“Italian contemporary artist Filippo Sciascia’s relationship with Asia and Indonesia began back in 1998, however, says the artist, he has only truly “come of age as an Italian-Indonesian artist” in 2013 when he successfully fused iconography from the two worlds into a single creation of art. “I realize now my works have become more sincere,” […]
By Soumya Varma (985 words, 9-minute read) Illness, life, death: these performative themes have been explored by theatre makers extensively through the ages. However, what makes The Little Child unique is the imaginative and often whimsical way in which the performance explores the subjects. The director’s choice of puppets and performing objects takes the audience
“The Little Child”: Well-Crafted Wonder of Puppetry Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (800 words, 7-minute read) The Orange Production is The Necessary Stage’s platform for experimental collaborations, producing new, pocket-sized works. This inaugural showcase is a double-bill featuring Drip, by journalist and emerging playwright Nabilah Said, and Whale Fall by Faith Ng. While the two works are vastly different in structure and themes, they
The Orange Production: A Double Bill by The Necessary Stage Read More »
By Sherlyn Goh (970 words, 8-minute read) “Can one accurately re-construct an authentic traumatic memory?” Director Kuo Jian Hong posed this question to the audience before the start of the performance. Blank Run《空转》is an attempt to answer this, presented as a raw and visceral recollection of sexual trauma, where a woman pieces together memories that
“Blank Run《空转》” by The Theatre Practice: Repiecing Trauma Read More »
By Alvin Lim (1235 words, 10-minute read) Becoming Graphic is both a meditative and mediated performance about living and dying. Commissioned by Singapore International Festival of Arts, graphic novelist Sonny Liew and theatre practitioner Edith Podesta come together to create a cross-disciplinary performance that breaks boundaries. The parallels, and thus the comparisons, between two forms—theatre
“Becoming Graphic”: Life in Graphic Form Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta and Bali from 28 Aug – 3 Sep 2017 JAKARTA Jakarta Dance Meet Up, 30 August 2017, 7 PM, Gedung Kesenian Jakarta Organized by the Jakarta Arts Council’s Dance Committee, the Jakarta Dance Meet Up is back for its second time at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta.
28 August – 3 September 2017: Indonesia Read More »
Duration: 13 min Latest in our Fresh Blood series on young emerging art-makers, we speak to Khairul Kamsani, a independent director who is writing, directing, and producing Human+, a speculative theatre play on the contentious future of our relationship with technology. Inspired by recent developments in the Transhumanist movement, it’s an updated iteration of its
Podcast 23: Human+ by Khairul Kamsani Read More »
By Dan Koh (1,263 words, 12-minute read) “I finally felt that being an artist was a meaningful vocation,” Chua Mia Tee says towards the end of a career-spanning interview.[1] Best known for his 1950s oil paintings Epic Poem of Malaya, National Language Class, and Portrait of Lee Boon Ngan (depicting his wife, also an oil
“Art Studio” by Nine Years Theatre: Back to the Page Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta and Yogyakarta from 21 – 27 Aug 2017 JAKARTA Neoklasismus Rusia, 22 August 2017, 7:30 PM, Gedung Kesenian Jakarta Under the direction of conductor Budi Utomo Prabowo, the Jakarta Philharmonic presents Neoklasismus Rusia. The neoklasismus movement started in the Romantic period, as a way to present
21 – 27 August 2017: Indonesia Read More »
“During the autumn of 2016, I ventured out to Siem Reap in Cambodia to undertake a three-month artistic residency with the pioneering all-female contemporary dance company, New Cambodian Artists (NCA). I have previously worked with NCA as a contemporary dance technique trainer over a two-month period in 2015 as part of a self-funded professional development initiative.
Exploring Female Empowerment through Dance in Cambodia [Cambodia] Read More »
The performance event R.I.P. Tokyo began life as a commemoration for a cat which died at the grand age of 22, five years ago. The cat belonged to director Shirotama Hitsujiya who helms the Yubiwa Hotel theatre company. For three years, she has marked the occasion by hosting a soup dinner party for friends at
Tikam-Tikam Japan: R.I.P. Tokyo Read More »
By Eugene Koh (924 words, 7-minute read) Triple Bill at the M1 Peer Pleasure Youth Theatre Festival 2017 presents three acts in a single show, each of them presenting different issues that are all extremely timely. Each act in its own way contends with an issue that people try to avoid. Each of these acts is a
“Triple Bill” at M1 Peer Pleasure Festival: Hard Bills to Swallow Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta and Solo from 14 – 20 Aug 2017 JAKARTA OCTOPUS, 14 – 15 August 2017, 3 & 8 PM, Teater Kecil, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta A second performance from the Djakarta Teater Platform program, OCTOPUS by Teater Poros began as a research by Teater Poros actors
14 – 20 August 2017: Indonesia Read More »
In March 2017, Hokkien Huay Kuan Dance Troupe morphed into Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre, receiving the highest accolade in the history of Singaporean Chinese dance. The only other professional dance company in Singapore bearing the country’s name is Singapore Dance Theatre, the descendant of the ballet group of National Dance Company. Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre’s
“Hearticulation” and “Speficifisfety”: Between too literal and too abstract Read More »
By Naeem Kapadia (960 words, 7-minute read) There’s no denying the impact of Michael Chiang’s Army Daze, which brought the world of national service (NS) to the Singapore stage for the first time in 1987. This light-hearted tale of the misadventures of five recruits as they bungled through Basic Military Training captured the Singapore zeitgeist
“Army Daze 2”: Green Popcorn, No Crunch Read More »
By Isaac Lim (562 words, 6-minute read) FRAGO by Checkpoint Theatre tracks a group of NSmen and Regulars, showing that the men, and woman, are all equally struggling with the system here in Singapore. Is that anything new? Jo Tan is on stage, doing standard push-ups that put this reviewer to shame. Then sit-ups, change.
Review of “Frago”: (Army) Lives, Fragmented Read More »
By Patricia Tobin (550 words, 5-minute read) Army exercises are typically perceived as tough, and even mind-numbing with their incessant drills. The monotony of army rounds can be found outside the battlefield too: our personal routines are akin to a civilian regime of sorts. Frago, the latest play by Checkpoint Theatre, directly tackles the contrast
Review of “Frago”: The Military and the Ordinary Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Bandung, and Bali from 7 – 13 Aug 2017 JAKARTA ART STAGE Jakarta, 11 – 13 August 2017, Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City Hotel, Jakarta ART STAGE Jakarta returns for its second year this coming weekend. Like its sister fair ART STAGE Singapore, the Jakarta fair
7 – 13 August 2017: Indonesia Read More »
Duration: 31 min Akanksha Raja speaks with Jeffrey Tan, producer of Open Homes, a theatre-in-the-home experience presented as part of the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2017. Audiences are welcomed into the homes of residents where they enter not only into intimate spaces, but lives, hearts and deeply personal experiences shared through creative storytelling. Joining
Podcast 22: Open Homes at SIFA 2017 Read More »
The Asia Europe Foundation’s Culture360 and ArtsEquator present a series of 5 co-commissioned articles that look at arts groups, artists and performances in Southeast Asia that are comprised of or address artists with disabilities. In this article, Mark Louie Lugue meets Filipino artist Nolet Soliven and his wife Tosh, to talk about Nolet’s practice, and the challenges
Art Beyond Words: The Struggles and Triumphs of Filipino Artist Nolet Soliven Read More »
Duration: 25 min Young dancer Adelene Stanley joins Dr Stephanie Burridge to discuss Singapore Dance Theatre’s latest edition of the annual Masterpiece in Motion series, which was a triple-bill of ballet works of a kind that Stephanie describes as “contemporary dance en pointe“. It featured works by George Balanchine, Edwaard Liang and Marius Petipa. Stephanie
Podcast 21: Masterpiece in Motion 2017; Singapore Dance Theatre Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bali from 31 July – 6 Aug 2017 JAKARTA My Life, My Choice, Now – 9 August 2017, Leica Store Indonesia, Plaza Senayan, Jakarta My Life, My Choice is a photography exhibition on the life of Mak Rini, a drag queen living in
31 July – 6 August 2017: Indonesia Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (860 words, 7-minute read) “By taking possession of the stage, the Spect-Actor is consciously performing a responsible act. The stage is a representation of the reality, a fiction. But the Spect-Actor is not fictional. He exists in the scene and outside of it, in a dual reality. By taking possession of the
Drama Box’s “The Lesson”: Rehearsal for Life Read More »
MAC at The Movies @ Hero’s, 26 July, 8pm “We’re going to the movies in July. It’s FREE and you decide what we watch.” July is the birth month of Robin Williams and we can’t think of a better person to honour in our first movie event. Doors 7pm. Showtime 8pm.
24 – 30 July 2017: Singapore Read More »
by Kathy Rowland (1102 words, 6 minute read) “In order to change people’s minds, you have to break their hearts”. So said Reverend Miak Siew at O.P.E.N’s curtain raiser, Art as Res Publicae. Unfortunately, there was never any danger of broken hearts. Art as Res Publicae, conceived by O.P.E.N Director Noorlinah Mohamed and SIFA Artistic
“Art as Res Publicae”: Where the Devil was the Devil? Read More »
Duration: 20 min Dr Stephanie Burridge chats with Eng Kai Er and Felicia Lim, two of the three performers from The Roundest Circle, taking place at Theatreworks 72-13 on 27 and 28 July 8pm. The performance is the result of a collaborative process along with dancer Faye Lim. Felicia and Kai Er discuss their dynamics, the democracy
Podcast 20: “The Roundest Circle” Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bandung, Jakarta, Yogyakarta from 24 – 30 July 2017 BANDUNG Inspyro Moves Dance Workshop, 29 – 30 July 2017, Jl. Karapitan No. 53, Bandung, Indonesia Calling all Bandung dancers! Come and join Inspyro Moves 2-day workshops where you can take various classes given by dancers from the
24 – 30 July 2017: Indonesia Read More »
“Is it possible to look at the practices of Indonesian women artist in a feminist perspective? This is precisely what researcher and PhD in Indonesian Studies Wulan Dirgantoro decided to investigate with her book “Feminism and Indonesian Contemporary Art: Defining Experiences” (Amsterdam University Press). Though the book has an academic scope, it sparked conversation about
Feminism in Indonesian Art [Indonesia] Read More »
“Fresh off the (vacation) boat and ready to sail into George Town Festival 2017 (GTF 2017), Rebecca Duckett has been working around the clock with her artsy and nature-inspired pieces. She is one of several women artists from Korea, Taiwan, the USA and Malaysia who are participating in the International Women’s Arts Festival, which this
Art with hope and a conscience: Rebecca Duckett [Malaysia] Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (1030 words, 8-minute read) The inaugural Rainforest Fringe Festival (RFF), a prelude to the renowned annual Rainforest World Music Festival, ran from 7 to 16 July 2017 in Kuching, capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The RFF is the brainchild of Joe Sidek, who’s also the artistic director of the Georgetown
Rainforest Fringe Festival 2017: Where the Wild Things Are Read More »
