Features

An Artist’s Comprehensive History of Southeast Asian Photography [SEA, Singapore]

“I was first introduced to writer and photographer Zhuang Wubin’s work when I moved to Cambodia. His writings on Cambodian photography are well-researched, accessible, and thoughtful — exactly what I was seeking as a newcomer to the area. Zhuang became an important node for me to learn from and think through photography in Cambodia, and later the region as a whole.

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10 – 16 April 2017: Singapore

When Space Dissolves into Luminosity; Where Flowers Bloom Amidst Rocks, iPreciation Gallery, 15 April – 29 April 2017 iPreciation presents an exhibition comprising works by 10 Singaporean artists, which spans different mediums ranging from sculptures, paintings, prints and mixed media, and seeks to examine how artists approach questions of authenticity while navigating the ever complex world. Artists

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10 – 16 April 2017: Indonesia

Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Malang from 10 – 16 April 2017   JAKARTA    Duet of Amplified Sewing Machine, 9 April 2017, 7 – 9 PM, Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem, Hall A2, Jakarta Can a Singer sewing machine sing? Artist Steffi Muller and Lisa Simpson will say, “Yes!” A closing event of the

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K.S. Maniam is still in Malaysia, slams Dewan Sastera’s erroneous essay [Malaysia]

Malaysian novelist K.S. Maniam is still based in Malaysia and has not left to the United States as claimed in Dewan Sastera recently. Government department, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), through its monthly Malay language magazine, Dewan Sastera had reported in its April, 2017 issue that the 75-year-old had migrated to the United States. In an essay titled “Kolonialisme dan

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‘Bend in the River’ set to take a new twist: Khmer Times [Cambodia]

A deeply personal tale of revenge and redemption is set to return this weekend as Sophiline Arts Ensemble brings the celebrated “A Bend in the River” to Phnom Penh’s Chaktomuk Theater. While director and choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro will keep the story’s original roots, her focus will be to increase the production values of the

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Art that Moves: Brendon Fernandez

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. This week, actor Brendon Fernandez tells us about a production he saw as teenager that gave him the courage to become an actor. We caught up with Brendon

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It Changed My Life: Film-maker Kirsten Tan’s journey from quirky distraction to movie magic [Singapore]

“Today, the 35-year-old is one of Singapore’s most exciting film-makers with a robust slate of award-winning short films and documentaries under her belt. Her first feature, Pop Aye – an offbeat tale about a disenfranchised architect and the elephant he adopts – just nabbed prizes at two of the world’s most important film festivals: Sundance

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Political Acts review: Artists weave defiance into performance art [SEA]

Review of POLITICAL ACTS: PIONEERS OF PERFORMANCE ART IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, Arts Centre Melbourne Steven Tonkin has curated a useful survey of Southeast Asian performance art as part of the inaugural Asia Triennial of Performing Arts. The photographs and videos of seven artists contain glimpses of their social environments, reminding us that performance art comes

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Contemporary art taking off in Philippines as galleries host more visitors and collectors take a global view

At the opening of Art Fair Philippines in Manila last month, a young sound artist named Jon Romero was using an overseas visitor to conduct electricity between metal sheets. Each time Romero tapped on the visitor’s arm, the electrical charge created a sound. Romero began playing the visitor like an instrument. “It’s the electricity flowing

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3 – 10 April: Singapore

28.8 by Teater Kami, 7-8 Apr, Aliwal Arts Centre Written and directed by Adib Kosnan, this play targets a specific audience of young men and women who can relate to the challenges that living in Singapore poses to them financially. The play sees the blossoming of a relationship moving into marriage, before hitting different obstacles that

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3 – 9 April 2017: Indonesia

Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta from 3 – 9 April 2017   JAKARTA    Arus Bawah, 3 – 16 April 2017, Kineforum, Jakarta For the first half of April, Kineforum are bringing films with the theme of Arus Bawah or Under Current. Arus Bawah is a reflection of the undercurrent in society. Just

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Seattle soiree for musical on rise and fall of the Marcoses (via Inquirer.net)

SEATTLE, Washington — The public is invited to a special cultural night presentation of the hit musical “Here Lies Love” on June 3, 5:30 p.m. at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Seattle’s Philippine Soiree is presented by three-time Tony and Grammy Award-winner Jhett Tolentino, in cooperation with FYLPRO. “Here Lies Love” tells the story of the eventful

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Australian Play “The Age of Bones” puts Indonesian refugee issue in spotlight (via NT News)

The Age of Bones, written by Sandra Thibodeaux and directed by Iswadi Pratama & Alex Galeazzi, follows the story of an Indonesian boy, Ikan, who goes fishing one day and fails to return. Sandra Thibodeaux latest production to hit the Brown’s Mart stage tackles the traumatic experience of Indonesian teenagers caught up in Australia controversial

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Zai Kuning on the Singapore Pavilion project at Venice Biennale 2017 (via Art Radar Journal)

“What I present is not about Singapore history, but rather it is the history and living cultures across Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand up to Vietnam. This is the Malay world that the world knows very little about. Even the Malays in Singapore do not know it well. Singapore is one part of the Malay

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Singapore International Festival of Arts’ new director: “I don’t think mainstream is a dirty word” (via Channel NewsAsia)

SINGAPORE: “I think it’s safe to say that I have a reputation of not doing weird s**t. I do love mainstream work. I don’t think it’s a dirty word. So I’m not shy, embarrassed or apologising for that at all,” said Gaurav Kripalani, with a laugh. The 45-year-old artistic director of Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT)

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Sneak a peek at an Australian-Indonesian crosscultural puppet theatre collaboration (via AsiaTOPA)

Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) takes pre-school children and their adults on a sea journey never to be forgotten. Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) is inspired by the seafaring history of Java, Indonesia, and a true tale of a small boy’s arrival in Australia. Cerita Anak places children at the heart of the story by inviting the

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A Film Mixes Fact and Fiction to Illuminate the Lives of Queer Teens in Bangkok (via Hyperallergic)

“#BKKY is a coming-of-age love story following Jojo, who embodies an amalgamation of interviews the director conducted with 100 Thai teenagers. #BKKY’s opening scene is a brilliant five-minute-long single-shot piece of cinematography, taken from underneath a desk. We see only the legs of two young high school girls and hear them talk flirtatiously with one another.

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Podcast 12: Theatricality in Dance; “Coppélia” and “Indices of Vanishment”

Duration: 18 minutes Dancer Chan Sze-Wei joins Dr Stephanie Burridge in the studio to consider theatricality in dance, exploring manifestations of theatricality in the classical ballet of Singapore Dance Theatre’s Coppélia and the contemporary form of Raw Moves’ Indices of Vanishment, both of which were staged in the past month. As worlds apart as they are in

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27 Mar – 2 Apr 2017: Singapore

The Four Note Opera by L’arietta Singapore, 31 Mar – 2 Apr, Aliwal Arts Centre Having had its New York City premiere in 1972, this hilarious one act opera by American composer Tom Johnson – part absurdist, part minimalist, all comedy. L’arietta Productions is a music collective that aims to produce high quality chamber opera, and

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Activist Lena Hendry fined RM10,000 over unapproved documentary screening

KUALA LUMPUR: A human rights activist has been fined RM10,000 Wednesday by the magistrate’s court here for screening a Sri Lankan civil war documentary which had not been approved by the Censorship Board. Magistrate Mohd Rehan Mohd Aris sentenced Lena Hendry, 32, after she was found guilty of screening the documentary. Read the rest of

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