To preface: a statement to disclaim. Artist-choreographer-dancer Daniel Kok and visual artist Miho Shimizu remind the viewer in an artist statement[1] for xhe that any response to the performance is always already inadequate, calling for a critique of spectatorship and gesturing towards the plurality of selves. I caught both performances of xhe on the 12th and […]
“xhe”: Caught Between a Square and an Octopus Read More »
By Jocelyn Chng (1160 words, six-minute read) Until the Lions, a work that premiered in 2016 at the Roundhouse in London, is presented as one of the main (Centrestage) programmes at the 2018 Esplanade da:ns festival. The Akram Khan Company has toured to Singapore on several occasions in the past two decades, most recently with
“Until the Lions” by Akram Khan Company: What About the Lioness? Read More »
By Chan Sze Wei (1090 words, five-minute read) T.H.E. Dance Company turns 10 this year and Invisible Habitudes, a da:ns festival commission, reads as an eclectic postcard of the artistic signature of Kuik Swee Boon. The company, and Kuik himself, have been astoundingly prolific with new creations in the span of these 10 years –
“Invisible Habitudes”: Postcards From a Choreographer’s Journey Read More »
Because it’s Fun by The Fool Theatre 愚者剧场, Drama Centre Black Box, 12 – 21 October The inaugural production for The Fool Theatre, Because it’s Fun shows how bullying is omnipresent in our society and how it affects our mental well-being. Don’t miss this mind-blowing new play by playwright Tung Ka Wai and artistic director Xavier Kang, founders
Weekly Picks: Singapore (15 – 21 September 2018) Read More »
Check out the list below to find out the list of open calls and job opportunities that are currently available in Singapore: IMPART Awards 2019 Open Call for Submissions Calling all Singaporean & PR Visual Artists and Curators: The IMPART Awards 2019 is now officially OPEN for submissions! The IMPART Awards will confer SGD 20,000
Open Calls and Job Opportunities: October 2018 (Singapore) Read More »
As told to Akanksha Raja In the latest instalment in our series covering independent art spaces in Southeast Asia, ArtsEquator.com spoke with artist Seelan Palay to learn about his practice, his inspirations, and his journey setting up the independent alternative art space Coda Culture, at 803 King George’s Avenue in Singapore. Here’s what he shared
Coda Culture: A Space for Freedom Read More »
This article is the third in a series of essays by students from the Singapore Management University Arts and Culture Management programme. The arts has always been a significant and cherished part of my life. Whenever I can, I watch theatre productions and concerts; they broaden my perspective by enabling me to view the world
SMU Series: More Than Just Managers, Enabling the Arts Read More »
The walls of nor’s exhibition, ‘In Love’, are painted millennial pink. Photographs are displayed on the walls, salon-style, in an assortment of frames donated by the artist’s friends. Fairy lights line the ceiling. A sizeable bed sits in the middle of the humble room. Located on the second floor of a housing block, Lea’s exhibition
nor Reclaims the Transgender Experience from Mainstream Media (via Frieze) Read More »
Duration: 30 mins ArtsEquator’s theatre podcast host Matt Lyon is joined by guests Naeem Kapadia and Charlene Rajendran to discuss Teater Ekamatra’s Tiger of Malaya, which was written by Alfian Sa’at and directed by Mohd Fared Jainal, staged at the Drama Centre Black Box, inside the National Library Building, Singapore, from 12 to 23 September
Podcast 49: “Tiger of Malaya” Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (960 words, four-minute read) Prior to stepping into the mystifying world of The Misinterpreted Futures of George Town 2068, I was curious and fascinated by that science-fictioney title, coupled with the exciting premise of a performance with no performers: the technical elements of the show (lights, sound design, video projections) perform in
“The Misinterpreted Futures of George Town 2068”: Missing Futures Read More »
By Corrie Tan (2,080 words, 10-minute read) Spoiler alert: this essay discusses certain plot points about Tiger of Malaya in detail. The Drama Centre Black Box, on level five of the National Library, is bracketed by floors and floors of reference books and historical documents; to get there you must ascend past the Asian Film
“Tiger of Malaya”: The Body Remembers What the Archive Cannot Read More »
鞭爱 Oedipus by Toy Factory Productions Toy 肥料厂, NOWPlaying@17, 17A Smith Street, 21, 22, 28, 29 Sep 2018 鞭爱 Oedipus by Toy Factory Productions presents the case of a senseless murder where a severely disabled man Wang Jia Hao has whipped his 50 year old mother to death. An officer fights to uncover the truth
Weekly Picks: Singapore (24 – 30 September 2018) Read More »
Esplanade’s da:ns festival returns this year from 9 – 21 October. The 13-day celebration of movement features powerful performances from around the world, internationally acclaimed acts and exciting new works. Apart from ticketed performances, the festival offers free programmes, including mass dance sessions, workshops, and da:ns lab, the festival’s annual platform for critical discourse on
SHIFT (Your Perspective) at Esplanade’s da:ns festival 2018: A Sneak Peek in GIFs Read More »
The Sight/Unseen Asian Drama Conference was a two-day event on 26 – 27 April 2018 at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Tara Arts. Billed as an event to “tackle challenging issues facing playwrights in the UK and in Southeast Asia,” participants came all geared up to discuss issues ranging from minority representation to taboo subjects
On Taboos, Touring and Cultural Representation: Sight/Unseen Asian Drama Conference Read More »
The Golden Record 2.0, NUS Arts Festival 2018, 21 – 22 September 2018, University Cultural Centre Theatre At the NUS Arts Festival 2017 was staged part one of The Golden Record, inspired by the 40th anniversary of the 1977 NASA launch of Voyager I and II, the interstellar crafts that carried two ‘Golden Records’ deep
Weekly Picks: Singapore (17 – 23 September 2018) Read More »
Faye Lim dances, facilitates, performs, improvises, makes, and mothers. In Singapore, she presents works with the Strangeweather Movement Group, a collective she founded to create and perform dance works at off-stage venues around Singapore. As part of Singapore’s Contact Improvisation (CI) community, Faye has also facilitated jams and workshops in Singapore and KL, and she runs child-friendly
Sitting in the ‘gap’: Faye Lim explores body autonomy for children (via Talking Circles) Read More »
A result of a research collaboration organised by the University of Sydney’s Power Institute in partnership with the Institut Teknologi Bandung and National Gallery Singapore, Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art, 1945-1990 is a recently published volume of ten collected essays. It is comparable to an archeological excavation, unearthing and resurfacing forgotten, if
Book Review: “Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art, 1945–1990” Read More »
In the vast firmament of Singaporean-Malaysian art history, no star illuminates as radiantly as T.K. Sabapathy. An art historian by training, Sabapathy initially began his career in the early 1970s by reviewing art and thereafter spent close to half a century doggedly writing art history into being in our corner of the world. Seven years
Tiger of Malaya by Teater Ekamatra, 12 – 23 Sept, Drama Centre Black Box In 1943, the Japanese film ‘The Tiger of Malaya’ was released. Based on the life story of Tani Yutaka, a Japanese man who lived on the east coast of Malaya, the film portrayed him as a patriotic agent who liberated the
Weekly Picks: Singapore (10 – 16 September 2018) Read More »
Duration : 33 mins Theatreworks’ 13.13.13 and SRT’s The Young Company’s The Fall are the two works discussed in this month’s podcast. Hosts Matt Lyon and Naeem Kapadia are joined by Ann Lee, playwright, LGBTQ activist and PhD-to-be in reflecting on Shen Tan’s ‘13.13.13’, directed by Tan Shou Chen. There were strong feelings all around. Stream
Podcast 47: TheatreWorks’ “13.13.13” and SRT The Young Company’s ‘The Fall’ Read More »
Duration: 25 mins Chloe C. Chotrani and Bernice Lee discuss the performances, workshops, technique classes and showcases featured in this year’s M1 Contact Contemporary Dance Festival, which spread out over three months from 15 June – 4 August 2018, as well as the Festival’s role in the landscape of contemporary dance practice and audience reception in Singapore. Chloe
Podcast 46: M1 Contact Contemporary Dance Festival 2018 Read More »
By Bernice Lee (1300 words, five-minute read) “Asian Festivals Exchange” puts together works selected from two East Asian festivals — Yokohama Dance Collection and Seoul Dance Collection — two works performed by T.H.E. Second Company, and a work-in-progress supported by M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival and Seoul Performing Arts Festival. It is a very full
“Asian Festivals Exchange” at M1 Contact Contemporary Dance Festival 2018 Read More »
Duration: October 2018 – March 2019 “What distinguishes the good, valuable theatre critic … is that you sense that [they are] writing about a cause – about a theatre in his or her mind. The … writing is possibly in some ways cloaked, but it is a crusade.” – “The Theatre Critic as Thinker”, New
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: ArtsEquator’s Reading Group for Critics Read More »
The Ordinary and The Unspectacular by The Theatre Practice 16 – 19 August 2018 After each breath Before the next Time streams into the moments of timelessness The Ordinary and The Unspectacular is a contemplation of the minutiae of everyday life. When each snapshot in time is magnified, the everyday becomes estranged and the simplicity of
Weekly picks: Singapore (13 – 19 August 2018) Read More »
The annual Asian Restored Classics (ARC) festival is an initiative by the Asian Film Archive (AFA). It’s the first of its kind in Singapore, providing a platform to celebrate the best of Asian cinema by screening the restored historic and iconic films to be appreciated by new generations of audiences. The past two editions of
Asian Restored Classics 2018: Revisiting the Past In New Light Read More »
By Chloe C. Chotrani (933 words, five-minute read) Closing the ninth M1 Contact Contemporary Dance Festival is the annual Binary – International Showcase: a double bill by Astrid Boons (Belgium/Netherlands) and Shamel Pitts (Israel/United States). In Vestige, an attempt to empty the body of its humanness, choreographer and performer Astrid Boons pushes the physicality of
By Bernice Lee (1100 words, six-minute read) M1 Contact Contemporary Dance Festival has become a staple of the contemporary dance scene in Singapore. It has used its resources to bring forward voices, particularly from the region, in an act of affirmation. Balancing local and international artists, bringing in projects mostly of an indie nature, this
“Off Stage” at M1 Contact 2018: Communicating Beyond The Stage Read More »
This article is the second in a series of essays by students from the Singapore Management University Arts and Culture Management programme. Never had I thought that I would be working with these monstrous little creatures. Yet, there I stood on my first day of work at The Artground (TAG), watching a group of pre-schoolers
Duration: 48 min Matt Lyon and Naeem Kapadia are back on ArtsEquator’s theatre podcast, and with a bang: nearly an hour’s worth of discussion on the Singapore Theatre Festival 2018 which just ended on 22 July. They discuss Thomas Lim’s Supervision, Tan Tarn How’s Press Gang and the verbatim performance One Metre Square: Voices from Sungei
Podcast 44: Singapore Theatre Festival 2018 Read More »
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