Rice and potatoes for Arts Fission’s anniversary

SINGAPORE — We missed the opening salvo of Arts Fission’s 20th anniversary mini-fest Make It New, which featured a “reunion” showcase with some of its notable alumni. But before everything wraps up on Sunday, we managed to catch last night’s other show, where it served up portions of rice, potatoes and buffalo.

Not literally, of course (although, come to think of it, had food been served, it would’ve be a cool nod to the company’s first ever show back in 1995, where they did serve rice).

The four-in-one Future Feed is trademark Arts Fission: An environment-themed site-specific performance at the National Design Centre with some unusual experimentations (they tested out Ong Kian Peng’s virtual harpsichord and an iPhone app from sound artist PerMagnus Lindborg was used, with experimental composer Joyce Beetuan Koh helping out for good measure).

Artistic director Angela Liong also roped in Indonesian traditional dancer/choreographer Sukarji Sriman and Belgium’s Compagnie Irene K, which you may remember from a couple of Singapore Fringe Fest editions. It was also the first time we saw former THE Dance Company’s Yarra Ileto perform with her new group.

Anyways, rice and potatoes and a buffalo. The four short pieces overlap with each other, kicking off with Liong’s The Rice Paddies, a take on the important rituals of planting and harvesting in the region, with the dancers going through the motions of washing hands or clapping. Later on, you see them on the second floor continuing in their enactment of tradition.

Irene Kalbusch’s The Potato Fields seemed like its direct counterpoint, with Irene K dancers, dressed in what seemed like stylised sackcloth costumes, perform surrounded by potatoes. Given the accompanying sci-fi sounds, which would later become darker, we couldn’t help but think of the Potato Famine in Europe, which included Belgium, but affected Ireland the most.

Which ties in, at least if we go by the title, with Liong’s other piece The Empty Rice Bowls. The heavily text-based piece saw performers Mimi Tavivoradilok, Edwin Wee and Tomomi Aramaki counting out in Thai, Teochew and Nihongo as they held empty bowls and talked (presumably) about food. Other performers mixed in with the crowd holding iPhones that played back similar lines as the words reverberated in the space.

And then there was the sight of buffalo headgear-wearing Sriman, whose spiritual, ritualistic performance was in contrast to the harpsichord music played, a classical Europe-meets-traditional Indonesia moment that was certainly an interesting disconnect.

Later on, everyone gathered around a table (presumably alluding to the communal act of eating) and, rather Stomp-like, engaged in finger/hand percussions. After which, we’re all invited to step out of the building for the grand finale: A performance at the centre’s fire escape staircase, a dancer on each of the eight levels. At this point, the theme seemed lost but hey, it did make for quite an impressive sight.

There’s one more show tonight at 9.15pm, but the exhibition runs until Sunday. And if you can catch them, a bunch of LASALLE first year students are doing a couple of 30-minute tours, guiding you through Arts Fission’s history by way of the various design elements (costume, light, sound, et cetera). That’s tonight at 8pm and on Sunday at 3.30pm.

Alternatively, there’s also a dialogue session at The Arts House today. Titled Discourse Of Wind And Thunder — Capturing The Arts Ephemeral, Liong and Flying Inkpot’s Kenneth Kwok will facilitate a discussion with arts writers and artists on “ephemeral arts” in the morning and some activities in the afternoon.

For more details on all of these, visit http://www.artsfission.org/