Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2022 draws focus to rituals in performance with recurring title, ‘The Anatomy of Performance’

Returning from 20 May, the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2022 features programmes spanning across physical to digital spaces, along with a new virtual venue, Life Profusion.

Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2022 draws focus to rituals in performance with recurring title, ‘The Anatomy of Performance’

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The Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), Singapore’s annual pinnacle performing arts festival presenting captivating and diverse works across theatre, music, dance, film and visual arts, returns from 20 May to 5 June 2022. Organised by Arts House Limited (AHL) and commissioned by Singapore’s National Arts Council (NAC), SIFA 2022, with the theme The Anatomy of Performance – Ritual, marks the start of new Festival Director Natalie Hennedige’s three-year tenure.

SIFA 2022-2024 are unified by a new curatorial arc – The Anatomy of Performance – placing emphasis on original creations, new iterations of works in both the physical and online space, and the invitation and presentation of works by outstanding international artists. Each edition comes into focus with an accompanying subtitle. This year’s focus is “Ritual” — inviting audiences to consider shared social rituals which are echoed in performance, adhering to the conditions of time, artefact, and gesture – becoming passageways to discover the structural inner-workings of each performance expressed through art.

Natalie Hennedige says, “The performing arts remains an important space for reflection, creative articulation and nuanced expression. SIFA’s proposition of performance creation from Singapore offers inspired artistic expression emerging from within Asia into the international arena by being a platform for rigorous artistic process and meaningful international collaboration.”

SIFA 2022 aims to express the fluidity and intersections between art forms locally and internationally, and how in practice, many artists go beyond the conventional limits of artistic genres. This has created three layers of festival programming:

• Creation – a platform for SIFA’s prime offerings encompassing new commissions, fresh iterations of works, and presentations by outstanding international artists.
• Life Profusion – SIFA’s virtual stage which runs parallel to the live festival. Presenting five unique content categories: +DREAM, +EAT, +READ, +GROW, +DISCUSS, they aim to expand, organise and deepen the profusion of ideas and artistry radiating from the festival.
• SIFA X – marking the spot for alternative performance offerings, with the inaugural edition oneirism helmed by SAtheCollective’s artistic director, Andy Chia.

SIFA 2022’s headlining commissions are in line with the festival’s commitment to encompass diverse perspectives that signal present-day interculturalism and global interconnectedness, as the catalyst for creative intersections and bold artistic innovation:

• Opening commission MEPAAN presents an ethereal sonic and visual nature centered opus by Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Malaysia-based creative agency, The Tuyang Initiative.
• Holly Herndon: PROTO by Holly Herndon, an exhilarating concert from a musician at the forefront of today’s technological revolutions, with sounds synthesised by Herndon and her A.I. “baby” Spawn.
• The Once and Future presents an expanded cinema experience by Singaporean filmmaker Yeo Siew Hua, paired with live music from musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker.
• Remotes X Quantum stems from a collaboration between playwright Eleanor Wong and Philippines-based John Torres that marries film and installation.
• Ceremonial Enactments by TAN, Nadi Singapura and Bhaskar’s Arts Academy puts together three re-enactments of culturally specific customs and rites from birth, to weddings.
• The Neon Hieroglyph by British artist and 2019 Turner Prize Winner Tai Shani makes a new iteration of her work performed by Malaysian actress Jo Kukathas.
• Devil’s Cherry by Paul Rae and Kaylene Tan presents a fantastical tale of ordinary desire, the escape it promises, and the dreams it damns, set where urban life meets the Australian Bush.
• Internationally acclaimed Singapore director Ong Keng Sen presents project SALOME, adopting documentary film-making as an approach to unveil the rituals of projection and self-mythologising.
• Life Profusion is also proud to launch the world premiere of world-renowned science fiction artist Lucy McRae’s performance film, Delicate Spells of Mind, dissecting the operating system of the mind.

Keeping the festival momentum going are digital commissions on-demand via SIFA on Demand, with four key commissions that will be available digitally till 10 July – MEPAAN, Ceremonial Enactments, Bangsawan Gemala Malam, and Delicate Spells of Mind. Tickets can be purchased on https://sifa.sg at S$15 per show or S$25 for bundle of 4.

The Once and Future

The Neon Hieroglyph

project SALOME

Devil’s Cherry

Ceremonial Enactments