Ugly in the Morning’s 3 or More If You Can Afford It Album Launch Concert, Esplanade Annexe Studio, Saturday 14 April 8pm Join alternative funk/rock band Ugly in the Morning for the launch of their third album, 3 or More If You Can Afford It, a 10-song journey of funk beats, catchy melodies, tight vocals, […]
Weekly Picks: Singapore (9 – 15 April 2018) Read More »
By Corrie Tan (1,160 words, six-minute read) The audio tours of spell#7 – the husband-wife duo of Kaylene Tan and Paul Rae – promise a variety of small adventures. In their previous work, they’ve invited us to move through several spaces in Singapore, peeling back layers of stories and eavesdropping on conversations as the tours
The Loud Echo of “In the Silence of Your Heart” Read More »
For many Cambodian music fans, March 20 was a heartbreaking day because Kak Channthy – the 38-year-old female vocal of the band The Cambodian Space Project – passed away in an accident in Phnom Penh. Founded in 2009, The Cambodian Space Project is widely known for their 60s-influenced psychedelic tunes, Channthy’s soaring vocals and playful persona.
The Legacy of Kak Channthy, Cambodia’s Rock and Roll Heroine (via Saigoneer) Read More »
By Elaine Chiew (1,135 words, six-minute read) Spectral and iconic, Dinh Q. Lê’s first major solo exhibition in Singapore premieres his Monuments and Memorials series of works, created as artist-in-residence at STPI – Creative Workshop and Gallery. Born in 1968 in Ha Tien, on the border of Cambodia and Vietnam, Lê fled the Khmer Rouge
Dinh Q. Lê’s “Monuments and Memorials”: A Double Haunting Read More »
The most significant display of contemporary art on the island during 2015 featured many of Bali’s finest artists exhibiting side-by-side with emerging talent. Violent Bali – Bali Art Intervention #1, opened at the Tony Raka Art Gallery, Ubud in November presenting eighty-five works raising issues such as identity, gender and cultural conflicts, and the New Order regime
Citra Sasmita captures the Indonesian contemporary art spotlight (via Life As Art Asia) Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (825 words, four-minute read) We’ve been seeing a variety of theatre revolving around dementia and its effects on families in Singapore over the past few years, such as Pangdemonium’s The Father, The Necessary Stage’s Don’t Forget to Remember Me, and Drama Box’s forum theatre shows The Wind Came Home and Exit. The
“Potong” by Teater Ekamatra: Of Kin and Skin Read More »
By Chan Sze-Wei (1,110 words, six-minute read) Norhaizad Adam’s second full length work with his company P7:1SMA (say “prisma”) is set in another world. The audience steps through the door of the Drama Centre Black Box into an arena of wooden crates and sacking, the whiff of wood and coffee beans in the warm light
“Ngopi” by P7:1SMA: Stop and Smell the Coffee Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Jakarta, and Yogyakarta from 2 – 8 April 2018 Start your Monday with Asimetris, a documentary on the palm plantation in Indonesia. A production of Watchdog and Ekspedisi Indonesia Biru and produced by Indra Jati and Dandhy Laksono, Asimetris aims to shine light on the palm oil
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (2 – 8 April 2018) Read More »
In The Silence of Your Heart by Kaylene Tan, Esplanade Theatre Studio, 5 – 8 April In the Silence of Your Heart is an invitation to enter the world of a charming politician and inveterate drinker. Thian has been paralysed for 13 years. He’s been still and silent all this time, but his mind
Weekly Picks: Singapore (2 – 8 April 2018) Read More »
Bali 1928 is an ongoing international and interdisciplinary project established by American ethnomusicologist Edward Herbst in 2002 to “research, find, understand, document, explain, restore, re-release, and repatriate the first published recordings of music in Bali along with rare film footage and photographs of musicians and dance-drama performances from the 1930s”. With support from the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre’s Regional Mobility
An art installation in Hai Phong has become the butt of jokes online. You’ve probably seen them by now on your newsfeed: a set of 12 stone statues, each taking the form of one of Vietnam’s astrological sign animals. While the statues retain the heads of an animal in the local zodiac – from pig
The Curious Case of Hai Phong’s Nude Zodiac Sculptures (via Saigoneer) Read More »
Vietnamese singer and political activist Mai Khoi was detained for eight hours in a move that Human Rights Watch says points to intensified government efforts to stifle political opposition Vietnamese singer and pro-democracy activist Mai Khoi was detained for eight hours by authorities at Hanoi airport yesterday morning as part of an ongoing government crackdown
Duration: 26 min ArtsEquator’s dance podcast series returns this year, after a short hiatus, with a lively and thoughtful discussion between Chan Sze-Wei, (dance-maker, performance-maker and sometime trouble-maker; Chloe Chotrani (movement artist, writer and gardener); and Soultari Amin Farid (choreographer, arts educator and researcher of Malay dance) This month they discuss two programmes that took
Podcast 37: “Joget” and “Intersections: Traditionally Speaking” Read More »
Despite being nearly 14,000 kilometres from her hometown in America, Myanm/art gallery director Nathalie Johnston has managed to create a home for herself – and Myanmar’s growing contemporary art scene – in the bustling city of Yangon. Johnston’s first encounter with Myanmar took place over two decades ago, in 1997, when her family visited a
Nathalie Johnston: Creating a home for contemporary art in Myanmar Read More »
If life is fleeting and death is certain, how do we make our days count? Over five productions, The Studios invites us to confront this question in our everyday. In this year’s series, Esplanade takes on the theme “Between Living and Dying” and presents a showcase of deep and thought-provoking works by five female creators: Edith Podesta, Faith Ng,
Esplanade Presents The Studios: Between Living and Dying Read More »
Alice in Wonderland by L’arietta, Aliwal Arts Centre, 29 Mar – 1 Apr This Easter, take a trip down the rabbit hole with your kids and your parents as Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of whimsy and wonder come to life again, reimagined into a 75-minute opera with a modern spin, which promises to be fantastical fun
Weekly Picks: Singapore (26 March – 1 April 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Medan, Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Jember from 26 March – 1 April 2018 Indonesia’s ocean contains some of the most beautiful coral reefs in the world. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of the population cares about the ocean and have the wisdom to preserve the reefs. One of Indonesia’s
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (26 March – 1 April 2018) Read More »
SINGAPORE: Jalan Besar Town Council has taken down the gold mylar sheets, which were hung by Singapore artist Priyageetha Dia at Block 103 Jalan Rajah four days ago, after receiving complaints from residents saying it reminded them of joss paper. Dr Lily Neo, who is the MP for the Jalan Besar GRC, told Channel NewsAsia on Thursday
This is the book to own or read if you are in any way invested, connected and working with children as well as people with special needs. It is exactly as the title says: an effort to be inclusive, empowering and celebrate all people. The book is divided into five sections: Inclusive dance pedagogy; Equality,
Good Southeast Asian literature and its related commentary can be hard to find for some of the people living in this region’s – however, it is possible. One such gem is the Mekong Review, a quarterly literary journal that aims to bring the region’s literary and intellectual life to a broader audience. Publishing fiction, essays, reviews
Mekong Review, The Accidental Southeast Asian Literary Journal (via Eksentrika) Read More »
By Corrie Tan (2,400 words, 12-minute read) 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. Minzayar Oo is a Burmese photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Yangon, Myanmar, and represented by Panos Pictures. He studied
Art That Moves: Burmese Photojournalist Minzayar Oo Read More »
By Akanksha Raja The Singapore International Festival of Arts 2018 takes place at different venues across the Civic District, including Victoria Theatre, its sprawling Empress Lawn, and the Esplanade Theatre. Nestled comfortably between these locations is The Arts House, dubbed the Festival House. If SIFA 2018 were a living, breathing person, the Festival House is
SIFA 2018: The Festival House and The Outdoors Read More »
Dinh Q. Lê: Monuments and Memorials, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, 17 Mar – 12 May 2018 Dinh Q. Le’s “Splendor and Darkness” series of woven photographs is a depiction of the Cambodian history that blends images of Khmer temples with portraits of Khmer Rouge victims killed at Tuol Sleng. Singapore Tyler Print Institute presents these
Weekly Picks: Singapore (19 – 25 March 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Solo, Yogyakarta and Jakarta from 19 – 25 March 2018 On Thursday, in Central Java, there are 2 music performances to watch for your Thursday night art entertainment. In Solo, the Parkiran Jazz series presents “Wanita Berkarya”, a jazz night dedicated to women. The night will feature
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (19 – 25 March 2018) Read More »
In an example of cruel irony, October 20 is when we celebrate annual Vietnam Women’s Day, and also the anniversary of the passing of Mai Nga (commonly known as Nga Nhi), the lead singer of Go Lim – a Hanoi-based female post-punk band that, albeit short-lived, struck a blow for women’s representation in rock and
For nearly three decades, the American master weaver Carol Cassidy has been working with Laotian silk weavers on the grounds of a grand old colonial mansion in Vientiane. The outdoor workroom in a lush garden not far from the mighty Mekong River seems a world apart from Paris. A dozen Laotian women talk among themselves
The Woven Art of Laos (via The New York Times) Read More »
In the assembly hall of Chatsworth International School hang six statues of Sir Stamford Raffles. However, these aren’t your typical heroic effigies of Singapore’s chief colonist. They’re headless, legless, composed of patchwork fabric with Javanese words stitched into their skins, dangling from the ceiling at odd angles, as if participating in an erotic rope bondage
The Artists’ Colony: A Review of OH! Emerald Hill Read More »
Duration: 22 min In March’s edition of Fresh Blood, we get to know Thereabouts Theatre, a new young theatre group interested in site-specific performances and dance theatre. Their first production Set Apart, which broadly explores the notion of the taboo through the use of movement and text, opens on the 24th of March at Emily Hill.
Podcast 36: Thereabouts Theatre Read More »
These days you can find all sorts of Indonesian YouTubers, from travel vloggers, makeup tutorials, to those specializing in pulling pranks. While these videos might be entertaining – addictive even – there’s more to life than on-point makeup or adventurous travel or silly stunts. Enter Frame and Sentences, a YouTube channel created by two Indonesians
CHIANG MAI, Thailand – Works by 18 established and emerging artists from Southeast Asia offering their personal experiences of global migration, notions of identity and ongoing humanitarian crises in Myanmar are on currently on display in a group exhibition in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. The contemporary art exhibition “Diaspora: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia”
