By Akanksha Raja (780 words, five-minute read) Pangdemonium’s first play of 2018, The Father, revolves around the 70-year-old titular character, André (Lim Kay Siu), and the harrowing effects of his increasingly uncontrollable symptoms of dementia on daughter Anne (Tan Kheng Hua), her partner Pierre (Emil Marwa), and Laura (Frances Lee), one of a series of […]
Pangdemonium’s “The Father”: Dementia Becomes Us Read More »
By Akanksha Raja The Singapore International Festival of Arts 2018 is just over a month away, and the programme offers an extensive palette of art and performance not only from Singapore but also as farther afield as Germany, Palestine, India, Cape Verde, and more. It’s hard to define or label the types of shows on
SIFA 2018: Top Ten Picks for the Art Lover Read More »
Much like meeting your idols, seeing your favourite artists’place of work is fraught with danger. What if you discover that the birthplace of their artistic creations looks more like what you’d find in an Ikea catalogue rather than the paint splattered artistic equivalent of a hydrothermal vent where ideas spring to life on the canvas? What
North Dagon: A hub of artistic creation, who knew? (via Myanmar Times) Read More »
Duration: 30 min This year, Esplanade’s The Studios series runs from 29 March to 29 April at the Esplanade Theatre Studio, and features five deep and thought-provoking works by five female creators: Edith Podesta, Faith Ng, Kaylene Tan, Michelle Tan, and Zizi Azah. Corrie Tan speaks with Edith, Faith, Kaylene and Michelle about their inspirations, the
Podcast 35: Esplanade’s The Studios 2018 Interview Read More »
Singapore Improv Festival 2018, Aliwal Arts Centre, 15 – 18 Mar Remember that rib-tickling TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which brought comedic improv theatre to the masses? Catch Singapore’s own improv talents take the stage for the second annual Singapore Improv Festial (SIF) at Aliwal Arts Centre this weekend where they present impromptu sketches and
Weekly Picks: Singapore (12 – 18 March 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Yogyakarta and Jakarta from 12 – 18 March 2018 Start your week with a ceramic workshop that also helps support coastal and marine ecosystems! The Coral Triangle Center (CTC), a non-profit foundation that promotes the conservation of marine biology, organizes a Coral Wall Ceramic Workshop this Monday.
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (12 – 18 March 2018) Read More »
Hanoi: Mai Khoi Do Nguyen has long been described as Vietnam’s Lady Gaga. In more recent years, as her political activism has come to the fore, her expressions of rude dissent, she has also been compared to Russia’s infamous protest band, Pussy Riot. Both comparisons hold true, and yet neither do. Mai Khoi is both a serious
Vietnam’s answer to Pussy Riot furiously dissents (via The Sydney Morning Herald) Read More »
Sandar Khine, 46, is one of the few women artists in Myanmar who paint nudes, a courageous choice in a country where some equate images of a naked human body with pornography. A member of the Myanmar Fine Arts Collective who exhibits at New Treasure Art Gallery in Yangon, Sandar Khine was one of the
A national resource centre will be set up for freelancers in the arts sector to allow them better access to resources, training and networking. Speaking at the Committee of Supply debate for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng said the centre will exist in “both physical and digital
Freelancers in arts sector to get resource centre (via Channel NewsAsia) Read More »
Marking Kumar’s 50th year alive, and the start of Dream Academy’s 2018 season at the Capitol Theatre, Kumar50 is a celebration, a retelling of history, but most of all, a show meant to entertain — Kumar is the undisputed queen, and star, of the Singapore drag scene. Kumar50 is also here to make some money:
“Kumar50”: More significant than SG53 Read More »
Chloe Chotrani is a movement artist and writer based in Singapore. She has set up the performing arts archive, Talking Circles, a digital archive of performing artists from South, Southeast Asia and its Diaspora. A continuous work in progress, the archive stands as a blog – Talking Circles; where you can find informal interviews of performing artists where we
The importance of documenting & archiving the performing arts (via ASEF Culture360) Read More »
By Chloe Chotrani (1,040 words, five-minute read) The one who loves you hits you. The one who hits you loves you. The one who loves you hurts you. This is a piece about relationships, unfortunately. (We can’t get away from them.) One woman, one chair, one microphone. And a chair opposite her, for you. In
“Talk to me and I slap you”: confronting intimacy and violence Read More »
By Bernice Lee (995 words, four-minute read) The Esplanade Theatre Studio is awash in red light. It feels like the set of a Marvel movie – gloomy and dystopian; a planet overtaken by villains, awaiting rescue. Red mechanical legs hang from above the stage. The audience sits in the round, beyond the reach of this
From the lucid dream of “Cut Kafka!”, a promising new artistic path Read More »
Textures – A Weekend With Words, The Arts House, 9 – 11 March Presented by The Arts House and co-commissioned by #BuySingLit, Textures – A Weekend With Words is an inaugural literary festival taking place from 9 – 11 March, chockablock with performances, workshops, book-themed exhibitions, and over 30 panel discussions, all in honour of homegrown literature, and the
Weekly Picks: Singapore (5 – 11 March 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Bandung and Jakarta from 5 – 11 March 2018 We start our picks this week in Bali. Photographer Syafiudin Vifick invites you to Perjamuan Terakhir, or The Last Supper. Through this solo photo exhibition, Syafiudin would like to engage visitors to reflect whether Bali is truly a
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (5 – 11 March 2018) Read More »
By Corrie Tan (1,300 words, eight-minute read) This review has been translated into Mandarin by Liu Xiaoyi, artistic director of Emergency Stairs. Read his translation here. If the avant garde director Robert Wilson died and went to purgatory, Einstein in the Carpark is probably where he’d end up. Part performance, part installation, part misshapen creature stitched together
Life isn’t a beach in “Einstein in the Carpark” Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (920 words, four-minute read) On the heels of Objectifs Centre’s January showcase “we will have been young”, a group exhibition of works by fledgling Southeast Asian photographers themed on contemporary youth culture and the future, comes a very different solo showcase. This latest exhibition reverses its gaze, looking backwards on snippets of
Lui Hock Seng: The Past and Passing Read More »
You know a Nine Years Theatre production when you see one. There’s the smell of precision about it, from the calibrated ensemble to the period-perfect set pieces. Every single performer seems to be breathing in and out in perfect sync. The language is exact, the direction exacting. The company has made significant strides since it
Kuik Swee Boon and Nelson Chia, dreamers of dance and drama (via The Esplanade) Read More »
Cambodian photographer Ly Min has been recognised in the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards, with his image Cave of Skulls being selected among the top 50 in the world in the Open Travel Category The Open competition rewards the best single image across ten categories, and Min’s photo has been acknowledged as one of the
Cambodian photographer’s image honoured as one of the best in the world (via SEA Globe) Read More »
By Corrie Tan (1,300 words, eight-minute read) We’ve all met the gaze of this pair of narrow, red-pupilled eyes – whether with a torchlight under the bedcovers, or in school, snuck into class beneath a desk. The predatory stare on the cover of Russell Lee’s True Singapore Ghost Stories still follows us from the shelves
“Out of Print”: classic Singaporean texts get a contemporary makeover Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Jakarta and Bandung from 26 February to 4 March 2018 We would like to begin by inviting you to Tour Nyanyian Anak Bintang event in Bali this Monday at Denpasar Kolektif. Nyanyian Anak Bintang is an album of songs that are written and sung by children from
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (26 February – 4 March 2018) Read More »
Ama-Lia by Teater Kami, 1 – 3 Mar, Goodman Arts Centre Teater Kami continues its practice using theatre as a tool for education and social and cultural awareness with this performance written and directed by Keatar HM. Performed in Malay, this semi-musical tale of two girls, Ama and Lia, and the toy shop run by
Weekly Picks: Singapore (26 February – 4 March 2018) Read More »
Cambodian Living Arts believes that arts and cultural expression are essential to a thriving future for Cambodia. This month, we tell the story of Phal Saravuth, leader of Yu Vek Selapak troupe, a group of young artists skilled in dancing, music and theatre. Phal Saravuth formed the troupe Yu Vek Selapak out of the Khmer
Inspiring Arts: Phal Saravuth (via AsiaLIFE Cambodia) Read More »
The Kingdom of Cambodia was established in 1993 after suffering the Vietnam War, the horrors of Pol Pot and his regime, civil war and countless rebellions. The reconstruction of this country has been supported by around 3,500 different international non-government organizations (NGOs), working in many fields, from the environment, to infrastructure, human rights and fighting
You can’t go to the Myanmar Art Museum to study the evolution of Myanmar art because there is no such thing as an art museum in Myanmar. Some even fail to notice that there is an art booth at the National Museum, which has been in existence for 66 years. Paintings in the booth by
Evolution of Myanmar Art On Display in New Exhibit at National Museum (via The Irrawady) Read More »
Despite working with limited funds, the spectre of state censorship and the difficulty of only having three working cinemas in the country, local directors are creating a thriving film industry in Laos Mattie Do does not hold back. In her films, the women drink, they wear lingerie, they steal, they murder. In the final moments
Lao film industry finding its feet on international stage (via SEA Globe) Read More »
On Sunday, 28 January, 3pm, ArtsEquator held its first public forum, “Theatre Reviews: Last Word or the Start of a Conversation”, featuring British theatre critic Lyn Gardner, M1 Singapore Fringe Festival director Sean Tobin, ArtsEquator’s guest editor Corrie Tan, and resident playwright at W!LD RICE, Alfian Sa’at. The conversation was moderated by Kathy Rowland, co-founder
Theatre Reviews: Last Word or the Start of a Conversation Read More »
By Will Low (780 words, four-minute read) When I meet someone newly arrived in Myanmar, we usually end up talking about the experience of living in its busiest and largest city, Yangon. They’ll ask how long I’ve been here: five years, on and off. At some point they’ll say, “Yangon must have changed so much!”
Back to the future with Yangon Time Machine Read More »
A Malaysian artist and prominent opposition activist was jailed for a month on Tuesday for publishing a caricature of Prime Minister Najib Razak looking like a clown, a ruling likely to exacerbate concern about free speech. Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy recently announced plans to amend a law to stamp out fake news, the latest step
Malaysian court jails, fines artist for clown caricature of PM (via Reuters) Read More »
There is an unspeakable tranquil that washes over the audience seated inside the chapel at Objectifs – Centre for Photography and Film in Singapore. For the first five minutes of Be Longing by Sara Tan and Yejin Kwon, the windows are thrown open and we watch the traffic of Middle Road roll past. Passers-by unknowingly become performers as
“Be Longing” moves between home and away Read More »
