Preview: M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018 – Let’s Walk

 The work itself consisted of a series of ‘walks’ as Heng and members of the public walked backwards while holding high-heeled shoes in their mouths, guided only by handheld mirrors to navigate. The work was then repeated and brought overseas to countries as far flung as Japan, Indonesia and even European countries such as Poland, Spain and Sweden.

Naturally, Heng’s work will once again be revisited during the festival, where various events will take place from September 2017 to May 2018, from a solo durational live performance as Heng walks from Clifford Pier to the Causeway checkpoint, workshops with students and members of the public as they walk from the Substation to Merlion Park, to the culmination and documentation of the work and responses to it in an exhibition at Objectifs. Said Heng: “Let’s Walk is also about bringing the work out from my studio into the street, where audience participation is what finally completes the process. I look forward to revisiting the work and seeing the various reactions from the world, seeing the shifts in development since it first premiered in 1999.”

 

Heng’s concept behind Let’s Walk is of course, multifaceted and embodies multiple themes and messages, and the works curated for the fringe are all responses or relate to an aspect of the artwork in some way. This year’s festival will consist of 13 ticketed events and 3 free events, with artists from across 7 countries, and at the launch today, were handily divided into three overarching sub-themes: “Battling Societal Influences and Pressures”, “Redefining Individuality and Identity” and Questioning Perfection and the Patriarchal Gaze”.

Said M1SFF artistic director Sean Tobin: “Even though it was first created in 1999, a time that seems very different from now, Heng’s work still manages to resonate even today, still very progressive, relevant and cutting edge. We chose this theme to bring more challenges and complexities to the fringe, and we feel the need to dispel the myth that Singapore’s art scene is still very young, safe and clean, and with Amanda’s work, create a reflection on our own arts heritage as these young artists respond to it with their own pieces.”

In past editions, the Fringe has brought a slew of exciting new work from some of our most prominent local artists. One piece we’re especially looking forward to next year is 2017 Life! Theatre Award Winner Edith Podesta’s The Immortal Sole, a dance/physical theatre reimagining of Hans Christian Anderson’s tale of The Little Mermaid that will examine the concepts of beauty, inequality, and the perceptions of traditional women’s roles, or what one must give up (such as one’s own tail, in the classic fairy tale) in order to achieve in a man’s world.

Other local artists participating include Pink Gajah Theatre with Hayat, where Sharda Harrison will be performing an original piece with her mother Ajuntha Anwari (who we loved in her solo performance I AM at SilverArts), Rei Poh with Attempts: Singapore, a participatory, immersive theatre piece utilizing video game theory based on Martin Crimp’s Attempts On Her Life, Jo Tan with her first full length play Forked, attempting to discover  the ‘true Singaporean voice’, and Petrina Kow’s Walking In Beauty, an intimate piece featuring prominent female personalities and artists such as Anita Kapoor and Oniatta Effendi as they share deeply personal stories of womanhood and what it means to be beautiful. ‘Fresh Fringe’, featuring young artists Kenneth Chia and Mitchell Fang, as well as The Nervous System, will also be making a return this year with new works that represent the voice of a new generation of theatremakers.

Said Tobin: “When curating the festival, we wanted a balance of both local and international artists involved, and wanted works that were stylistically and aesthetically edgy. The works here represent a range for our audiences, with something available for both people who are here for the first time, or people who want things that are really out there.”