Arts

The Future Of Our Pasts Festival – better known as TFOOPFest – took place till 17 March at various locations around the city. Organised by Yale-NUS College, the festival featured a line-up of 11 multidisciplinary projects created by young local artists and cultural advocates in hopes of engaging and inspiring audiences to explore the lesser-known narratives of Singapore’s communities and history. Held in support of the Singapore Bicentennial, TFOOPFest prompted audiences to explore different narratives through the various programmes available, including installations, interactive musical and theatrical performances, as well as film screenings. Here were some of the programmes TFOOPFest offered.…

Singapore Design Week (SDW) – one of Asia’s premier design festivals – celebrated its sixth edition with a robust line-up of programmes. Held till 17 March 2019, SDW 2019 highlighted how good design impacts the economy, environment, society, and culture. Held at the National Design Centre (NDC) and various locations island-wide, SDW included over 80 programmes by more than 70 partners that brought attention to the impact and value of design in everyday living. SingaPlural 2019 The first day of SDW 2019 also saw the launch of its first programme on the list – SingaPlural 2019. A strong advocate for…

The Singapore Philatelic Museum (SPM) and the Peranakan Museum under the National Heritage Board (NHB) will be closed for redevelopment later this year to refresh the museums’ infrastructure and content. The former will be closed to the public from 18 March 2019, and is expected to re-open to the public in end 2020. The latter will be closed from 1 April 2019, and will re-open in mid-2021. These are major redevelopment projects since SPM’s opening in 1995, and the Peranakan Museum’s launch in 2008. Here is a summarised list of some of the most memorable exhibits – both permanent and…

The Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) presents The Truth – A modern-day comedy of manners that examines friendship, suspicion, and deceit. The play sees two unfaithful middle-aged couples weave and get entangled in their web of lies. Michael (Lim Yu-Beng), who is married to Lauren (Neo Swee Lin), is having an affair with Alice (Cynthia Lee MacQuarrie), wife of his best friend Paul (Vivek Gomber). It seems that Lauren and Paul both suspect their partners have been unfaithful, without knowing with whom they are sleeping with. When Alice guiltily threatens to confess all, Michael is thrown into a panic. The truth,…

The #DontTellMeHowToDress (DTMHTD) exhibition makes a stop at Singapore from 28 March to 21 April 2019. Held at NomadX in Plaza Singapura, the exhibition aims to prove that sexual violence may be inflicted on anyone, regardless of how they are dressed. This questions the societal stance that a survivor is somehow responsible for instigating sexual violence because of the way she acts or dresses. The DTMHTD exhibition also serves as a platform for survivors’ stories to be heard, and an avenue to show that help is available. The DTMHTD exhibition in Singapore showcases eight sets of clothing worn by survivors…

Witness the enthralling tale of Singapore’s transformation from an island of immigrants to a nation forged by our multi-ethnic cultures through an original dance-drama Whispers from the Dragon’s Teeth Gate. Held on 20 April 2019, the production is presented by Dance Ensemble Singapore (DES Arts), in collaboration with Sri Warisan Som Said Performing Arts. The performance takes the audience on a journey 700 years back in time. Over the course of four acts, viewers will get to witness various historic moments – from the legendary voyage of Sang Nila Utama and the discovery of the Dragon’s Teeth Gate, to the…

This April, the Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) presents The Truth – a witty play about marital infidelity by French playwright Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton. The Truth sees two unfaithful middle-aged couples weave and get entangled in their web of lies. Michael (Lim Yu-Beng), who is married to Lauren (Neo Swee Lin), is having an affair with Alice (Cynthia Lee MacQuarrie), wife of his best friend Paul (Vivek Gomber). It seems that Lauren and Paul both suspect their partners have been unfaithful, without knowing with whom they are sleeping with. But when Alice guiltily threatens to confess all, Michael…

Documentaries such as the Planet Earth and Blue Planet have enthralled viewers with its stunning footage and imagery of living and breathing cycle of nature. With that same vision in mind, the same team behind those series set out to make Our Planet, a documentary series in the same vein as its predecessors. The Netflix series, which launched all its episodes on 5 April 2019, gives us a peek at how our actions are affecting the planet and its inhabitants that roam the wild. To go one step beyond in educating the public about the protection of our environment, Netflix…

Following Z Storm (2014), S Storm (2016) and L Storm (2018) comes P Storm <<P 风暴>>, the fourth instalment of the Hong Kong crime thriller series. This time, William Luk (Louis Koo) goes undercover as an inmate to investigate correctional officers who are receiving bribes from an inmate. The film opens with William Luk intentionally getting himself arrested for drink-driving. The next scene reveals his target: inmate Cao Yuen Yuen (Raymond Lam), the wealthy, cold-blooded son of a Chinese tycoon. Yuen Yuen is due for early release, but William believes that Yuen Yuen bribed the officers of the Hong Kong…

What do we really know about Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and his role in 19th-century Southeast Asia? What else was he doing in the region, beyond establishing a British East India Company outpost on the island of Singapore? The Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) seeks to answer these pressing questions with Raffles in Southeast Asia: Revisiting the Scholar and Statesman. Director of the ACM, Kennie Ting, explains, “There are two main intents for this exhibition. The first is to objectively address the figure of Raffles, presenting him as a complex and multifaceted personality, rather than the mythical, one-dimensional ‘founder figure’ most…