The Singapore International Festival of Arts is back. And that means an entire month’s worth of creative and thought-provoking works to appreciate and ponder upon, starting in August. But if you can’t wait that long, there’s always the pre-festival, The OPEN (Open, Participate, Engage, Negotiate).
Here’s all you need to know about both. SIFA 2016 will present 20 productions, while The OPEN offers 43 programmes. “Potentialities” is the theme for this year’s SIFA, and if you’re wondering what that means, it’s the potential to develop in the future and transform society.
This year, more productions are being commissioned for the fest, with 15 new creations in total, from well-known and emerging artists such as Milo Rau, Loo Zihan and Wu Man. Eight of the productions involve local artists collaborating with international ones.
Noteworthy works include Ron Arad’s 720°, where a video feed is projected onto 6,000 platinum-cured silicon strands spread over a curved structre 18 metres in diameter.
There’s also The Last Bull: A Life in Flamenco, Checkpoint Theatre’s piece on the life of 75-year-old Antonio Vargas, one of the world’s greatest Flamenco dancer-choreographers.
Time Between Us by Fernando Rubio is another fascinating project, where storyteller Oliver Chong will reside in a specially constructed house for five days and over 108 hours, and audiences can pay him a visit.
As for The OPEN, themes of fashion, photojournalism, film and more are explored through theatre, dance, music and visual art. There’s Olivier Saillard’s Models Never Talk, starring retired models waxing lyrical about their glory days and everything that happened on the runway.
On a more somber note, Markus&Markus’ Ibsen: Ghosts is a radical performance on euthanasia, based on the real story of 81-year-old Margot who suffered from a severe medical condition and chose to end her life.
Piqued your interest yet? Tickets are out now. You just need one OPEN pass ($45 for regular, $25 for concession) to access all the programms, or $10 for a single entry ticket. Early bird discounts get you 20 percent off till May 8. Once you’ve purchased this, you’ll automatically be a SIFA Friend and enjoy 25 percent discounts on tickets for SIFA productions.
The OPEN is on from Jun 22-Jul 9, SIFA 2016 is on from Aug 11-Sep 17. Tickets for individual productions available on Sistic.
