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Cynthia Lee Macquarrie / Ebi Shankara / Jacques Vincey / Janice Koh / Joél Pommerat / Karen Tan / Marc Goldberg / Pavan J Singh / Tan Shou Chen / Timothy Nga / Umi Kalthum Ismail / Zelda Tatiana Ng - The Reunification Of The Two Koreas

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Performance

1 – 11 November 2018
Wednesday – Saturday, 
8pm

Saturday & Sunday, 3pm

 

"The Reunification Of The Two Koreas" is a patchwork of twenty short scenes revolving around an unuttered question: what are human relationships made of? 

 

A woman wants a divorce because there was never any love between her and her husband, on her wedding day a bride discovers her fiancé had an affair with each of her four sisters, a mother is stunned when she learns her husband is happy with their son joining the army and risking his life at war, two best friends get into a savage fight because one of them recalls their first encounter, a prostitute bargains down her services to hook a client: what are those bonds that lead us to love; hate; help; betray; care; flee; fight; abuse; or lie?

 

Each scene explores situations where a relationship is challenged, drawing us into a maze where appeased relations between humans seem as primal, desirable and quixotic as the reunification of the two Koreas. 

 

Directed by Jacques Vincey, written by Joél Pommerat and translated by Marc Goldberg, The Reunification Of The Two Koreas features performances from Cynthia Lee Macquarrie, Ebi Shankara, Janice Koh, Karen Tan, Pavan J Singh, Tan Shou Chen, Timothy Nga, Umi Kalthum Ismail and Zelda Tatiana Ng.

 

www.becauseiloveyou.sg 

 

Co-production between Centre Dramatique National de Tours and TheatreWorks. With support from National Arts Council and Cultural Matching Fund.

Joel
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Devising Performance Workshop
26 November, 28 November, 30 November, 1 December, 3 December, 5 December 2018
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
7.30pm – 10.30pm 

Saturday
2.30pm – 6.30pm

Registration Fee: $800 for each group (Groups can be up to 5 pax and may comprise of writers, directors, actors, and designers.); $20 per session for observers

 

TheatreWorks Writers' Lab invites lauded Chilean playwright and director, Manuela Infante, to Singapore to conduct a devising performance workshop. 

 

Whether you have an idea brewing, or a work-in-progress, this interdisciplinary workshop will take you to the next step! This workshop is open to writers, directors, performers, and designers interested in developing their work collaboratively. 

 

Infante will focus on devising and writing by drawing materials from what is created in the rehearsal room with performers. By applying her methodology towards your creative process, you will explore theories of non-anthropocentric theatre, in which other forces such as light, sound, words, and other non-human entities find time and space to participate in the forging of the work. 

 

Participants will write on the spot, in the rehearsal space, and after the rehearsal, breaking the conventional approach of writing where "the words come first". 

 

In this workshop, the body, the space, and improvisation stand at the forefront, thus removing the human author from the centre of creation. Infante was last seen in Singapore presenting Vegetative State as part of the Singapore International Festival of Arts in 2017. She regards her plays as essays in a corpus of broader currents of thoughts that stems from theoretical writings, science and cultural studies, characterising her work as a kind of 'irresponsible philosophy'. 

 

Irresponsible in the sense that we strive from stealing from theory to make work, and not having to inscribe myself responsibly/responsively back into the academic corpus. My work is about letting ideas acquire a material life of their own, watching them find their way into the material world, into our bodies and our relations, and thus into time.
- Manuela Infante, director 

 

Infante is widely celebrated for feminist re-envisioning of famous historical figures, combining slapstick humour and prose. 

 

Her works have toured around the world and have been widely applauded by critics and audiences. From 2001 to 2016, she was part of Teatro de Chile, one of the most highly regarded young theatre groups in Chile. Infante's repertoire of works includes "Fin" (2008), co-produced and premiered at the festival of Modena, Italy, and "What's He Building in There?" (201 1), created in residency at The Watermill Center, and premiering and shown in several spaces in New York. In 2012, she directed "On the Beach", curated by Robert Wilson and premiered at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York; as well as "Don't Feed the Humans", premiered in Hebbel am Uffer in Berlin, Germany. Infante was also selected as Artistic Director Of the XVI Playwright Selection 2014, organized by the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes. 

 

This is your chance to develop your own work with guidance by Manuela Infante; one of the most prolific and interesting voices in contemporary theatre in Chile and Latin America. 

 

Structure of the Workshop: 

 

Session 1

  • Introduction to non-humanist approach and devising methodology 

  • Discussion of reading materials 

 

Session 2

  • Project presentation and discussion

 

  • Designing a methodology for your project 

 

Session 3-6

  • Working on a methodology for your project 

 

Born in 1980, Manuela Infante is a Chilean theatre playwright. director, scriptwriter and musician. Infante holds a BA in Arts from the University of Chile and a MA in Cultural Analysis from the University of Amsterdam. With her group Teatro de Chile (2002 – 2016) she wrote and directed numerous works with the support of the Chilean Funds for the Arts. Four of her plays have been published and translated into English and Italian. Her work has toured internationally to the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Perü, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Singapore and Korea She has produced work with Hebbel am Uffer, Festival de Modena, The Watermill Center, FIBA and FITAM. In 2015 she was the first woman to be appointed director of The National Festival for Dramaturgy (Muestra Nacional) in Chile. 

 

www.teatrodechile.cl

​

Conceived by Artistic Director Ong Keng Sen in 1990, the Writers' Lab has been pioneering in encouraging and developing Singapore playwriting with its varied as well as far-reaching programmes. The Writers' Lab aims to provide exceptional first-time and emerging playwrights with opportunities to hone their creative writing skills through an incubating environment. 

 

With support from Cultural Matching Fund.

Manuel

Chanel Chan / Jo Tan / Sharda Harrison / Shen Tan / Tan Shou Chen / Thomas Pang - 13.13.13

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Performance

19 July – 4 August 2018 

Thursday – Saturday, 8pm 

Saturday, 3pm 

Rating: Advisory 16 (Mature Content and Some Coarse 

Language) 

 

TheatreWorks BECAUSE I LOVE YOU Season opens by exploring the form and substance of relationships in 13.13.13, digging into the tenuous bonds that bind and betrayals that break. 

 

William and Samantha live a good life. They have the perfect arrangement — William doesn't want marriage and Sam doesn't want kids. Lynn, William's ex-girlfriend and now oldest best friend, desperately wants to marry but cannot. Lynn also wants children. William does what he believes is reasonable to help his oldest friend with what she wants. 

 

Life is almost perfect for William and Samantha as they live together in un-married bliss till things unsaid, and things agreed, unravel their agreement. 13.13.13 explores the form and substance of relationships, digging into the tenuous bonds that bind and betrayals that break. 

 

Written by Shen Tan and directed by Tan Shou Chen, 13.13.13 features performers Chanel Chan, Jo Tan, Sharda Harrison and Thomas Pang.

 

13.13.13 is an original play that was developed in the TheatreWorks Writers' Lab. It is written by Shen Tan, who fell in love with theatre in secondary school after her first script was staged. After a detour to audio engineering, she returned to her first love. Winning the TheatreWorks 24-Hour Playwriting Competition for another play provided the opportunity to develop 13.13.13. In the Writers' Lab, Shen was mentored by Tony Perez and 13.13.13 received a public reading last year. 

 

Conceived by Artistic Director Ong Keng Sen in 1990, the Writers' Lab has been pioneering in encouraging and developing Singapore playwriting with its varied as well as far-reaching programmes. The Writers' Lab aims to provide exceptional first-time and emerging playwrights with opportunities to hone their creative writing skills through an incubating environment. 

 

www.becauseiloveyou.sg 

 

With support from National Arts Council, Cultural Matching Fund and Hong Leong Foundation.

Tony Perez - Writing from the Heart: From Dreams to Drama

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Workshop 

2 – 6 July, 9 – 10 July 2018 

7.30pm – 10.30pm 

Registration Fees: $250 (standard), $200 (student)

 

Have you ever dreamt of writing your own play or found your mind wandering off and envisioning stories? Join us at this year’s playwriting workshop. 

 

Tony Perez — playwright, novelist and visual artist — will combine his repertoire of skills to guide you on a journey into your subconscious. Learn about writing your own play by using your own dreams as a source of inspiration. You will participate in practical exercises, utilise dream analysis and interpretation, and apply these techniques towards playwriting. 

 

After the workshop, you will have the opportunity to undergo a year-long mentorship programme to be led by Tony Perez. This includes writing a play and receiving dramaturgical guidance from Tony Perez. Upon completion of the mentorship, the plays will be read to the public in a dramatised reading. 

 

Emerging playwright Shen Tan, who participated in the workshop and underwent the mentorship will have her play 13.13.13. presented this July as part of TheatreWorks' 2018 season. Emerging playwrights Clara Chow and Pamela Tham from the 2016 workshops will have their works presented in a Dramatised Reading on 7 July. 

 

Join us for this year's workshop and you could be the next successful playwright! 


 

Workshop Structure: 

 

Session 1 (2 July 2017)

• Overview Of Dream Journaling 

• Dream Reentry 

• Composing Literary Fragments as Dreams 

• Dream Interpretation 

• From Dreams to Drama: Premise and Point Of Attack 

 

Session 2 (3 July 2017) 

• Dream Symbols 

• Dialoguing with Dream Images 

• The Dramatic Monologue 

 

Session 3 (4 July 2017) 

• Altered States of Consciousness and Regression 

• Using Dream Fragments 

• Dream Incubation 

 

Session 4 (5 July 2017) 

• Dream Archetypes 

• Dream Characters 

• The Anima. the Animus, and The Shadow 

• Eros and Thanatos 

 

Session 5 (6 July 2017) 

• Dream Dramatisation 

• Rewriting the Dream 

• Lucid Dreaming 

 

Session 6 ( 9 July 2017) 

• Writing: Developing a Play from A Significant Dream 

• Exploring Stimuli and Patterns in Playwriting 

• Painting Dream Scenes 

• Eden Lost and Regained 

 

Session 7 (10 July 2017) 

• Astral Travel in the Service of Playwriting 

• Wrap-up and Group Dynamics 

 

Tony Perez is a Filipino playwright, novelist, and visual artist with an M.A. degree in Religious Studies, an M.A. candidacy in Clinical Psychology, and an AB in Communication. He has authored two major, full-length trilogies of plays in Tagalog, some of which have been translated into English and Polish. His full-length play Trip to The South was performed in New York and in Singapore; another full-length play, On The North Diversion Road was performed in Melbourne and in Singapore. After having more than 40 books published in the Philippines, he is devoting the rest of his life to posting his new and forthcoming books in cyberspace. They can be accessed through his main blog site tonyperezphilippines.blogspot.com. His artworks have been showcased in more than 15 exhibitions. 

 

Perez is also the founder of the Spirit Questors, a group of young, psychic volunteers who render service to the public free of charge. Among his other interests are fiber art, puppetry, the use of drama in psychotherapy. In his home country, he conducts workshops to under-served audiences such as victims of human trafficking and sexual abuse, children in conflict with the law, prison inmates, child combatants, and residents of drug rehabilitation centers. 

 

Perez has worked with TheatreWorks since the 1990s. He led in workshops like Writing from the Subconscious (1990), Explore the Physical Psychic Sense for Creative Writing (1992) and 

wrote Trip to the South performed at the ASEAN Season Festival in 1991. 

 

About TheatreWorks Writers' Lab 

 

Conceived by Artistic Director Ong Keng Sen in 1990, the Writers' Lab has been pioneering in encouraging and developing Singapore playwriting with its varied as well as far-reaching programmes. The Writers' Lab aims to provide exceptional first-time and emerging playwrights with opportunities to hone their creative writing skills through an incubating environment.

With support from National Arts Council and Cultural Matching Fund.

Adib Kosnan / Ali Anwar / Beatrice Chia / Chen Yingxuan / Clara Chow / Fatin Syahirah / Jolene Wong / Lim Yu-Beng / Nora Samosir / Noorlinah Mohamed / Muhammad Muazzam Amanah (Zam) / Ong Yi Xuan / Pamela Tham / Rodney Oliveiro / Serene Chen / Serina Sng / Seong Hui Xuan / Shafiqah Efandi / Teo Mei Ann - Dramatised Readings

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Dramatised readings

Saturday, 7 July 2018
2pm – 10pm 

Free Admission

 

Fresh from 'graduating' from a year-long mentorship programme with playwright Tony Perez, emerging playwrights Clara Chow and Pamela Tham will have their original new works presented in a dramatised reading at 72-13. 

 

TheatreWorks is dedicated to nurturing and developing new writing for the theatre. Our script development process focuses on exploration and creative dialogue. The primary motivations are to create a responsive community, to generate a feedback loop with our audiences who contribute to the growth of new scripts and to cultivate vital, confident playwrights. 

 

Join us in listening and responding to these new works as Clara Chow and Pamela Tham take the next step in their playwriting journey. 

 

Make Sure by Clara Chow
2pm – 4pm 

 

When a brash and confident docent steps into a white-cube space, filled with imaginary artworks, she finds herself confronting an unlikely nemesis: A security guard who refuses to let anyone touch anything. The docent champions artistic expression and freedom, evident in the passion with which she describes invisible art on the walls to an audience who has to choose whether to follow her or to obey the instructions of the guard. Like a tug-of-war, both women argue their point of view in front of the "tour group" of roving audience members. Things come to a head in this satire when a robbery suddenly erupts. 

​

Written by Clara Chow and directed by Teo Mei Ann, Make Sure is performed by Beatrice Chia, Noorlinah Mohamed and Shafiqah Efandi. 

​

Birth Days by Clara Chow

5pm – 7pm 

 

When Sabine discovers that her husband is cheating on her, she struggles to carry on as a single parent to two boys. However, going through a messy divorce and financial upheaval, Sabine begins to crack a little under the pressure, and soon, her relationship with her mother is strained. The play explores the complex relationship between mother and daughter, woman and woman, and asks the question: What makes a woman a mother? Her story is interspersed with birth stories gleaned from true-life accounts. Modern medicine and the field of gynecology have been shaped by the contributions and historical dominance of male experts/doctors. Stories of childbirth, labour and miscarriage are often considered private, taboo and not suitable for public discussion. Birth Days attempts to reclaim these narratives and air them frankly, without stigma. 

 

Written by Clara Chow and directed by Chen Yingxuan, Birth Days is performed by Fatin Syahirah, Jolene Wong, Noorlinah Mohamed, Nora Samosir, Ong Yi Xuan, Rodney Oliveiro, Serene Chen and Serina Sng. 

 

Waiting for Marimekko by Pamela Tham

8pm – 10pm 

 

Changi Beach is a good place for quiet moments. Rasul and Sarah find that they both aren't alone at Changi Beach that clear Sunday afternoon. 

 

Rasul sits on a bench with only a camera and a kendama for company while Sarah sits alone after just bidding goodbye to her boyfriend. As these two individuals start chatting, they discover their conversation washes up fragments of memories they had put away, shadows of people they loved, and connections that surprise them both. 

 

Waiting for Marimekko is about what happens between hellos and goodbyes, departures and arrivals, and remembering and forgetting. It takes time to savour the little things that happen quietly and insistently as we wait, with excitement and dread, for the big milestones in life. Perhaps, it suggests, the wait is what we most need to pay attention to. 

 

Directed by Lim Yu-Beng and written by Pamela Tham, Waiting for Marimekko is performed by Adib Kosnan, Ali Anwar, Seong Hui Xuan, Nora Samosir and Muhammad Muazzam Amanah (Zam). 

 

Clara Chow (Singapore) is the author of story collections "Dream Storeys" (Ethos, 2016) and "Modern Myths" (Math Paper Press, 2018). Her fiction has been published in the likes of Asia Literary Review, Columbia Journal, and Prairie Schooner, as well as anthologised in the Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Vol. 3, The Best Asian Short Stories (Kitaab, 2017) and Hook & Eye (Ethos, 2018). A former arts correspondent with The Straits Times, Life, she has also contributed to the South China Morning Post. Since becoming a full-time fictionist, she has been a writer-in-residence at Toji Cultural Centre in South Korea, the Bogong Centre of Sound Culture in Australia, and the ASEAN Literary Festival in Jakarta. In 2015, she co-founded the online art and literary journal WeAreAWebsite.com. Find her at http://clarachow.weebly.com 

 

Pamela Tham (Pam) has worked in the public service as a primary school educator, citizen engager and content producer. In the past seven years, she has found herself answering questions as diverse as (1) Ms Tham, do whales have hair? (2) What are the needs of Singapore's future economy? (3) Could you check this colour-proof for errors? 

 

Pam is also known for starting up a collection of puns about MRT station names, and loves it when people play with words. In her own attempts to do so, she tries to capture the beauty and complexity of real lives, stitching together snippets from conversations with the taxi driver, observing the lady next to her on the bus, and eavesdropping on the teenagers across the aisle in the MRT. Yes, she spends a lot of time on public transport. 

​

About TheatreWorks Writers' Lab 

 

Conceived by Artistic Director Ong Keng Sen in 1990, the Writers' Lab has been pioneering in encouraging and developing Singapore playwriting with its varied as well as far-reaching programmes. The Writers' Lab aims to provide exceptional first- time and emerging playwrights with opportunities to hone their creative writing skills through an incubating environment. 

 

dramatisedreadings2018.eventbrite.sg

 

With support from National Arts Council and Cultural Matching Fund

Mike Cooper / John N. Miksic / T. K. Sabapathy / Zai Kuning - Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge

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Exhibition
Opening 12 April
7pm – 10pm 

13 April – 13 May 2018
12pm – 7pm
Monday: Closed

Opening hours are extended to 10pm on 19 April, 26 April, 4 

May, 5 May 2018
Free Admission

 

A 17-mere long ship traverses the hall, suspended. As if emerging from the ocean floor, it unloads hundreds of books sealed in beeswax. This is the imagined vessel steered by Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa, the first Malay king of the 7th century Srivijayan Empire. Alongside, portraits of Mak Yong (ancient Malay opera) performers are featured as living witnesses to a history cast in darkness. 

 

Zai Kuning's synthesis of forgotten histories and disappearing traditions is "full of magic, mystery and beauty" (Karim Raslan, South China Morning Post). As the first contemporary visual artwork to ambitiously uncover and interpret ancient regional history, the vessel and its variations have been exhibited in Ota Fine Arts (Singapore, 2014), Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) (Singapore, 2014), Esplanade — Theatres on the Bay (Singapore, 2015), Art Basel Hong Kong (2015), Palais de Tokyo (Paris, 2015), and the 57th Venice Biennale (2017). 

 

In the homecoming of this highly acclaimed work, audience members can expect to gain fuller insights into a 20-year long journey that has taken the artist to encounter the orang laut (sea people), Mak Yong performers, and the lost world of the Malay kingdom. A performance with musician Mike Cooper will breathe life to a new film, Chronicles of Amnesia, that captures Zai's extraordinary sojourn. Archaeologist John N. Miksic and art historian T. K. Sabapathy will each give a lecture on the geographical, historical, cultural, and artistic symbols that exist in Dapunta Hyang's world.

 

TheatreWorks is proud to present this exceptional work that communicates the urgent need to resurface questions on how knowledge has been transmitted, manipulated and directed across time and space to inform us of our present realities. 

 

Zai Kuning was born in 1964 in Singapore, to a wedding singer family. He spent his childhood in a kampung (village) by the beach, immersed in an environment of traditional and classical Malay music. When he was seven, his family moved into a high-rise apartment. Zai found himself drawn to the kampung, and kept returning to it until it was demolished for redevelopment. The displacement of the individual and the community has thus resided close to his heart, and is explored in his wide-ranging art practices. 

 

As an artist, Zai resists convenient categorical claims. Considered one of the most versatile artists working in the region, Zai has pioneered a practice spanning sculpture, installation, painting and drawing, experimental sound and music, video, film, performance art, poetry, dance and theatre. Zai also values collaboration, and has performed and created works with artists of diverse practices including Kuning Sulaiman, Kuo Pao Kun, Tang Da Wu (Singapore), and Tetsu Saitoh (Japan). Zai's research on orang laut (sea people), the first people of the Riau Archipelago, took flight as a residency project with TheatreWorks (Singapore) in 2001. Since then, his encounters with orang laut and other islanders, including performers of Malay opera mak yong, have become a staple in his work exploring human environments, ethics, religion, culture and history. 

 

Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge is a culmination of his 20-year exploration of these themes and geographies. For this edition of the work, Zai journeyed to Mantang Island (Riau Archipelago) and Phatthalung town (Thailand), as well as the once-vibrant trading cities of Palembang and Jambi (Indonesia), to uncover the history, landscape and influence of Dapunta Hyang's Srivijaya empire. 

 

Zai graduated from LASALLE College Of the Arts — Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with a BFA in 1996, majoring in ceramic sculpture and has participated in notable group exhibitions including "Who interprets the world?" at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2015); "Secret Archipelago" at Palais De Tokyo, Paris, France (2015); "Not Against Interpretation" at the Singapore Art Museum (2013); "Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia" from the Collection of Singapore Art Museum at the Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan (2013); Singapore Biennale 2011: Open House (2011); The 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan (2005); and The 2nd Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, The Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (1996). His recent solo exhibitions include "Ombak Hitam" at Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo (2016); "Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge" at the Esplanade, Singapore (2015); "IMMIGRANT: The Question of Moral" at The Substation Gallery in collaboration with Vichukorn Tangpaiboon (201 1), amongst others. His artwork is collected by the Singapore Art Museum, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), M+ (Hong Kong), and Kadist Art Foundation (France, USA) 

​

Public Lectures 

19 April & 26 April 2018
7.30pm

 

Three Mountains in Malay History 

Public Lecture by Professor John N. Miksic 

19 April 2018
7.30pm 

 

The Malay realm is a sea-faring terrain. From the search of the orang laut (sea people) to re-imagining a vessel from a 7th-century armada, the sea remains the constant premise for Zai Kuning's artistic inquisition of Malay history. Surrounded by a flat and expansive body of water, seafarers in the region have always relied on mountains as a guiding force, geographically as well as spiritually. Drawing from archaeological research, John N. Miksic discusses the importance of mountains, specifically in Palembang (Sumatra), Singapore, and Melaka, as epicentres that unify the Malay maritime culture. 

 

Symbolic Content in Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge 

Public Lecture by Professor T. K. Sabapathy 

Thursday, 26 April 2018, 7.30pm 

 

A stone inscription found in the vicinity of Bukit Seguntung in Palembang names Dapunta Hyang as a ruler who embarked upon a voyage or pilgrimage to gain merit and spiritual power. The contents of this inscription, the figure of Dapunta Hyang and ships or vessels are vital, dynamic wellsprings for Zai Kuning's current work. T. K. Sabapathy discusses this inscription and its impact in the making of Zai Kuning's Dapunta Hyang: Transmission Of Knowledge, which was produced for Venice Biennale and is currently displayed TheatreWorks. He also deals with other sources enrich its interpretation. The talk is illustrated. 

 

John N. Miksic received his PhD from Cornell University based on archaeological fieldwork in Sumatra. He spent four years in Malaysia as a Peace Corps Volunteer, worked as a Rural Development Advisor in Sumatra, and taught at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, for six years. In 1987 he moved to the National University of Singapore, where he is a professor in the Southeast Asian Studies Department. He has also been affiliated with the Department Of History, University Scholars Archaeology Unit at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. He has received a Special Recognition Award and the Pingat Bakti Setia from the government of Singapore, and the title of Kanjeng Raden Harya Temenggung from the Susuhunan (hereditary rulers) of Surakarta, Indonesia. His specialty is the archaeology of Southeast Asia between 500 and 1500 CE, including urbanisation, trade, Buddhism, and ceramics. 

 

T. K. Sabapathy has researched and published extensively on modern art and artists in Southeast Asia; his work inaugurates pathways for developing art histories of the modem in this region. He is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore where he teaches the history of art. 

 

Performances 

Friday, 4 & Saturday, 5 May 2018, 8pm

 

In 2005, Riau, a short film that represented Zai Kuning's search for the orang laut, was premiered at TheatreWorks. While the film has been highly praised and acquired by several institutions, it also marked Zai's departure from the orang laut as he was mentally tortured by their predicament of being completely isolated. 

 

Zai's encounters with the orang laut, however, became the driving force for his artistic inquiry of Malay culture and history which are either misunderstood or forgotten. Chronicles of Amnesia is a new film that documents his encounters with a Mak Yong troupe that was on the verge of disappearance, site visits to the Old capitals Of the Malay-Srivijayan empire, and the making of an imagined vessel from the forgotten 7th century maritime kingdom. 

 

The performance Chronicles of Amnesia will be a screening Of these two films, with live music from Zai and musician Mike Cooper. 

 

For the past 50 years, Mike Cooper has been an international artistic explorer constantly pushing the boundaries. He plays lap steel guitar and sings, he is an improviser and composer, song-maker, a visual and installation artist; film and video maker and radio arts producer. Initially a folk-blues guitarist he is as responsible as anyone else — and more so than many — for ushering in the acoustic blues boom in the U.K. in the mid-'60s. He has, arguably, stretched the possibilities of that genre even more than his better-known contemporaries Davy Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourne etc. by pursuing it into the more avant-garde musical areas occupied by guitar innovators such as Elliott Sharp, Keith Rowe, Fred Frith and Marc Ribot, with an eclectic mix of the many styles he has practiced over the years. Ranging freely through free improvisation, his own idiosyncratic original songs, electro-acoustic music, exotica, traditional country blues, folk, pop songs, and 'sonic gestural' playing utilising open tunings, extended guitar techniques and electronics. 

 
https://dapuntahyangperformance.eventbrite.sg 

 

With support from National Arts Council and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.

The Curators Academy: Open Call

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Open call for participants
24 – 28 January 2018

TheatreWorks (Singapore), in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Singapore, is calling for participants to be part of the first edition of The CURATORS ACADEMY conceived & led by Ong Keng Sen, Director of TheatreWorks (Singapore) and Founding Festival Singapore International Festival Of Arts (SIFA), 2014 to 2017. The CURATORS ACADEMY invites interested individuals from Asia to apply for a place in the Academy. The duration of the from 24 to 28 January 2018 in Singapore. English will be the communication. 

 

MISSION 

The CURATORS ACADEMY is concerned with the curation of the Artistic Director of South East Academy as language of performance but intends to move beyond the skills of curation, unlike conventional training programmes in universities. 

 

Its emphasis is on developing a context when there is little or none, for 'growing' performance, which engages and interrogates the politics of the local site. The first recognition of the Academy is that very often, curators need to cultivate a scene of processes between their public intellectuals, artists, audiences and civil society, to construct a scene and its own specifics. 

 

PARTICIPANTS 

This initiative is for aspiring curators in South East Asia. These will primarily be independent artists and producers with strong networks but the Academy will strive to provide a platform for exchange to develop various curatorial perspectives and considerations with them. The Academy is open to programmers affiliated with institutions; the focus remains on the development of independent curation. 

 

It is the CURATORS ACADEMY's belief that the curators nurture porous contexts, conversations, continuities through interrogating archives/legacies and bridging potentialities. 

 

MECHANICS 

The participants will be engaging in dialogue with trainers who will include Ong Keng Sen, curators from Germany as well as curators from other parts of the world. The trainers will bring specific perspectives based on their research and practice. 

 

APPLICATION DETAILS: 

The CURATORS ACADEMY invites individuals who have / who are: 

• An independent aspiring curator from South East Asia, who comes from 

the background of making art or producing art; 

• curious; 

• a ready network; and 

• a desire to activate their networks to enable and transform their contexts and their communities. This includes enabling and transforming institution(s) or sometimes collaboration with the institution(s). 

 

HOW TO APPLY?

 

Your application must include:

• A brief description of your curatorial experience if any, 

• Your current artistic and production practice, 

• A brief description of your current network(s) 

• Curriculum Vitae (up-to-date) 

• Portfolio of the recent project work (max. 10MB total) 

• How you intend to enable and transform your local contexts, 

communities or institutions, if given an opportunity. 

 

Applications shall be submitted via email to the following email address: taytong@theatreworks.org.sg 

 

Application deadline: 27 November 2017, 23:55 hours (Singapore time) 

Please also keep in mind that only digital material is accepted and all documents shall be sent in the same email. TheatreWorks (Singapore) can respond to email inquiries except regarding the status of individual applications. 

 

Successful applicants shall be informed in due course. 

 

The CURATORS ACADEMY shall provide the selected participant a return economy class air-ticket from his/her city of residence to Singapore, per diem and hotel accommodation for the duration of the Academy from 23 January (day of arrival) to 28 January 2018. The day of departure from Singapore is 29 January 2018. 

 

Presented in partnership with Goethe Institut, with the support of Arts Network Asia and Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

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shen
Tony Perez
Clara Chow
Zai Kuning
Curators
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