For 2011, the Festival will take place from 5 - 16 January 2011:
* Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay
* National Museum
* ION Orchard
* The Substation
* Sculpture Square
The theme for 2011's edition of the Festival is ART AND EDUCATION.
The line-up for 2010 will be unveiled at our media launch and on our website at www.singaporefringe.com come October 2011. Keep a lookout for that!
The curatorial statement for Art and Education is as follows:
"Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life."
- Henry Miller
When information is processed we get knowledge, and when knowledge is applied we get education. Education takes place when information impacts on a human being and ruptures an established way of seeing, thereby producing insights that challenge, move and/or inspire transformation. In today's world, it is commonly acknowledged that art can be utilised as a tool to impart knowledge that is over and beyond itself. Art in education no longer means the learning of aesthetic appreciations, applications or techniques, but rather, the acquisition of a new non-art-related skill, an appreciation of a brand new perspective to an old situation, an insight into another world.
Because of the intrinsic nature of art as a Socratic "what-if", it serves as a perfect medium for the transmittance of messages, ideas, campaigns and beliefs. That is why non-governmental organisations, schools of thought, state agencies and religious institutions have all been known to adopt artistic presentations to present their ideas - and to win new converts to their causes. Yet, as a result, art can sometimes be viewed as a menace or threat by those who recognise its power to move, indoctrinate, exhilarate, incite, question.
Within Singapore, performance art and forum theatre - which were purportedly dangerous for their immediacy and direct engagement with social issues - were once proscribed and denied state funding. Yet today, these art forms are supported by government agencies as means to promote their individual agendas. It is a clear volte-face of the previous policy, but also one that recognises and celebrates the ability of art as a means to achieve the objective to educate and engage.
"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."
- Georgia O'Keeffe
Education takes place when one is not distracted by the vehicle on which it arrives. We need to have the wisdom, political will, and discernment to engage with the object of education, and how this idea is being transmitted across medium, culture, language, people, bureaucracy, wealth, national pride and ethnocentric viewpoints. This endeavour itself is part of education. Today, it is quite a challenge to be educated - and that challenge presents myriad exciting possibilities for artists as well.
To educate involves active engagement and discourse. Art cannot come as a decree from above; it cannot be preached by practitioners who view themselves as the privileged ones with the key to absolute knowledge and comprehension. Art cannot be righteous if it is meant to reach out, touch someone and change his or her viewpoint. Artists themselves therefore need to be challenged, their art needs to be dissected and probed, and in the process, transformed into new ideas and works.
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”
- Bertrand Russell
Yet therein lies the question: in these contemporary times where some artists have begun enjoying celebrity status, are artists and their works glorified commodities today, such that they are seen as ends in themselves? Are their purported exhortations of "truth" and "beauty" foisted upon the audiences in a top-down approach? Has art become estranged from the world it claims to bring a fresh perspective to? Does art even have the meaning it insists on possessing? Do art and its facilitators need to be educated themselves, to become more aware of their audiences?
"Art is not freedom from discipline, but disciplined freedom."
- Rev.Edward M. Catich
Art likes to imagine that it possesses new insights which it has distilled into one moment, one element or one form. However, it is not uncommon to see unrestrained abandonment in artistic practices - where art seeks to demonstrate its freedom from the confines of societal mores and restrictions but does not educate in any other way. Is art successfully reflexive when it critiques and defies a canonical stand?
While art seeks to be liberated from narrow definitions, it should also accommodate these same dominating definitions that have been adopted in the past. This is imperative as the sparring of the new and the old can surely rejuvenate the latter, inspiring new strands instead of obliterating them. After all, cross-genres, cross-disciplines, cross-cultures and cross-pollinations are all about educating and widening the scope of artistic phenomena.
Just as much as we seek to create new, cutting-edge works reflecting various alternative viewpoints, we need to recognise that there are other segments of the arts ecology that thrive on tried-and-tested formulas and familiar well-worn names and pieces. Do these audiences not need and deserve their art as much as we do? Should we not be celebrating this diversity of offerings available to the public? At the very least, these commercial or bourgeois works – whatever they may be termed – make no pretences about their raisons d'être and intended messages. Audiences understand these works because they are lucid, and not because they are bland.
"The function of art is to disturb."
- Georges Braque
In trying to educate audiences, should art litter signs and signifiers to guide them – at the risk of being overly-blatant? Or should art refrain from this altogether, hence becoming totally obtuse? Some contemporary art works can be highly coded and/or formalistic, making them opaque, non-communicative and often alienating. How much should artists assume audiences already know, and similarly how much should audiences expect of artists and their work? How self-reflexive and accommodating is art towards being educated itself?
Hence the challenge for artists and audiences alike – how do we engage in a constantly rejuvenating discourse with one another, to ensure that all parties educate each other about their desires, needs, expectations and responses? Should there be more attention placed on research and development, not only for artistic experimentation and exploration, but also on artistic engagement and communication?
The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival once again throws the gauntlet for artists and audiences alike, to re-examine our entrenched definitions and beliefs of what constitutes Art and Education, and in the process, re-educate ourselves on the myriad possibilities these present. Join us as we seek to enlighten ourselves:
5 – 16 January 2011. Get involved.
Fringe Highlights
Another Me: Transformations from Pain to Power
Achinto Bhadra (India)
5-16 Jan 2011, 10am - 10pm
ION Art Gallery, Level 4, ION Orchard
Admission is free
www.anotherme.org
(co-presented with ION Orchard)
School of Hard Knocks
the little dröm store (Singapore)
22 Dec 2010 - 18 Jan 2011
JCDecaux Bus Stop Shelters Islandwide
5 - 23 Jan 2011, 5.45 am - 12.15 am
Esplanade Tunnel
Admission is free
www.thelittledromstore.com
(Fringe Commission / World Premiere / Co-presented with JCDecaux)
Back to School
What Did You Learn Today?
Sean Tobin & Natalie Hennedige (Singapore)
13 - 15 Jan 2011, 8pm
15 Jan 2011, 3pm
Play Den, The Arts House
$30/$19
(Fringe Commission / World Premiere / Co-presented with The Arts House)
Aromascape of Singapore
Maki Ueda (Japan)
5 - 16 Jan 2011
Mon - Sun: 10am - 7pm
Fri: 10am - 9 pm
Glass Porch, Level 2, Singapore Art Museum
Admission is free. Usual museum admission for entry into other SAM galleries apply.
www.ueda.nl
(Fringe Commission / World Premiere / Supported by Singapore Art Museum)
Something About Education But Not Exactly...
Leung Chi Wo (Hong Kong)
5 - 23 Jan 2011
Mon - Fri: 11am - 8.30pm
Sat & Sun: 10am - 8.30pm
Esplanade - Jendela (Visual Arts Space)
Admission is free
www.leungchiwo.com
(World Premiere)
Primary 1
Jemima Yong (Singapore/UK)
5 - 23 Jan 2011
Mon - Fri: 11am - 8.30pm
Sat & Sun: 10am - 8.30pm
Esplanade - Jendela (Visual Arts Space)
Admission is free
jemima-yong.blogspot.com
(World Premiere)
Live Fringe
The Ma(r)king of Nanjing: 1937
Nelson Chia (Singapore)
7 - 8 Jan 2011, 8pm
Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore
$30 / $19
Advisory: Violent Reference (16 years and above)
(Fringe Commission / World Premiere / Co-presented with National Museum of Singapore)
Model Citizens
The Necessary Stage (Singapore)
11 - 15 Jan 2011, 8pm
15 Jan 2011, 3pm
Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore
$30 / $19
Advisory: Mature Content / Some Strong Language (16 years and above)
www.necessary.org
Entre Nous
Hel's Kitchen (Belgium)
7 - 8 Jan 2011, 8pm
Esplanade Theatre Studio
$30 / $19
www.open-frames.net/projects/Entre_Nous
(Asian Premiere)
A-Ma & A-Niang
Elysa Wendi & Shi Jing Xin (Singapore / China)
6 - 7 Jan 2011, 8pm
The Substation Theatre
$19
(Fringe Commission / World Premiere / Co-presented with The Substation)
Orpheus Marathon
Ferenc Fehér (Hungary)
12 - 13 Jan 2011, 8pm
Esplanade Theatre Studio
$30 / $19
Recommended for 16 years and above
www.ferencfeher.hu
(Asian Premiere)
Monster
Pappas & Dancers (USA)
14 - 15 Jan 2011, 8pm
Esplanade Theatre Studio
$30 / $19
www.pappasanddancers.com
(Asian Premiere)
Fringe Gallery
Void: Utopia
Lim Shengen (Singapore)
5 - 16 Jan 2011
Mon - Sun: 10am - 7pm
Fri: 10am - 9pm
Chapel, Level 2, Singapore Art Museum
Admission of free. Usual museum admission for entry into other SAM galleries apply.
www.limshengen.com
(Fringe Commission / World Premiere / Supported by Singapore Art Museum)
Inclusively Yours
Felicia Low (Singapore)
5 - 16 Jan 2011
10am - 10pm
Basement 3, Event Space (Outside Epicentre), ION Orchard
Admission is free
www.felicialow.com
(Fringe Commission / World Premiere / Co-presented with ION Orchard)
Okinawa Ark
Kanako Sasaki (Japan)
5 - 16 Jan 2011
10am - 6pm
Artist Talk on 8 Jan 2011, 6pm
The Atelier, National Museum of Singapore
Admission is free
www.kanakosasaki.com
(Co-presented with National Museum of Singapore)
Until the Sun Rises
Emmanuel Guillaud (France)
5 - 16 Jan 2011
Mon - Sun: 10am - 7pm
Fri: 10am - 9pm
Moving Image Gallery, Level 2, Singapore Art Museum at 8Q
Admission is free. Usual museum admission for entry into other SAM galleries apply.
www.emmanuelguillaud.com
(Supported by Singapore Art Museum)
Sonic Fringe
Perceptio
PMP (Singapore)
15 Jan 2011, 7.30pm
Esplanade Recital Studio
$19 (Doublebill with Oldfish)
(World Premiere / Fringe Commission)
www.pmp.fm
This is Tomorrow
Oldfish (Korea)
15 Jan 2011, 7.30pm
Esplanade Recital Studio
$19 (Doublebill with PMP)
www.myspace.com/theoldfish
Tickets are available through SISTIC's hotline (65) 6348 5555, via SISTIC's website www.sistic.com, at all SISTIC authorised agents islandwide and iNETS Mobile. For more information on Fringe perks and discounts, please visit www.singaporefringe.com.
