Sollum Swaramum, 2021]]> Performance]]> Fiction]]> Free Jazz III. Sound. Walks.

Presented in collaboration with The Arts House’s Poetry with Music series, the 4th edition of Sollum Swaramum, brings together musicians Ramesh Krishnan, Mohamed Noor and Munir Alsagoff in exploration of the synergies between music and text, with devised and improvised texts based on the work of Tamil literary stalwarts P Krishnan, Ma Ilangkannnan and Rama Kannabiran. These newly devised texts are written by Harini V, Ashwinii Selvaraj and Bharathi Moorthiappan and performed by Sivakumar Palakrishnan, Ashwinii Selvaraj and Harini V. Art direction by Laura Miotto and illustrations by Nanthiyni Aravindan.]]>
Ramesh Krishnan]]> Munir Alsagoff]]> Nanthiyni Aravindan]]> Laura Miotto]]> Bharathi Moorthiappan]]> Mohamed Noor]]> Sivakumar Palakrishnan]]> Ashwinii Selvarai]]> Harini V]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Under the Skin]]> Performance]]> Identity]]> Politics]]> Under the Skin showcases the experimental practices of George Chua, Nina Djekić, and Noor Effendy Ibrahim, three artists who engage with sound, bodily movements, and performance to examine contemporary body and identity politics. Bringing together elements of performance, sound and visual art in response to the theme of Proposals for Novel Ways of Being, the artists have been commissioned to produce new work reflecting their own experiences of the sudden uncertainty and loss of normalcy during the global COVID-19 pandemic: abrupt shifts in social interaction and daily routines, confinement and physical limitations, adjustments, and reorientations to relationships. As we grapple with the uncertainties of the post-pandemic future, this radical moment of instability also calls upon us to reclaim our personal and collective consciousness, to nurture the resilience of our body and soul. How does a body compose itself and develop new vocabularies for articulation? What new sensorial and corporeal sensibilities can we locate and uncover?

While the current conditions of our lives also expose global fragilities and social divisions, this project draws mainly from the spaces, experiences and materialities of everyday life, where the effect of the pandemic is, perhaps, most potent and surreptitious. Attempting to reconcile ideas of tenderness in violence, Noor Effendy Ibrahim continues his on-going performance research to excavate inherent and latent memories within his own body through self-inflicted physical pain. Locating marginalised bodies and their everyday lived experiences via a mythical dance troupe, George Chua meditates on vulnerability and belief, contemplating our existential struggle on what it means to be human. Engaging with translations and memories within an constructed setting, Nina Djekić invites us to consider notions of intimacy via virtual spaces and proxy bodies.

The trio of performative works are cinematically translated into the medium of video by Singapore artist and filmmaker Russell Morton, and their videos presented online.

Under the Skin is curated by artist Cheong Kah Kit for NTU CCA Singapore’s Free Jazz III]]>
George Chua]]> Nina Djekić]]> Nina Djekic]]> Noor Effendy Ibrahim]]> Russell Morton]]> Cheong Kah Kit]]> Southeast Asia]]> Europe]]>
Artistic Research]]>
In order to pursue organic connections across national borders and foster collaborations beyond the restrictions on bodily movement, NTU CCA Singapore launched Residencies Rewired, a project initiated and overseen by Dr Anna Lovecchio, Curator, Residencies, which is in line with the Centre’s long-standing commitment to support art practitioners and artistic research by facilitating meaningful engagements with the specificities of the local.

Through an Open Call, local researchers have been appointed to act as Liaisons (Artistic Research) to work in close, albeit remote, collaboration with overseas artists over a period of three months (December 2020 – February 2021) and support the development of their research projects. Residencies Rewired will culminate in a series of public programmes to be conducted towards the end of the project.

Artists & Liaisons:

LÊNA BÙI (Vietnam) – Elizabeth Ang ISABEL CARVALHO (Portugal) – Ang Kia Yee NOLAN OSWALD DENNIS (Zambia/South Africa) – Kin Chui RAND ABDUL JABBAR (Iraq/United Arab Emirates) – Rafi Abdullah DIANA LELONEK (Poland) – Denise Lim ELIA NURVISTA (Indonesia) – Yom Bo Sung YUICHIRO TAMURA (Japan) – Ge Xiaocong]]>
Lêna Bùi]]> Elizabeth Ang]]> Isabel Carvalho]]> Ang Kia Yee]]> Noland Oswald Dennis]]> Kin Chui]]> Rand Abdul Jabbar]]> Rafi Abdullah]]> Diana Lelonek]]> Denise Lim]]> Elia Nurvista]]> Yom Bo Sung]]> Yuichiro Tamura]]> Ge Xiaocong]]> Southeast Asia]]> Asia]]> Europe]]> Africa]]>
One Day We’ll Understand Performative Reading by Sim Chi Yin (Singapore), Artist-in-Residence]]> History]]> Postcolonialism]]>
[content warning] The programme includes images that may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

This event is part of Residencies OPEN, 22 & 23 January 2021.]]>
Sim Chi Yin]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Melting Gallery, 2019, 2021]]> Climate Crisis]]>
Melting Gallery is prepared in collaboration with and composed by Denim Szram, and created during Lelonek’s residency as part of the Culturescapes festival in Basel, Switzerland.]]>
Diana Lelonek]]> Denim Szram]]> Europe]]>
Beat the Blues – A manual for absurd times, 2021 Commissioned by NTU CCA Singapore]]> Ritual]]> Free Jazz III. Sound. Walks.

“Do you find it hard to concentrate these days? Perhaps the blues bug just keeps nipping away at your heels? Are you bored and feeling listless or always struggling to keep going? When was the last time you did something different, something a little adventurous, slightly odd or just for the fun of it? Can you spare 10 to 15 minutes for a simple creative ritual? “

Wang offers an instructional manual of self-therapy to perk up your spirit. Activate an appreciation for life, expression, awareness and presence through sound, vocalizing, movement and imagination.

*The poem quoted in exercise three is by Pauline Oliveros, “The Earth Worm Also Sings” (1992)]]>

]]>
Vivian Wang]]> Audio]]> Part 1]]> Part 2]]> Part 3]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Trouble with Harmony, 2021 Commissioned by NTU CCA Singapore]]> Performance]]> Free Jazz III. Sound. Walks.

Activation: Trouble with Harmony by bani haykal in collaboration with  Lee Weng Choy Saturday, 13 March 2021, 3.00 – 6.00pm Online

Two participants from the original programme are back for the 3rd Edition, to collaborate on a project they’re calling, “Trouble with Harmony”. It’s not an attempt to articulate the trouble with harmony. Neither to analyse, for instance, the predominant but problematic discourses about political, cultural or racial harmony in a multifarious society like Singapore. Rather, an invitation to play—to play with. Donna Haraway reminds us that the etymology of “trouble” is the French verb “to stir up”, “to make cloudy” or “to disturb”. Perhaps our role here is to “sit in” and find how these instances of harmonies demand us to think deeply about our present—where we are. Trouble with harmony is a proposition to think about trouble alongside thinking about harmony. Shifting the shapes of our thinking, and our listening. Exploring a polyphony of themes, topics and tropes. But perhaps this is saying both too much and not enough.]]>
Bani Haykal]]> Lee Weng Choy]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Exiting-Traversing-Disembark, 2021 Commissioned by NTU CCA Singapore]]> Experiential]]> Free Jazz III. Sound. Walks.

Exiting-Traversing-Disembark consists of three parts with three points of departure and ways of traversing paths that sometimes may not have points of return.

Exiting-Traversing-Disembark is a meditation and reflection on what it might mean to move from one point to another, to cross waters. Visualising the sea as ‘ground’ as a departure point, this soundwalk gives attention to the multiple trajectories in which we perceive what it means to travel or traverse through space, especially against the constraints of the present times. On an island city state like Singapore with its high rise concretised built environment, it is easy to forget we are surrounded by water and connected to the archipelagic. How can we be more attentive to the soundscape of these journeys where we cross water, whether that crossing is figurative, imaginative, speculative or actual?]]>
Tini Aliman]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Empathic Voices, 2021 Commissioned by NTU CCA Singapore]]> Materiality]]> Public Sphere]]> Labour]]> Free Jazz III. Sound. Walks.

Singapore’s Dragon Kiln is one of the few remaining brick-built kilns in Asia. When there is no firing, it is left empty and unused. seah’s aim is to investigate the materiality of clay by re-purposing the dragon kiln as a sound recording space, revisiting the historical site and exploring its acoustics by activating the space with vocal experimentation. With the human voice as its main focus, this project embeds vocal emotional expressions of the prosodic features of speech, as well as vocalisations with no linguistic content – hums, sobs, laughter, wailing, and gibbering. With the involvement of the migrant worker community, which has been restricted the most during the pandemic, the kiln no longer feels hollow, being filled instead with a spirit of collectivism. The spectral and uncanny qualities of place are amplified through voice and sound manipulation of fired clay objects.]]>
anGie seah]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Listening through the Landscape, 2021 Supported by the Yale-NUS Dean of Faculty]]> Ecology]]> Nature]]> Listening Through the Landscape, Christa Donner and Andrew S Yang present short, guided audio walks that explore the nature of time and the ecology of Singapore through trees, soil, and water. Combining narration with environmental sounds collected during the 2020 Circuit Breaker period, Donner and Yang transform everyday spaces into multisensory journeys. Step outside and let’s take a walk. Select a walk from the above list, press “Play” and activate.

You can access this program using your smartphone and headphones, and at your own pace and schedule.

Listening Through the Landscape began while Donner and Yang were inaugural Artists-in-Residence at Yale-NUS College and appears in Free Jazz III. Sound. Walks. with support from Yale-NUS Dean of Faculty.

Narrated by Alexis Chen.]]>
Christa Donner]]> Andrew S Yang]]> Alexis Chen]]> Audio]]> Treecology]]> The Living Machine]]> Grounding]]> Holes]]> Water]]> Southeast Asia]]>