S’pore artists set to take the stage in France

SINGAPORE — To mark 50 years of relations between the two countries next year, France will play host to a three-month, large-scale Singapore arts festival in multiple French cities, such as Paris, Lyon, Lille and Nantes.

Similar events in the past, such as the Singapore Season, were typically held in a single city and did not go beyond six weeks. Singapour en France — le festival (Singapore Festival in France), to be held from March 26 to June 30, will feature various artistic genres, including performing arts, visual arts and films, in prestigious art venues such as Paris’ Palais de Tokyo, the largest contemporary art centre in Europe, and the Bouffes du Nord theatre, a historic monument.

The festival, co-organised by Singapore’s National Heritage Board (NHB) and National Arts Council, and Institut Francais, France’s agency for international arts and cultural projects, is a key outcome of a 10-year cultural agreement signed in 2009 to enhance cultural exchanges between both countries.

Festival artistic director and NHB’s group director (programmes) Tan Boon Hui said the performance repertoire is curated by officers from both countries. It aims to showcase Singapore’s unique cultural landscape, which fuses “different religions, traditions and contradictions”, to a European audience.

“These performances will be a reflection of where we are in Singapore, where the traditional and contemporary meet,” he said. One of the festival’s opening acts, The Singaporeans, will be a new six-hour performance, directed by Mr Ong Keng Sen.

To be held at Palais de Tokyo on March 26, it will feature 30 new Singapore citizens and explore what being a “Singaporean” means and how this identity has morphed across time.

Mr Ong, who also directed this year’s Singapore International Festival of Arts, noted that Singapore is often known as a “cultural orphan” for its lack of original traditions — but that, he said, is precisely what makes the country unique. “(Singapore is) an empty space that can be reconfigured into anything ... it lends us freedom to adopt any identity,” he said.

Eleven acts have been confirmed so far, including Butterfly by actor-director Ramesh Meyyappan, Lear Dreaming presented by TheatreWorks and also directed by Mr Ong, and a concert by Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, which will feature Singaporean conductor Darrell Ang and a pipa soloist from the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

An updated version of 1000 Singapores, a 35m-long model of the nation’s housing architecture, will also be on show to present Singapore’s strategies for sustainable urbanism and land intensification.

A call for partnership, which has been launched to open the festival to a wider range of Singapore and French artists, will close on Dec 1. For more details, visit http://www.nhb.gov.sg/singaporefestivalinfrance2015