S’pore arts fest unveils full line-up

SINGAPORE — A one-man 50-hour performance about an Indian hero, a crash course concert series on 20th century classical music and a “birthday party for your child gone wrong”.

The complete line-up for the Singapore International Festival Of Arts (SIFA) was finally unveiled yesterday. Joining the previously announced shows such as Michael Nyman’s Facing Goya and Robert Wilson’s Peter Pan, are, among others, performance artist Nikhil Chopra’s Give Me Your Blood And I Will Give You Freedom (revolving around World War II freedom fighter Subas Chandra Bose); the London Sinfonietta and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra’s Listen To The 20th Century; and the kooky, psychedelic Mystery Magnet by Belgian artist Miet Warlop.

Running over six weekends in August and September, this year’s festival will have the theme Legacy And The Expanded Classic.

The relatively small line-up spread over a long period of time will mean having a “considered pace” for residents of Singapore to soak in SIFA, said festival director Ong Keng Sen. A programming budget of S$5 million has also allowed them to invest more with fewer shows, he added.

Aside from the festival productions, organisers have added an extra production called Into The Wind, a collaboration between Swiss company Theatre HORA and 36 special needs participants from Singapore.

The full line-up for SIFA’s pre-festival event O.P.E.N. was also unveiled. Aside from the previously announced Ways Of Wandering site-specific performance featuring more than 150 participants as well as talks and performances by renowned curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and Richard Move, there will also be an exhibition by South African photographer Zanele Muholi, the multi-media production Medea On Media, and more than 19 films, among others.

O.P.E.N., which will be held in June and July, is an experiment of sorts for SIFA. It’s in lieu of the typical post-show discussions and panel talks normally held during the festival. “We now do it four weeks before the festival starts,” said Ong, who hopes that Singapore will be “buzzing” prior to the festival. The public can purchase the one-time O.P.E.N. Pass for S$45.

With SIFA’s events now picking up momentum, coupled with the recent merger between the companies running the Arts House and the art festival into Arts House Ltd (AHL), organisers are also bent on expanding the team and are looking for, among others, a General Manager.

Said AHL Chief Executive Officer Lee Chor Lin: “Because of the merger, we realised we need to streamline a lot more things. This will help us give the festival the dedicated personnel. It was something we couldn’t visualise until quite recently. We will just have to be very nimble about it.”

SIFA runs from Aug 12 to Sept 21 while O.P.E.N. will be held from June 26 to July 12. Tickets from SISTIC. For more information, visit http://www.sifa.sg/ and http://theopen.sifa.sg/