Features Archives

AE x Goethe-Institut Critical Writing Micro-Residency: Meet the Writers (Part 1)

We recently announced our selected resident writers for the inaugural AE x Goethe-Institut Critical Writing Micro-Residency, focusing on the development and promotion of critical writing about arts and culture in Southeast Asia. They are: Nhuan Dong from Saigon; Dwiki Aprinaldi from Yogyakarta; Eddie Wong from Petaling Jaya; Wilda Yanti Salam from Makassar; Mariah Reodica from Las […]

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ArtsEquator’s Hot List: May 2021

Every first Wednesday of the month, ArtsEquator releases our editor’s picks of shows/events/programmes that our readers can look out for in that month. Note: The events below are subject to changing conditions due to COVID-19. Do check with the respective presenters. This list in published in no particular order. 1. The Music of Checkpoint

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SDEA Theatre Arts Conference Keynote Interviews: Drama lessons in a pandemic (Part 1)

SDEA is holding its first fully online Theatre Arts Conference this year from 22 to 30 May. Expanding from the traditional weekend format to an 8-day event, the conference will feature 70 presentations, workshops, and masterclasses by 64 practitioners from 14 countries. [View some highlight events here] ArtsEquator catches up with two of the conference

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Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Anaïs López for The Migrant

In this month’s Cakap-Cakap (chit-chat), ArtsEquator speaks with visual artist Anaïs López about her multimedia exhibition The Migrant which is currently showing at the Chapel Gallery, Objectifs. Through audio, video, text and photography, López discusses migration, urbanisation and human-animal relationships through the character of the ubiquitous Javan mynah and its evolving place in Southeast Asia,

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#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar – and how you can help

In the early hours of Monday, 1 February 2021, the leaders of Myanmar’s elected civilian government were seized and detained in a military coup d’état. Over the past 81 days, the Burmese Armed Forces (also known as the Tatmadaw တပ်မတော်) have installed themselves as an illegitimate regime in Myanmar, declared a state of emergency in

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8 online programmes not to be missed at SDEA Theatre Arts Conference

The SDEA Theatre Arts Conference is back in 2021 with a fully-online programme, featuring presentations, workshops and masterclasses responding to the theme of Creative Disruption: Exploring New Ground. The conference, first started in 2011, is an international platform for artists, theatre practitioners, educators, and applied drama practitioners to share their work, methodologies, and research through

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The Arts House

Artistic intervention: An orange truck lands in… Yishun?

As a resident of Yishun, I do not usually expect any sort of art exhibition to come to my town. As a town notorious for cat killing and the occasional murder, you wouldn’t expect any cultural experience to rank high on the list of places to go in Yishun, which was why I was pleasantly

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Joelle Cecilia Quek

The Substation’s SeptFest 2021: Endnote

Text and photos by Joelle Cecilia Quek The Substation’s 2021 SeptFest made a full comeback in March after 6 years, marking the 30th anniversary of Singapore’s first independent home of the arts. Titled In The Margins, the month-long festival focuses on stories of the marginalised, displaced, and forgotten – communities who often go unseen and

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T:>Works, Pitapat Theater, WILD Rice

ArtsEquator’s Hot List: April 2021

Every first Wednesday of the month, ArtsEquator releases our editor’s picks of shows/events/programmes that our readers can look out for in that month. This list in published in no particular order. 1. VECTOR#1: An Economy Of Means Physical show: 16-18 April, Block O Multipurpose Studios, Goodman Arts Centre [SINGAPORE/In-venue] Dance Nucleus presents its new

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So Lit: The Bottled City of mini objects travelling through Singapore

From now till 25 April, a truck carrying precious cargo will travel around Singapore, hoping to enchant you with its treasures and stories. Titled The Bottled City, this orange-hued truck contains art and design works curated and created in response to books by Singapore authors. Inspired by the concept of a cabinet of curiosities, the

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Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Serene Chen and Krish Natarajan

In the latest of our Cakap-Cakap series, ArtsEquator chats with Serene Chen and Krish Natarajan who star in Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT)’s new play, The Sound Inside, written by by award-winning playwright Adam Rapp. The Sound Inside turns the spotlight on an unusual connection forged between a pair of literary-minded people – a professor and

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AIRISU / The Substation

The Substation’s SeptFest 2021: The last chapter

By Nabilah Said Against the backdrop of a battle of words, an impossibility is happening. SeptFest, one of The Substation’s most enduring annual programmes, is taking place this month, in March, six months too late. This, of course, is because of COVID restrictions last year, but it also feels strangely early, unseasonal – like when

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CK Eng

A few walks-with: Vel Vel: A Sonic Walk and more

By Vithya Subramaniam (1,961 words, 8-minute read) We’ve taken more walks these days, haven’t we? Walking isn’t new to us. There hasn’t been a time when we were not walking. But this simple universal act has found new meanings over this last year. Here in Singapore, some of us walked along old train tracks for

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Hitting up the Producers SG Directory: Taufik Darwis, Racy Lim and Khor Seng Chew

What is producing within the context of the arts? It is a question whose answer might vary depending on who you ask. Producers SG is a community of independent producers, arts managers and self-producing artists interested in nurturing support systems amongst producers and conversations around the practice of producing. Producers SG recently launched the Producers

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Charmaine Poh

Alternative Lessons for Women: Sonia Kwek and Tan Weiying on sex, desire and the erotic

By Aditi Shivaramakrishnan Adapting its title from Lessons for Women <<女诫>>, a text by the first known female Chinese historian, Ban Zhao, Alternative Lessons for Women is a double-bill of two solo works: Hymen Instinct created and performed by Sonia Kwek and What? That’s It? created and performed by Tan Weiying. Hymen Instinct subverts the

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Aliwal Arts Centre

Mixtape: The Millennial, The Zoomer and The Spray Can

“People always see us artists as cool. They think we paint on the streets, make big money, no need to study one. Ask them to try lah! We work for hours in the hot sun. And you need strong fingers to hold the can.” Artist ANTZ was working on a boom lift on the side

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Courtesy of the artists

Brown Is Haram: Kristian-Marc James Paul and Mysara Aljaru reclaim their space

Brown Is Haram: Reconstructing The Brown Narrative is a performance-lecture exploring different aspects of the experience of being brown in Singapore, exploring issues such as social mobility and masculinity. This show is based on the work and ongoing collaborative project of writer and activist Kristian-Marc James Paul and writer-researcher Mysara Aljaru, and is directed by

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The Substation Facebook Page

The future of The Substation: A timeline of events (Updated)

By Ke Weiliang, with assistance from Nabilah Said Last updated: 12 Nov 2021 ArtsEquator has compiled a timeline of events that details recent developments surrounding the future of The Substation. The timeline – displayed in chronological order – begins from late 2017 when the National Arts Council (NAC) first informed The Substation of its decision

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The Substation's Facebook page, taken by Mish'aal

The Substation: An unstoppable force and an immovable object

By Nabilah Said, with additional reporting by Ke Weiliang On Saturday, 6 March 2021, almost 300 members of the arts community came together in a Zoom Townhall to discuss the fate of independent arts centre The Substation. The Townhall had been called by the board of directors of The Substation after a month-long back-and-forth involving

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Mapping Asian Arts Media: Key Findings (Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia)

By Kathy Rowland What is the state of the arts media landscape in Southeast Asia? Based on global trends, the answer seemed evident: the landscape has shrunk, and its impact on the arts ecosystem is a growing concern amongst arts writers, artists and policy makers. Yet there are still vibrant spaces dedicated to arts coverage,

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ArtsEquator’s Hot List: March 2021

Every first Wednesday of the month, ArtsEquator releases our editor’s picks of shows/events/programmes that our readers can look out for in that month. This list in published in no particular order. 1. Little Mournings Physical show: 4-7 March, various timings / Delayed livestream: 11-17 March [SINGAPORE/In-venue & Online] Little Mournings is a puppetry show

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How they got their stART: ArtsWok, Paper Monkey Theatre and Bhumi Collective

In unprecedented times like a pandemic, artists, like everyone else, are focused on survival. Horizons for planning are more short-term. Even as we enter 2021 with cautious optimism, it is hard to think about longer term goals and aspirations. Yet, the continued survival of our arts organisations is crucial to building and sustaining a thriving

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Pelesits And Where To Find Them: A conversation with NADA and Teater Ekamatra

By ila Many of us grew up with ghost stories. For some of us, it’s very much part of our belief system that we share the world with other presences. (If you’re interested, I wrote a speculative text about the Pontianak here.) When I was younger, my mom would use the word “pelesit” each time

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The Substation: How many more canaries in the coal mine?

By Hoe Su Fern Since 1990, The Substation has been the sole occupant of the conserved building at 45 Armenian Street. Over the years, it has transformed the once-abandoned power station into Singapore’s first artist-led multi-disciplinary arts centre. However, in July 2020, the news that the conserved building would undergo renovations and that The Substation

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SEE WHAT SEE (Feb 2021): DESIRE

By Joel Tan Welcome to my new column for ArtsEquator, where every month I’ll be giving you a little line-up of Singaporean and other Southeast Asian streaming content that I think is interesting and worth talking about in my typically TLDR, long-winded way. I’m not even talking about Netflix (which I’ve already written about at

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Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Charlinda Pereira and Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai for subTITLED 1.0

ArtsEquator chats with producer and production stage manager, Charlinda Pereira and actress, Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai about their upcoming work subTITLED 1.0 by Bridging The Gap (BTG). The play tells the intertwining stories of three women, an activist, an arts intern and a criminal lawyer, and their involvement in a drug trafficking case. BTG, an initiative

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The future of the arts in Singapore and Australia: Highlights from the Statistically Speaking webinar

ArtsEquator organised a webinar titled “Statistically Speaking: Analysing arts audience engagement in Singapore and Australia” on Thursday, 28 January. This panel brought together representatives from the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Australia Council of the Arts to elucidate on recent research results about arts engagement, and discuss what it tells us about the future

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Aliwal Tracks: Mr Gelam and the potential of virtual worldbuilding

Walk around Kampong Gelam today and it’s easy to forget how much of a rich historical site it used to be. Historical markers abound, and yet, grab any young person hanging out in its many hip dining establishments and they might not know, for example, why Kampong Gelam is so named. Uncle: “It’s even medicinal,

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Pangdemonium, Gaudy Boy and Chua Chye Teck.

ArtsEquator’s Hot List: February 2021

Every first Wednesday of the month, ArtsEquator will release a list of recommended shows/events/programmes that our readers can look out for in that month. This list in published in no particular order. 1. Ulirát: Best Contemporary Stories in Translation from the Philippines Gaudy Boy has a new translation imprint, Gaudy Boy Translates, and is

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Statistically Speaking: What the data says about arts audiences in Singapore and Australia

On Thursday, 28 January 11am-12.30pm (GMT +8), representatives from Singapore’s National Arts Council (NAC) and the Australia Council for the Arts will discuss audience attitudes towards the arts in their respective countries in the webinar titled “Statistically Speaking: Analysing Arts Audience Engagement in Singapore and Australia”. (Pre-event registration here) This discussion draws on research survey

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