Welcome to the 8th edition of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, with the theme Art & Faith.
Fringe 2011 promises a variety of ticketed and free performances, interactive events and artistic exchanges, covering music, dance, theatre and visual arts. And as always, there will be talk-back sessions with the artists after each Live Fringe performance.
We have 4 Festival Highlights this year: Iraq is Flying is a joyful collection of photographs by world-renowned photographer Jamal Penjweny; The Triple Gem is a new installation by Burmese artist Htein Lin who uses monks' robes to create three rooms, each representing the triple gem of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha; [Black Square] by Van Huynh Company is a powerful and stunning dance performance created from the observations of daily life in motion.
Finally, Singapore artist Loo Zihan will present Cane, a ONE NIGHT ONLY performance-lecture based on Josef Ng's controversial Brother Cane, a performance art presentation which took place in 1993. Click here for more details.
As in previous years, Fringe 2012 will see a staple of exciting, emerging and exploratory Singapore artists pushing the boundaries of art as they spar with the theme.
Tongues by Sean Tobin and Jason Wee explores the conflicts and affinity between faith and sexuality. Teater Ekamatra presents Hantaran Buat Mangsa Lupa (Offerings for the victims of Amnesia), a trilogy of plays inspired by events leading to the establishment of Islam. Eng Kai Er's The Prayer is a solo dance-theatre performance piece that questions the meaning of life through dark humour. Goddess of Mercy is a poignant art installation featuring two families of different faiths, both having gone through pain and healing.
The Necessary Stage returns with Singapore, originally staged at the 2011 Singapore Arts Festival to sold-out crowds.
In the spirit of the theme of Art & Faith, Fringe 2012 will feature re-visitations and reincarnations of artists from the past - Htein Lin was last at the Fringe in 2010 with his installation The Scale of Justice, based on his experience as a political prisoner; Sean Tobin debuted at the 2011 Fringe and returns for a second year running; two of Teater Ekamatra plays in its trilogy have been staged before and will be reworked specially for this year's Festival. Finally, New York-based artist Philip Toledano returns with Kim Jong Phil, an exhibition featuring dictatorial art where the artist replaces the leader from the original artworks.
We are also delighted to present artists from countries never before featured in the Festival including Iraq (Iraq is Flying) and Italy (INRI by Cie. Zerogrammi).
Write-ups of all the works, as well as links to artists' websites, can be found on this website. Do join us on Facebook and Twitter as well.
The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2012 invites you to have faith, but more importantly, to interrogate faith.
Get involved.
Haresh Sharma
Co-Artistic Director, M1 Singapore Fringe Festival