It’s business as usual for the creative cliques in Singapore in the first week of 2011. Aside from the usual array of entertaining programs unfolding at the Esplanade, get ready to be soaked in deep thought as the whole island sets the stage for the annual Singapore Fringe Festival.
The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival officially returns for its seventh edition this Jan. 5, 2011, bringing a kaleidoscope of music, dance, theater, visual arts and other mixed media works to various spots across Singapore.
This year’s festival is themed “Art and Education” and invites art enthusiasts to question, challenge and re-imagine education.
Divided into four categories – including a new Back to School segment, the festival highlights the concept of school education and works “that engage educators and students as part their creative processes.”
Among the not-to-be-missed programs to check out is Aromascape of Singapore, held between Jan. 5 and 16 at the Glass Porch in the Singapore Art Museum.
The workshop plus exhibition explores the smells of Singapore as captured by olfactory artist Maki Ueda through the use of chemistry and kitchen techniques. Who knows what sort of nasal surprises to expect as one smells their way through the (reputedly) cleanest city in the world!
Another exhibition, School of Hard Knocks, recollects the rock-hard mosaic tiles and gritty sandpits of Singapore’s old-school playgrounds, which have today been replaced with rubber flooring as society becomes increasingly safety conscious and protective toward children.
Pictures of such vintage playgrounds, as captured by photographers and graphic designers Stanley Tan and Antoinette Wong, effectively serve to remind the older generation of the various life lessons learned from their childhood bumps and bruises.
Viewers can catch the nostalgic snaps at JCDecaux bus shelters islandwide until Jan. 23.
Yet another photography exhibition, Another Me, will invoke the audience’s deepest empathy by showing how survivors of trafficking, rape or abandonment finally managed to conquer their past demons and transform their pain into power.
The documentary project records the plight of women and children under the care of Kolkata-based NGO Sanlaap, and highlights the organization’s unique counseling sessions in which the women are asked to use the power of imagination, costumes and makeup to transform, strengthen and heal themselves.
The exhibition runs from Jan. 5 to 16 at ION Orchard’s ION Art Gallery. For more festival programs and details, visit singaporefringe.com
Coming back to the iconic Esplanade for a bit, the world’s biggest, “rudest” and sexiest Rock ‘n’ Roll musical has made its way past censors to entertain the crowd in Singapore this January.
Richard O’Brien’s cult classic Rocky Horror Show opens at Esplanade Theater on Jan. 5 to recall the story of two young sweethearts running into a castle full of mad, sexy, and bad-to-the-bone rock stars.
Considering the musical’s 1975 screen adaptation was banned in Singapore until 2003, this is your chance to get wild and have a taste of the forbidden fruit. Find out more on esplanade.com
