Political Acts review: Artists weave defiance into performance art [SEA]

Review of POLITICAL ACTS: PIONEERS OF PERFORMANCE ART IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, Arts Centre Melbourne Steven Tonkin has curated a useful survey of Southeast Asian performance art as part of the inaugural Asia Triennial of Performing Arts. The photographs and videos of seven artists contain glimpses of their social environments, reminding us that performance art comes […]

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Contemporary art taking off in Philippines as galleries host more visitors and collectors take a global view

At the opening of Art Fair Philippines in Manila last month, a young sound artist named Jon Romero was using an overseas visitor to conduct electricity between metal sheets. Each time Romero tapped on the visitor’s arm, the electrical charge created a sound. Romero began playing the visitor like an instrument. “It’s the electricity flowing

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Garin Nugroho’s ‘Satan Jawa’ Flirts with the Dark Side

By Nuraini Juliastuti (1124 words, 12 minute read) Satan Jawa (Garin Nugroho, 2017) a silent movie, in black and white (inspired by Nosferatu and Metropolis), had its world premier with the ‘live’ performances of Gamelan Garasi Seni Benawa and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of AsiaTOPA (Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts) in Melbourne recently. To

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3 – 10 April: Singapore

28.8 by Teater Kami, 7-8 Apr, Aliwal Arts Centre Written and directed by Adib Kosnan, this play targets a specific audience of young men and women who can relate to the challenges that living in Singapore poses to them financially. The play sees the blossoming of a relationship moving into marriage, before hitting different obstacles that

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3 – 9 April 2017: Indonesia

Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta from 3 – 9 April 2017   JAKARTA    Arus Bawah, 3 – 16 April 2017, Kineforum, Jakarta For the first half of April, Kineforum are bringing films with the theme of Arus Bawah or Under Current. Arus Bawah is a reflection of the undercurrent in society. Just

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Seattle soiree for musical on rise and fall of the Marcoses (via Inquirer.net)

SEATTLE, Washington — The public is invited to a special cultural night presentation of the hit musical “Here Lies Love” on June 3, 5:30 p.m. at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Seattle’s Philippine Soiree is presented by three-time Tony and Grammy Award-winner Jhett Tolentino, in cooperation with FYLPRO. “Here Lies Love” tells the story of the eventful

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Australian Play “The Age of Bones” puts Indonesian refugee issue in spotlight (via NT News)

The Age of Bones, written by Sandra Thibodeaux and directed by Iswadi Pratama & Alex Galeazzi, follows the story of an Indonesian boy, Ikan, who goes fishing one day and fails to return. Sandra Thibodeaux latest production to hit the Brown’s Mart stage tackles the traumatic experience of Indonesian teenagers caught up in Australia controversial

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Zai Kuning on the Singapore Pavilion project at Venice Biennale 2017 (via Art Radar Journal)

“What I present is not about Singapore history, but rather it is the history and living cultures across Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand up to Vietnam. This is the Malay world that the world knows very little about. Even the Malays in Singapore do not know it well. Singapore is one part of the Malay

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Singapore International Festival of Arts’ new director: “I don’t think mainstream is a dirty word” (via Channel NewsAsia)

SINGAPORE: “I think it’s safe to say that I have a reputation of not doing weird s**t. I do love mainstream work. I don’t think it’s a dirty word. So I’m not shy, embarrassed or apologising for that at all,” said Gaurav Kripalani, with a laugh. The 45-year-old artistic director of Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT)

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Sneak a peek at an Australian-Indonesian crosscultural puppet theatre collaboration (via AsiaTOPA)

Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) takes pre-school children and their adults on a sea journey never to be forgotten. Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) is inspired by the seafaring history of Java, Indonesia, and a true tale of a small boy’s arrival in Australia. Cerita Anak places children at the heart of the story by inviting the

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A Film Mixes Fact and Fiction to Illuminate the Lives of Queer Teens in Bangkok (via Hyperallergic)

“#BKKY is a coming-of-age love story following Jojo, who embodies an amalgamation of interviews the director conducted with 100 Thai teenagers. #BKKY’s opening scene is a brilliant five-minute-long single-shot piece of cinematography, taken from underneath a desk. We see only the legs of two young high school girls and hear them talk flirtatiously with one another.

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Podcast 12: Theatricality in Dance; “Coppélia” and “Indices of Vanishment”

Duration: 18 minutes Dancer Chan Sze-Wei joins Dr Stephanie Burridge in the studio to consider theatricality in dance, exploring manifestations of theatricality in the classical ballet of Singapore Dance Theatre’s Coppélia and the contemporary form of Raw Moves’ Indices of Vanishment, both of which were staged in the past month. As worlds apart as they are in

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27 Mar – 2 Apr 2017: Singapore

The Four Note Opera by L’arietta Singapore, 31 Mar – 2 Apr, Aliwal Arts Centre Having had its New York City premiere in 1972, this hilarious one act opera by American composer Tom Johnson – part absurdist, part minimalist, all comedy. L’arietta Productions is a music collective that aims to produce high quality chamber opera, and

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Activist Lena Hendry fined RM10,000 over unapproved documentary screening

KUALA LUMPUR: A human rights activist has been fined RM10,000 Wednesday by the magistrate’s court here for screening a Sri Lankan civil war documentary which had not been approved by the Censorship Board. Magistrate Mohd Rehan Mohd Aris sentenced Lena Hendry, 32, after she was found guilty of screening the documentary. Read the rest of

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10 great modern Southeast Asian films

A rough guide to contemporary cinema from Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is an expansive region that produces diverse cinema, much of which now reaches the international festival circuit. Yet only a relatively limited number of titles receive overseas commercial release, usually based on the director’s prestige or

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20 – 26 March 2017: Singapore

Alena Murang: Talk and Performance, 22 and 23 Mar, LASALLE College of the Arts LASALLE College of the Arts hosts a performance and talk by Borneo visual artist and musician Alena Murang across two days (22 & 23 March 2017). On 22 March at 7:30pm, Alena shares stories, myths and analogies of fast-fading tribes – Kelabit,

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Class Conflict: “Those Who Can’t, Teach” by The Necessary Stage

By Marcus Yee (904 words, 9-minute read) The Necessary Stage’s most recent production, Those Who Can’t, Teach makes a strange journey to its eventual arrival as a “play that salutes teachers”. For one, Haresh Sharma’s script distances itself from the conventional narratives of a teacher’s struggle over a difficult student, with the student’s future success

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20 – 26 March 2017: Indonesia

Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Bali 20-26 March 2017  JAKARTA Monopolis, 25 March 2017, Black Box Theater Salihara, Jakarta A performance by Komunitas Seni Hitam Putih, Monopolis highlights economic and social issues in Indonesia. These issues are presented through the bodies of the actors in this non-verbal performance. This performance is also the

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