MORE FUN BITES AT |THE DURIAN

 The Singapore Arts Festival starts tomorrow and runs until June 2. The Esplanade, the island’s national performing arts centre now celebrating its 10th anniversary, is taking an active part as always, not only in terms of venues but with its own “Flipside” and “ConversAsians”, which focus more on the audiences than before.

“Flipside” is organised annually in conjunction with the Singapore Arts Festival to “showcase the arts in unexpected forms and spaces”, explains Ye JunMin, Esplanade’s programming officer. 

In recent years, though, the fest has undergone major changes and presented more cutting-edge works in unusual spaces and lured bigger audiences with free-admission programmes. JunMin says that “Flipside” has been at the core of this alternative approach.

“‘Flipside’ celebrates the value of fun, and our idea of fun is to be engaged in something that makes you feel happy. So this year we hope both to spark our audience’s imagination even more and pique their curiosity about the arts, with the majority of performances, workshops and various activities having an element of interaction.

“Over at the Concourse and Outdoor Theatre, we invite audiences to suggest scenes and lines in a comedy improvisation called ‘SABOsTAGE’ by local theatre group We Colour People. Be surprised too by the wacky antics of ‘The Funny Bones’ from Japan and be prepared to join them onstage.

“Along the waterfront, several artists’ installations encourage the public to interact. These include petting the animals at the interactive performance installation ‘Beasties’ [from Australia], or engaging in a one-of-a-kind DJ battle at ‘Electric Tea Party’ [from the US], which swaps turntables for a water-based music controller!”

There are also ticketed shows in the Recital Studio – namely, “Incognitus” from Canada, “Gamarjobat” from Japan and “Paper Window” from South Korea.

And for many of us who’ve taken photos of the iconic “Durian” and yet never set foot inside, she says, “We hope these entertaining productions of high quality are able to break the traditional notions that art is intimidating and draw people inside the ‘Durian’.” 

In this special year, the programmes at the Esplanade are celebrating 17 values of human life. “Flipside” focuses on “fun”, while “ConversAsians” – a biennial event that started two years ago when Vasan Sithiket and Pichet Klunchun were among 20 featured artists – celebrates the value of “trust”.

Jobina Tan, deputy director of programming, evaluates the success of the first “ConversAsians”: “The intention is to inspire ideas and foster collaborations. We were happy that the first ‘ConversAsians’ saw artists wanting to work with one another. Also through the platform, we were able to build on opportunities where we later supported the development of new works such as Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s ‘Water Stains on the Wall’, Pichet Klunchen’s ‘Black and White’ and Jecko Siompo’s ‘We Came From the East’.”

Tan says that for this year the number of featured artists has reduced from 20 to 12, while event days have expanded from three to four – “with time for participants to get to know them better”. 

Included on the list are famous dancer-choreographer Akram Khan, Academy Award-winning costume designer Tim Yip, Malaysian dance master Marion D’Cruz, Singaporean theatre director Ong Keng Sen and one of the hottest names in Japanese contemporary dance, Hiroaki Umeda, who also designs the lighting and sound for his performances.

“We have also expanded the public elements of the programme in such a way that almost all the events can be accessed by the public so that more people can appreciate and be inspired by these artists who have so much to share,” adds Tan. 

“This year, we have also lowered the prices ... as we wanted more people, especially local arts practitioners, to benefit from this event. 

But the Esplanade always has one eye on the future too: 

“To further benefit arts students based in Singapore, the student fellowship programme is offering seven candidates a chance to attend ‘ConversAsians’, where they can meet, observe and learn from the artists and arts industry practitioners while being mentored by Esplanade’s programming officers,” says Tan.

 

BRIGHT SIDE