JENG JENG JENG: Singapore Theatre Year In Review 2021
JENG JENG JENG…! Year in Review is back! Where did 2021 go? How did the year unravel, and where have we arrived at? In a year where the arts has had to acquiesce to multiple rules, hopeful for a return…
Open Calls and Opportunities: Nov 2021 (Singapore/SEA)
ArtsEquator Lobang is a list of available open calls, job postings and other opportunities open to people from Singapore and Southeast Asia. “Lobang”, a Malay word for “hole”, is used in Singlish as a shorthand for an opportunity, valuable contact…
Rethinking contemporaries: Asian Producers’ Platform Speaker Series
By Wennie Yang (690 words, 2-minute read) There is a quiet and perhaps stubborn optimism that underlies the work of a producer. Perhaps one could call it an occupational hazard, always seeking new ways to do things. This spirit seemed…
SEE WHAT SEE: SEA AT SGIFF 2021
By ants chua, Ruby Thiagarajan and Janiqueel (1,200 words, 4-minute read) In this edition of See What See, we review three films made by Southeast Asian directors and featuring Southeast Asia currently showing at the Singapore International Film Festival 2021…
Barbarian Invasion: Malaysian New Wave’s return to self
By Fiona Lee (1,330 words, 4-minute read) While watching his pupil spar, the martial arts master instructs, “Trust your instinct, feel your own body. Only then you can express yourself…” “Sifu,” the pupil replies, “What is myself?” The scene above…
ANCER Lab 03 Manila: How arts managers are surviving COVID-19
By Wennie Yang (1,200 words, 4-minute read) Pandemic restrictions have put arts and cultural workers and institutions in a bind: choosing between sustaining their missions at times of a global pandemic or ceasing operations altogether. How have Southeast Asian arts…
ARTSEQUATOR TURNS 5: Here’s 5 articles, podcasts and videos to check out.
ArtsEquator is five this month! To celebrate, we’ve trawled through our archives to select some of our past content that we think is worth a revisit! Also look out for more features in the next few weeks! 5 articles you…
SEE WHAT SEE: BOYS’ LOVE (BL) DRAMAS
By Lainie Yeoh I grew up in an era where queer films were rare exceptions and it was your holy gay-af duty to watch all the ones you could access. Yes, even if they’re mostly about white people processing their…
Quiz: What’s Your Guilty Pleasure?
It’s 2021 – and you’re constantly being told to be your best self! There’s that pile of books waiting to be read, countless browser tabs open with must-read articles, and a list of podcasts that are supposed to make you…
Shock Horror: The Southeast Asian monsters we love
ArtsEquator chats with five writers about their favourite horror characters and monsters from Southeast Asian lore and mythology. We then asked two Singapore artists, Natalie Christian Tan and Divyalakshmi, to respond with a custom illustration based on the replies. Singapore…
Podcast 97: Writer Wayne Rée talks about gore and slasher fiction
In the second of a two-part episode on the Singapore Writers Festival 2021, Nabilah Said chats with horror writer Wayne Rée about his love of gore and slasher fiction, the supernatural in Southeast Asia, and his opinions on Nickelback. Wayne…
Podcast 96: Writer Grace Chia talks about crime and The Arches of Gerrard Street
In the first of a two-part episode on the Singapore Writers Festival 2021, Nabilah Said chats with author Grace Chia about her book The Arches of Gerrard Street, and her thoughts on writing crime while exploring themes surrounding the experiences…
So You Wanna Be An Independent Art Curator in Singapore?
By Syed Muhammad Hafiz (1,000 words, 3-minute read) For the uninitiated, art curators are a mysterious bunch. Even scary, sometimes. Usually associated with big, stuffy museums, they speak a particular language that only they would recognise, and write essays that…
Reframing The Mental Health Discourse ‘With Time’
By Isaac Tan (1,262 words, 4-minute read) CW: Mentions of issues about mental health and suicide. For his directorial and playwriting debut, Drama Box’s resident artist, Chng Yi Kai, wants to reframe the discourse around mental health. This might seem…
Open Calls and Opportunities: Oct 2021 (Singapore/SEA)
Updated 22 Oct ArtsEquator Lobang is a list of available open calls, job postings and other opportunities open to people from Singapore and Southeast Asia. “Lobang”, a Malay word for “hole”, is used in Singlish as a shorthand for an…
Keluarga Besar En. Karim: Pressing play on family drama
By Faezah Zulkifli (921 words, 3-minute read) The setting is familiar—every Sunday night, my family gathers in the living room to watch TV. Tonight, we are watching Checkpoint Theatre’s Keluarga Besar En. Karim (The Karims). It was déjà vu; versions…
Air Con: Who Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
By Dhinesha Karthigesu (1,330 words, 5-minute read) Who do you want to be when you grow up? At the end of the play AIR CON, the character William (Nick Davis) asks the character Asif (Ryan Lee Bhaskaran) this question. This…
Yale-NUS closure: Artistic legacies and loss in (de)liberation
By Clara Che Wei Peh and Tee Zhuo (2,500 words, 10-minute read) In August, the National University of Singapore (NUS) announced unilaterally that Yale-NUS College would be shut down by 2025, marking what many see as a premature end to…
The working processes of artists: Daly Filsuf
“I want to bring all the Asian kinds of music to the world, with our language,” says rapper and music producer Daly Filsuf. In this video, the artist talks about dikir barat as a genre, and how he has fused…
Performance Making during a Pandemic: Of Innovation, Form and Embeddedness
By Adriana Nordin Manan (1,000 words, 3-minute read) If arts panel discussions are meant to reflect the times, “Critical Responses to Performance-Making in A Post-Pandemic World” positioned itself well: at this stage of the pandemic, it was less about open-ended…
Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Jo Kukathas for Air Con
We cakap-cakap (chit-chat) with Jo Kukathas about The Instant Café Theatre Company’s upcoming screening of Air Con, an award-winning 2008 play written by Shanon Shah. The play revolves around the murder of a sex worker near an elite boys school…
Cultivating Arts Writing Ecosystems: Criticality and Creativity amidst Necessity
By Adriana Nordin Manan (995 words, 3-minute read) Personal narratives on professional pathways to becoming arts writers in four Asian countries were the departure point for the rich discussion at “Critical Writing Training: Models, Methods and Pitfalls,” a panel session…
The working processes of artists: Sonia Kwek
“Probably your body is the one space you can be the most autonomous still”, says artist and performer Sonia Kwek. In this video, the artist talks about the politics of using the female body in her works, and how this…
Open Calls and Opportunities: Sep 2021 (Singapore/SEA)
Updated 30 Sept 2021 ArtsEquator Lobang is a list of available open calls, job postings and other opportunities open to people from Singapore and Southeast Asia. “Lobang”, a Malay word for “hole”, is used in Singlish as a shorthand for…
BIPAM 2021: Delight, despair, dialogue and the despot
By Nabilah Said (1,800 words, 6-minute read) I’ve never actually attended the Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (BIPAM). This year, the pandemic allowed me to, as BIPAM offered a five-day digital programme full of showcases, talks and other activities. It…
OPEN CALL: Southeast Asian Arts Censorship Documentation
<Deadline extended to 15 October 2021> ArtsEquator invites applications for the position of Researcher for a regional arts censorship documentation and publication project it is piloting. The programme runs from Jan 2022 – Dec 2023. There are six positions available,…
10 Things You Should Know About: Malay Dance
10 Things You Should Know is a series of short animated videos on aspects of Malay culture and heritage, made in partnership with Wisma Geylang Serai. In the first video of this series, we share 10 things you should know…
The working processes of artists: Luqman (Flair Brothers)
Singapore hip-hop dancer Luqman from Flair Brothers gives us a lesson in the dance and also the lifestyle, introducing terms that are well known in the scene, and sheds light on how the scene has changed over the years. “If…
W.O.W Classics: Neo Wen Xin on Constance Singam
In this video, part of the W.O.W (Women on Women) Classics project, Neo Wen Xin shares about “Where I Was”, a 2013 memoir by Singaporean activist Constance Singam. Constance Singam is known for being a longterm president of AWARE, and…
Bedside Banter: Cyril & Michael by Bridging the Gap Collective
By Naeem Kapadia (800 words, 2-minute read) Two strangers meet on gay dating app Grindr and share an encounter in a hotel room. Except it’s not just fast, meaningless sex. Budding playwright and theatremaker Theo Chen’s assured two-hander, presented by…