Events
& Happenings
2008
+December 2008
Managing Director Tay Tong invited to be on a panel in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Cultural Diversity Seminar
15 – 16 December 2008,
Hanoi, Vietnam
Organised by the European Commission (EC) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture and Information (MOCI).
Tay Tong will be speaking on a panel in the 2008 ASEM seminar themed ‘Preserving and Promoting the Diversity of Cultural Expressions: Sharing Asian and European Experiences’. He will share his experiences from the company’s Arts Network Asia as well as other intercultural productions and programmes like the Flying Circus Project.
The seminar serves as an open platform for officials, decision-makers and representatives to exchange their experiences and points of view on issues relating to the diversity of cultural expressions.
I AM HERE THE TIME IS NOW
12 – 14 September 2008
Rotterdam Schouwburg, The Netherlands
Organised by the European Cultural Foundation and the International Choice Rotterdam Theatre Festival.
Curated by Keng Sen, I AM HERE, THE TIME IS NOW is an international artistic forum or laboratory where artists from Europe and beyond reflect on the individual choices they make and how their own personal backgrounds influence these choices. Focusing on the small 'I', this public forum takes the form of concerts, media screenings, performances, soundscapes, conversations, interviews and lectures. The general public was invited to share in these individual artists’ dreams and struggles.
+November 2008
72-13 Offsite - An Artistic Playground
Developed with visual artist and sportsman Charles Lim, as part of the 72-13 Creatives-in-Residence Programme, 72-13 Offsite is an alternative arts laboratory space converted from a former squash court. Located at Winchester Road among idyllic greenery, this experimental arts space is fluid and sets out to provide ideal conditions for a process-oriented arts practice. 72-13 Offsite functions as a unique on-going laboratory for artists to collaborate, experiment, and work on their processes.
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+October 2008
Annual Lecture by Artistic Director Ong Keng Sen at IIAS (International Institute for Asian Studies)
30 October 2008
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Keng Sen was invited by established research institution IIAS to give a talk entitled ‘Trauma, Memory, Amnesia’ at its recent Annual Lecture 2008 co-organized with the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation in Amsterdam – part of the celebrations for the prestigious Erasmus Prize. There, he also shared his experiences of creating documentary performances such as The Continuum: Beyond the Killing Fields and Diaspora.
Vivien and the Shadows
21 October 2008, Carolina Performing Arts, USA
Keng Sen is commissioned by the Carolina Performing Arts to present a soul-stimulating, post-modern spectacle inspired by The Streetcar Named Desire. Vivien and the Shadows melds film, performance, race, gender, and sexuality. The work will be shown in Singapore in 2009.
Associate Artistic Director Choy Ka Fai in Jakarta and Bangkok
28 – 29 October 2008,
Jakarta, Indonesia
8 – 9 November 2008,
Bangkok, Thailand
Ka Fai was invited to present POP Station at the 9th Indonesian Dance Festival in Jakarta and the 8th COKE FAT Festival in Bangkok.
Created by Ka Fai and his KYTV collaborators, The POP Station is a satirical approach to the process of being a popular ‘star’ through different tributaries of faculty that manufacture or package an individual or group into a spectacular product similar to the status quo of a celebrity.
Creatives-in-Residence Programme launches 72-13 Offsite
October 2008
TheatreWorks / 72-13 continues to invite creatives from all sectors to be part of its Creatives-in-Residence programme.
One of the current Creatives-in-Residence is visual artist Charles Lim whose project involves the development and setting-up of an old squash court into an alternative arts lab-space. Located at the tip of Winchester Road, this arts space is named “72-13 Offsite” and will be a unique lab space for artists to experiment with their works and to develop processes.
+September 2008
The Continuum: Beyond The Killing Fields in Lyon Dance Biennale
22 – 24 September 2008,
Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse
Part documentary and part experimental performance, The Continuum is about Cambodia’s recent past during the Pol Pot regime and the process of four Cambodians using their art to come to terms with that past. The Continuum is one of the company’s classic works and was performed in Lyon to full houses and accolades.
+August 2008
Open Lab, Göteborg Dance & Theatre Festival 2008
15 – 23 August 2008,
Göteborg, Sweden
Keng Sen was invited to curate a lab for young Swedish artists and students at the Göteborg Dance & Theatre Festival 2008 – the only international festival in Sweden that presents contemporary performing arts; giving inspiration to the cultural life of Göteborg as well as all of Sweden. This is the second time Keng Sen has been invited to curate a lab at this biannual festival.
+July 2008
24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2008
The annual playwriting competition returns. It is the only competition in Singapore that promises participants a fun way to write a play in an unconventional setting in 24 hours. TheatreWorks collaborates with Southeast CDC for this year's competition. More details will be announced soon.
+June 2008
Poetics of Space
Spotlight Singapore Moscow
4 - 7 June 2008, Khokhlovskaya Manufaktural, Moscow
Ka Fai, commissioned by Spotlight Singapore, will present a video work that is part of an interdisciplinary photography-video-sound installation at the Khokhlovskaya Manufaktural, a new and upcoming contemporary arts space in Moscow. More details on www.theartshouse.com.sg/cultural_relations.html.
ASIALINK Residency
In partnership with the ASIALINK Residency, TheatreWorks will host Caroline Farmer and Deborah Pollard as artists-in-residence at 72-13 from June 2008.
Arts Network Asia
This regional re-grant body founded and managed by TheatreWorks received
more than 419 applications from across Asia this year. Only 19 projects were
awarded grants for 2008. More details at www.artsnetworkasia.org.
+May 2008
Singapore Arts Festival 2008
presents
TheatreWorks’
awaking (World Premiere)
A new production conceived and directed by Ong Keng Sen / TheatreWorks
With composer Qu Xiao Song
With video artist Choy Ka Fai
With musicians from Singapore Chinese Orchestra, the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre and Musicians of the Globe
13 & 14 June 2008, Friday & Saturday, 8pm
Victoria Theatre
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I am Here, the Time is Now
Keng Sen is appointed by the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) to create and curate a new festival for 2009 entitled ‘I am Here, the Time is Now’. It is a festival of performance and visual culture. ‘I am Here, the Time is Now’ will urge the consideration of the specifics of the Europe of today especially in relation to its new communities of migrants and its immediate neighbours. It will present groundbreaking new works reflecting the diversity of Europe today.
+January 2008
Leverhulme Artist in Residence
Artistic Director Ong Keng Sen was a Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh. He reports on his residency.
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