If your idea of a meaningful weekend goes beyond brunch and browsing, there’s something quietly powerful happening this Labour Day stretch in Singapore. From 29 April to 3 May 2026, T:>Works transforms its home at 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road into a living, breathing space of ideas, performance, and conversation.

Welcome to Per°Form Open Academy of Arts and Activations (POA) 2026: The Post-Migrant Academy, a gathering that feels less like a traditional arts festival and more like stepping into a shared cultural consciousness.

Showcasing a combination of theatre, talks and an exhibition, Per°Form weaves these together into a multi-day experience that explores migration, identity, labour, and belonging through art. Developed in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Singapore and Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin, the programme draws from Germany’s “post-migrant theatre” movement, a perspective that sees society as deeply shaped by migration, not separate from it.

While the stories originate in Germany, the themes feel strikingly close to home in Singapore. In a city built on migration, conversations about identity and belonging are often felt but not always spoken. POA 2026 opens up that space, through performance, literature, and dialogue.

The Academy questions the idea of the post-migrant: not just the migrant experience itself, but what happens after; how identities evolve, clash, and coexist in modern societies. Led by influential figures like Shermin Langhoff, who pioneered the concept, the programme invites audiences to rethink what “home” really means.

The opening exhibition, Stresemannstrasse 30 – An Inventory, traces the lives of Turkish women who moved to Germany as guest workers in the 1960s. Through archival material and storytelling, it reveals intimate portraits of resilience, culture, and unexpected encounters—from factory work to theatre fandom. It’s less about nostalgia and more about recognition: the quiet shaping of societies by people often left out of official narratives.

One of the highlights is a live reading of The Bridge of the Golden Horn by Emine Sevgi Özdamar, performed by Singapore’s own Tan Kheng Hua. The story follows a young woman navigating life between Istanbul and Berlin—messy, emotional, and deeply human. Expect humour, vulnerability, and a post-show conversation that lingers.

The award-winning Unser Deutschlandmärchen (Our German Fairy Tale) arrives in Singapore as a lecture-performance hybrid, part storytelling, part reflection. Performed by Sesede Terziyan, it explores a mother-son relationship shaped by migration, work, and memory. It’s been named one of Germany’s top theatre productions, and it doesn’t aim to comfort, but to reveal.

The talks and discussions bring together artists like Dinçer Güçyeter and Hakan Savaş Mican, diving into themes of class, family, and creative expression. These aren’t academic panels, but honest, lived conversations about navigating identity in complex societies.

For those who want to go deeper, a performance workshop invites participants to use the body as a tool for storytelling and transformation. It’s intimate, reflective, and designed for anyone interested in how art can challenge power structures.

Unlike large-scale festivals, POA feels intentionally personal. You might find yourself in a late-night conversation after a performance, or reflecting quietly in the exhibition space. Even the ticketing reflects this ethos: entry is donation-based, making it accessible while encouraging shared responsibility for the arts.

POA 2026 isn’t about passive consumption but about showing up, listening, questioning, and maybe seeing your own story reflected in someone else’s. In a city that moves fast, this is a rare pause, a chance to engage with art that doesn’t just entertain, but asks something of you. And perhaps that’s the real luxury: not just what you do over the weekend, but what stays with you after.

PerºForm Open Academy of Arts and Activations (POA) 2026 – The Post-Migrant Academy runs from 29th April to 3rd May 2026 @ 72-13, Home of T:>Works. More information available here