Water” a Solo Exhibition by Speak Cryptic

By Clara Cheong (1005 words, 7-minute read) On a blazing hot afternoon last week, I stepped into the welcome cool of one of Gillman Barrack’s newest private art galleries, Chan + Hori Contemporary. The artist behind the iconic illustrations on the walls of BooksActually and The Projector, Speak Cryptic (Farizwan Fajari) was having his first solo exhibition in

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NGO Cheers Opening of Animation Studio in Phnom Penh [Cambodia]

“Visitors to the Institut Francais tonight will be met by life-size cardboard characters inspired by the 2D animations and illustrations of Phare Creative Studio, a new social enterprise that helps fund NGO Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang City. The launch event for the animation and graphic design studio—which will be split between Battambang and Phnom

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Fieldnotes from The LASALLE Show Exhibition 2017

By Elaine Chiew (970 words, 9-minute read) The biggest show of the year for Lasalle College of the Arts opened on the evening of the 18th with fanfare: speeches, tinsel, music, a buffet of food, tons of people. The variety of works on show is dizzying — a cornucopia of over 800 works from the

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Home is where the art is, at Ban Pong district in Ratchaburi [Thailand]

“Around an hour’s drive west of Bangkok, Ban Pong district in Ratchaburi has been turned into a vibrant art gallery, where visitors can explore the town and take selfies with striking works by more than 40 contemporary artists. Under the Ban Pong City Contemporary Art Development Project by AT Exchange (Art Terminal Exchange), this two-and-a-half

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In the Lopez Museum, the explosive silence of four women artists [Philippines]

“In “Pauses of Possibility,” the Lopez Museum gathers four Filipino women artists — Marina Cruz, Kara de Dios, Elaine Navas, and Pam Yan Santos — in celebration of introspection and life’s quiet moments. Curated by Lopez Museum curator, Ricky Francisco, the works of these women, called “guest artists” in the exhibit notes, are arranged throughout

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22 – 28 May 2017: Singapore

TEMPÊTE 23 May, 8pm @ Alliance française de Singapour (Land Leg) Dom is 36 and works as a sailor on a fishing boat in the port of Les Sables d’Olonne, a small French town. He is used to leave for the open sea for at least three weeks in a row. Despite his absences, his

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Podcast 15: Theatre Invasion Singapore

Duration: 26 minutes Matt Lyon speaks to Adeeb Fazah and Teresa Zhou, two members of Theatre Invasion Singapore, a passionate team of four final-year undergraduates from NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information who’re on a crucial mission: to promote the magic of theatre among young adult audiences. They share their journey from unearthing

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22 – 28 May 2017: Indonesia

Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Sleman and Bali from 22-28 May 2017 JAKARTA Menara Ingatan, 24 – 24 May 2017, 8 PM, Teater Kecil, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta Menara Ingatan, or the Minaret of Memory, is a music-theater performance by Teater Garasi, based on the composition of Yennu Ariendra, which combines drama, performance,

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Fresh Blood: “Move ____, as we move” by The Kaizen M.D.

By Akanksha Raja and Clara Cheong (1200 words, 8-minute read) There’s fresh blood on the theatre scene and ArtsEquator sent out two young reviewers to watch emerging performing art collective The Kaizen M.D.’s latest production “Move ___, as we move”, staged at Centre 42. Here’s what they thought about it. Akanksha: Move was conceived and written

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First Bangkok Art Biennale to Launch In 2018 [Thailand]

“The first Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) will be held next year, from November 2018 to February 2019 in Thailand’s capital. The announcement regarding BAB’s first edition was made in Venice on May 13 at the Westin Europa & Regina Hotel, San Marco, by the Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation, which was co-founded by food and beverage mogul

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Looking at Institutions Look at Themselves: NUS Museum & NTU CCA Singapore

By Marcus Yee (1530 words, 20-minute read) “What am I?” asks the museum. “If I am not to be metamuseum, interred within my own history, what do I do?”. —Lisa G. Corrin Amidst the torrential stream of infrastructural expansion and bureaucratic densification that characterises the “arts ecosystem” in Singapore, several art institutions appear to

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15 – 21 May: Singapore 2017

Saturday, 20 May, 11:00am @ The Arts House SEMINAR: sgPoems 2015/16 Anthology This seminar discusses the Singapore poetry landscape based on the first publication by the Poetry Festival (Singapore). The anthology showcases poems by finalists in Poetry Festival’s competition over the last two years as well as featured poets during the festival in 2015. The

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15 – 21 May 2017: Indonesia

Top Picks in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Makassar from 15-21 May 2017 JAKARTA BBUZZSHOW@JAKARTA, Now – 30 May 2017, Galeria Fatahillah, Jakarta BBuzzShow is one of BBuzzArt’s global traveling exhibitions that provide exhibition opportunities for emerging artists. BBuzzArt is a social platform that aims to support emerging artists by connecting artists and art lovers

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What does it mean to represent the ‘Filipino’ in the 2017 Venice Art Biennale? [Philippines]

“The idea of a “national identity” isn’t flat, as some people might have you think. It is a vast, complex landscape, with boundaries leaking from one to the other. Perceived differences form a major part of what one’s national identity is supposed to be, but it is an idea sifted through many filters, such as

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Podcast 14: La Cage and Tropicana

Duration: 30 minutes Former Flying Inkpot reviewers Matthew Lyon and Naeem Kapadia get together to discuss Tropicana the Musical and Wild Rice’s La Cage – two glamorous, star-studded, cabaret-themed musicals that opened within a few days of each other within the past month. While one’s a localised version of a Tony Award-winning Broadway original, the other’s a Singapore original that

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Artists in Southeast Asia: Zoncy, Anon Pairot and more share what inspires their recent artworks [SEA]

“The references that artists use to inform their work are widely varied: these can be a song, a film, a novel, a fashion image, a building in their neighbourhood, a childhood memory and sometimes a combination of two or more of them. The possibilities and permutations are endless. Five Southeast Asian artists, Robert Zhao Renhui

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Let’s Talk About Ageism and Dance [Singapore]

“At an event last week, about 30 adults came together to present a community dance. Some of them were women and men in their 70s and had never danced in public before. The excitement on their faces, the joy in the gait as they took their positions and the sheer bliss they exuded while moving

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Dancing Unashamed: ¡Walang Hiya!

By Chan Sze-Wei (945 words, 9-minute read) “There are so many taboos and judgements around our bodies and the politics they carry. Let’s take the leap to talk and dance about tough questions. Let’s be unashamed. Walang hiya.” Over two weeks this February in Manila and Singapore, a group of dancers came together to look

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Major Exhibition Takes Contemporary Cambodian Art to US [Cambodia]

“The theme of the exhibition is as intriguing as Cambodia itself: a land in which events of the past 50 years continue to weigh on people, even those far too young to have witnessed them. “Cambodia: Looking Back on the Future,” opening today in the U.S., will feature the works of 11 artists as well

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Mesmerising molam [Thailand, Laos]

“Twenty-five years ago I joined a team from the Japan Foundation on a tour of Isan to meet and talk to molam artists, as part of a project on Lao music in the region. We met up with the then-president of the Molam Association, National Artist Kane Dalao, and his two female molam partners, Boonpeng

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Zane Gan

Photo Essay: Backstage Pass to Wild Rice’s “La Cage Aux Folles”

Photography By Zane Gan, text by Sean Ghazi Photographer Zane Gan tracks Sean Ghazi, who plays George in Wild Rice’s La Cage Aux Folles, capturing the camaraderie, rituals and water bottles that keep the show going on. The hit musical, directed by Glen Goei, runs until 13 May 2017. Making the rounds before the

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Podcast 13: Classical and Contemporary Indian Dance

Duration: 25 min “When we want to talk about tradition and contemporary … I see it as a kind of a recalibration, a relocation of form in this time and this space. Watching Raka and her group, to my eye, it was very difficult to say here is where tradition stops and here is where

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8 – 14 May 2017: Singapore

Surviving the Japanese Occupation: War and its Legacies, Former Ford Factory, open all week To mark – not commemorate – the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore, there’ll be an exhibition set in the Old Ford Factory, which was where the British surrendered to the Japanese forces on February 15, 1942. Spread across four

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Review: Oh Soon-Hwa’s “Coastal Regions (Delta)” at The Private Museum [Singapore]

“From its headwaters in the Tibetan plateau, the Mekong River flows past six countries for over 4,000 kilometers to the South China Sea—but its journey is unquiet. Since the 1990s, the river has been punctuated by a string of Chinese hydropower dams, with dozens more in the works. Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam are also

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Following the Threads that Connect Clothing to Religious Persecution in Southeast Asia [Thailand]

“The violence meted out against people for their religious, political, and ethnic affiliations, often signaled by clothing and the symbols they wear, provides a lens through which to see abuses of power. All over the world, clothing and symbols can take on protective, threatening, or dangerous meanings. As happens in the West, discrimination against Muslims also occurs in Thailand and

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8 – 14 May 2017: Indonesia

Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta from 8 – 14 May 2017 JAKARTA Europe on Screen 2017 @ Kineforum, 8 – 14 May 2017, Kineforum, Jakarta Europe on Screen 2017 continues with screenings of 33 films at Kineforum between 8 – 14 May 2017. Europe on Screen is an annual festival where

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‘Brother Cane is part of me’: Josef Ng [Singapore]

“Neatly stashed away in an HDB flat somewhere in the western part of Singapore are a folded black robe, newspaper cuttings, tiles with splashes of red dye, and strands of pubic hair. These are all that remains of Josef Ng’s Brother Cane, one of the most controversial performances in Singapore’s contemporary art history. “Yes, everything

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Aaron Seeto and the Importance of Art Education [Indonesia]

“Ahead of Museum MACAN’s (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara) slated opening in November 2017, we sat down with Aaron Seeto, director of the museum, to find out what’s planned for Indonesia’s first museum dedicated entirely to international modern and contemporary art. MACAN will officially be launching later this year, in November, and

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Prayer, Puppetry, and Politics: The World of Malay Performance Art [SEA]

“Kathy Foley, curator of Malay Theatre: Intangible Cultural Heritage and Islam, boasts decades of experience studying the art and theater of Indonesia and Southeast Asia. A trained performer in the art of wayang, traditional Indonesian mask and puppetry, Foley holds the distinction of being one of the first non-Indonesians to be invited to the prestigious

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