This week, we share the best ways to get your arts fix with some of the most exciting virtual (and physical) arts events happening across the island
MUSIC & ART
For the love for music
The Chamber Music and Arts Singapore
https://theglasshouse.chambermusicarts.com.sg/
The Chamber Music and Arts Singapore (formerly known as the TTK Grand Series) has launched their long-awaited virtual sphere, The Glasshouse, in a bid to foster love and passion among youth for music through extensive sustained programmes — held weekly — called #origins and #blossoms.
Led and curated by artistic director Tang Tee Khoon, #origins is a programme that brings us back to the source of musical creativity. Consisting of two similarly structured programmes — one for children under six and another for those aged between six to 12 years old — #origins is a fountain from which stories about the great original creative masters continue to flow for kids.
Meanwhile, #blossoms is for unique individuals and children with special needs. Led by Tang and professional art therapist Amanda Chen, the programme consists of two vastly different programmes – one for children and youths with special needs and one for youths and young adults. #blossoms has one goal in mind: The blossoming of the unique individual and the fulfillment of their potential.
Find out more at: https://theglasshouse. chambermusicarts.com.sg/
Panel: The future of Festivals
Aug 19, 7.30pm
The Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) brings together three festival makers to share their thoughts, challenges and motivations in planning for a festival during a pandemic.
Join the panelists as they talk about the post-pandemic future of an arts festival and its role in pursuing cultural mobility, artistic experimentation and international collaboration. This panel includes Taipei Arts Festival curator Tang Fu-Kuen, co-director of the Kyoto Experiment at the Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival Juliet Knapp and Jeff Khann, artistic director and CEO of Performance Space Australia.
SIFA Playlist with Nico Muhly
Spotify Playlist
From Aug 26, 12pm
Following the release of the first SIFA Playlist with Red Dot Baroque in July, SIFA 2018 artist Nico Muhly (pictured, left) has stitched together a hypnotic earworm loaded listening journey based on works that explore travel and observation, both of which are sorely missing in our lives today. From American minimalist composer Steve Reich.
English pianist Benjamin Britten, multi-instrumentalist Sam Armidon to Faroese musician and composer Teitur, expect a playlist filled with a smorgasbord of rhythms, textures and gorgeous sounds.
NEW EXHIBITIONS
Gentle Daylight by Ashley Yeo
Aug 22 – Sept 13
Mizuma Gallery
Mizuma Gallery brings to audiences Gentle Daylight, a solo exhibition by Singaporean artist Ashley Yeo this month. Yeo, who graduated with a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Arts London and a B.A. in Fine Arts from the LASALLE College of the Arts, is an artist whose practice is built upon reflections on the accumulations of hedonistic culture and alludes to the soft and fragile.
Her paper sculptures explore geometry, precision, and the spiritual power of simple materials. In her solo exhibition, working with colours in her new sculptures, Yeo continues to develop the paper cuts in pursuit of elegance through materials and techniques.
With subtle colours and new textures, she displays energy latent in structures to create forms without force. Creating new aesthetics encounters through the use of simple materials and craftsmanship, the works are informed by reflections on nature and hedonistic culture.
The New Now IV: TENSION/CREATION
Aug 14 – Sept 6
Gajah Gallery
Gajah Gallery presents The New Now IV: TENSION/CREATION, the latest edition of its annual New Now series, featuring fresh, innovative works by promising upcoming artists from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. The New Now IV: Tension/Creation explores how each handpicked artist grapples with forms of tension and tribulations in their burgeoning artistic practice.
Marked with trials and uncomfortable transitions, these works serve as an insight into the reality of ‘emerging artists’ — one marked with organic experimentation, mutation and change. The premise was chosen due to the connection between these artists’ works of a shared tendency to investigate unease in different shades and degrees, pondering the questions: What are the various forms of pressures and tensions that they are wrestling with today, and what have they yet to face? And ultimately, as young artists, why is it necessary to confront the difficult, the uncertain and the unspoken?
The four artists in the show portray this tension through varying subliminal and explicit ways.
FILM
Buddhist Film Festival goes virtual
Sept 5 – 13
Thus Have I Seen: Buddhist Film Festival will return in an online format and for the first time will also be made available to audiences in both Singapore and Malaysia. This online festival will present eight films curated along the themes of Buddhist masters, facing death, and activism in Buddhism. The festival will also present Singapore Shorts, consisting of two short films produced by Singaporean filmmakers.
Amidst the backdrop of an unprecedented global pandemic, the organiser Dharma In Action, together with its team of long-time volunteers, continue to seek ways to bring the suite of carefully selected film line-up to the audience.
In cinemas now
Missing the big screen? Why not herald the return of our cinemas in Phase Two with these films?
The Secret: Dare to Dream
Inspired by Australian writer Rhonda Byrne’s best selling self-help book The Secret, this film is a testament to hope and its transformative power. The film centers around Miranda Wells (Katie Holmes), a hard-working young widow struggling to raise three children on her own. A powerful storm brings a devastating challenge and a mysterious man, Bray Johnson (Josh Lucas), into her life. In just a few short days, Bray’s presence re-ignites the family’s spirit, but he carries a secret — and that secret could change everything.
The Wretched
A rebellious teenage boy, Ben, visiting his father for the summer makes a haunting discovery — a malevolent fiend from the deep woods stalks the young family living next door. Taking a hold of the mother, the creature begins playing a terrifying game of house while preying upon the local children. Alone in his suspicions, Ben launches into a perilous crusade to stop the wretched evil before it consumes everything he holds dear
