CULTURE
Making the impossible possible
NIRMALA SESHADRI
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As the Singapore Arts Festival 2009 came to an end, one tends to reflect on the past, question the now and look at what more can be done in the future.
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Winning audiences: (Left) “Long Life” from Latvia and the Cullberg Ballet from Sweden.
Ten days after the Singapore Arts Festival 2009, a time for post-festival high, fatigue and the yearning for dialogue. Venka Purushottaman and I meet at the café of the LaSalle College for the Arts where he is the Provost. Venka has authored a b
ook commissioned by the National Arts Council; Making The Invisible Visible: Three Decades of the Singapore Arts Festival.
The book is a quasi-theoretical critical reflection on the Singapore Arts Festival, its genesis and its journey. Both our pasts are intricately linked to the history of this little dot on the map having grown up in a Singapore with no MRT, no Sentosa, no LaSalle and no Esplanade Theatres. And so, from a point of pride we reflect on the festival, question and gaze into tomorrow.
In Singapore, the celebration and promotion of the arts has always moved in tandem with the socio-economic development of the country and its focus on nation building. This connection is pronounced in the metamorphosis of the arts festival.
Vibrant hub
Over the past few decades this city-state has become a vibrant artistic hub. In the Singapore that I was growing up in, it was impossible to view the arts as more than a serious hobby. Today, with the nurturing and support given to the arts, Singaporeans confidently embark on careers in the arts. Numerous arts companies and institutions have sprung into existence. Overseas artists now come to Singapore not just to perform or display their works but to reside on the island and pursue their artistic careers.
The exponential growth of the arts scene in Singapore is a result of hard work, commitment, strong vision and will. Systems and machinery are clearly in place. The Singapore Arts Festival, now the major event on Singapore’s cultural calendar, has played a pivotal role in creating a landscape that pulsates with possibilities and professionalism.
Today, it is almost impossible to imagine a time when the Singapore Arts Festival was a small community event. Clearly it has become a must-attend-event not just for Singaporeans but for art lovers in other parts of the world as well.
This year’s festival has been a success, in terms of the diversity of programmes and audience attendance, despite the economic crisis. Of the 26 core ticketed productions, 14 were sold out; 92.5 per cent of all seats were filled. In addition to these core programmes, there were also 420 outreach performances, exhibitions and special events that were organized as part of the festival.
Exciting range
This year at the festival, I caught an exciting range of performances, from Latvia to Chile to China. Clearly, the organisers had made an effort to provide a diversity of options and experiences.
One of the high points was the Cullberg Ballet from Sweden. Cullberg made its Singapore debut with a double bill, “Aluminium” by renowned choreographer Mats Ek and John Inger’s “As If”. Another memorable moment for its poignancy and historical relevance was Ruhe, a collaboration between Muziek Theater Transparent (Holland) and CollegiumVocale Gent (Belgium), which contrasted the horror of the second world war with Schubert’s romantic music.
Interestingly, it was “Long Life”, a small production from Latvia, that won the audience over. Five young actors portrayed dramatically the daily lives of five old people. The audience sat gripped by this wordless play, which offered multiple foci of attention. “Electra”, by the Suzuki Company (Japan) and “The Cherry Orchard”, by the Lin Zhaohua Theatre Studio (China) had their powerful moments. One production that I missed, but am told was exceptional, was the “Magic Flute” by ImpempeYomlingo.
That is the thing about festivals. There are always good programmes that we end up missing. There are also moments when we come away disappointed. And then, as we ruminate, the questions begin to surface. Questions that are not specific to this festival alone, but to larger issues concerning the arts in a global context.
Experimental work
In the name of cutting edge and avant-garde, are we minimising the importance of artistic quality? “Dream-Work/Dream-Home” was a Singapore-U.K. experiment in which the audience followed actors through MRT stations and the roads of downtown Singapore. The actors walked and talked but where was the acting? A promenade performance is an interesting change from the norm but this work, while exciting at a conceptual level, fell short in its translation to performance.
“Where is the Asian content?” people asked in the 1990s; the question is still relevant today. “Sutra” performed by the Shaolin monks from China was choreographed by Flemish-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. ‘Les Sept Planches de la Ruse’ by Chinese performers was choreographed by French artist Aurelien Bory.
It was evident that both choreographers did not explore in depth the culture they were working with. The eastern definition of dance embraces much more than just what the body can do. Instead, they seem to have imposed upon the artists their own definition of dance.
In what way did this definition add to the culture? Why this obsession with the Western perspective? In an era of raging globalisation, almost always equated with westernisation, if we do not pause to question and review, we run the risk of homogenisation and loss of our cultural uniqueness.
I am not suggesting revivalism but urging a creation of our own yardsticks of modernity. Ultimately any arts festival is a double-edged sword.
The Singapore Arts Festival is a landmark event for its sheer magnitude, quality, efficiency and professionalism. It has become a space where cultures, art forms and the people of Singapore and the world converge. Its journey and evolution thus far indicate that it will continue to refine itself and evolve even further.
Throwing off the final fetters will ensure that so much more that is invisible becomes visible. And in the process Singapore might just be able to prove even in the sphere of the arts, that the impossible is possible after all.
How it grew
According to Venka, the first ever Singapore Arts Festival in 1959, was initiated and organised by a group of artists. At a cost of $20,000, this festival reflected the cultures of Singapore and Southeast Asia. 1963 witnessed the opening of the National Theatre with the Southeast Asia Cultural Festival organised by the newly formed Ministry of Culture that brought in artists from other parts of Asia.
The festival in its present form can be traced back to 1977; a private initiative by a group of music teachers who approached Mobil for sponsorship. The company suggested making it larger. A year later, the idea of a purpose-built performing arts centre was mooted in parliament. Twenty-four years later, the EsplanadeTheatres on the Bay was realised.
However, the festival really took off in the early 1980s. This period saw more commissioned works and the performance of Singapore narratives. By the late 1980s, professional arts companies were being formed. In the 1990s the government was focused on making Singapore ‘a global city for the arts’, in sync with a larger vision; of becoming one of Asia’s leading renaissance cities in the 21st century.
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