SeptFest 2022: uproot | rootless

1 – 30 September 2022

When something is removed from a place, what remains?

Change is constant and inevitable, but even as we are compelled to move forward, the remnants and relics of our past surround us. Our roots. Now, more than ever, we need to unearth the lessons that reside in those roots. We must revisit and relearn that wisdom so that we can map our ways into the future. Our routes.

For The Substation’s SeptFest 2022, the first under our current Artistic Director, Ezzam Rahman, we present a line-up of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary events and performances, under the curatorial theme of: uproot |rootless.

These pieces investigate and interrogate the urgent issues in our post-pandemic world: identity and privacy, displacement and disembodiment, virtuality and virality. In their works, the artists seek to respond to the conflicts and contradictions that infect our isolated bodies and ravaged mindscapes, deploying a range of different media and working in unconventional spaces, both physical and digital.

The Substation would like to thank our venue partners and sponsors for their kind contributions: T:>Works, 72-13, Figment, Supper House, Alliance Française Singapour, The National Arts Council Singapore, a.r.t.s. fund, Pasar Glamour, Crane, Teater Kami Limited, and Black.

Exhibitions

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Mixtape vol 32 – Side A & Side B

Mixtape vol 32 is a two-part online exhibition included in the line-up of The Substation’s SeptFest 2022, which features 2 artists, Chong Li-Chuan and Andy Yang for Side A and Side B, respectively. Curated by Lizzie Wee, this online showcase is organised in a way that is reminiscent of the act of making a personalised 2-sided mixtape for a loved one; to share a curated playlist that soundtracked a particular moment in time. Mixtape vol 32 is an ode to the transition from the physical space that The Substation used to inhabit for the last 32 years to the uprooted, transient, and versatile entity it currently exists as.

These two works act as bookends of SeptFest 2022: Side A will be released on the 1st of September and Side B will be available for view on the 30th. Mixtape vol 32 – Side A & Side B are both nostalgic interpretations of how we grapple with the loss of what The Substation once was as a place and institution, yet still look to its current fluid form and identity, while considering how to shape its hopeful future.

Mixtape vol 32 – Side A

Releasing online1st September 2022 at midnight

visit side a now

Mixtape vol 32 – Side B

Releasing online1st October 2022 at midnight

visit side b now

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The Death of Singapore Theatre

as Scripted by the Infocomm Media Development

Authority of Singapore

Rating: Advisory 16 (Coarse Language and Some Mature Content)

In Singapore, there can be no public performances without a script first being sent to the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA). The script is then read by an IMDA officer who approves it for a performance license and gives it a rating.

This means that before addressing a public audience, the playwright first addresses the IMDA officer. But what if this implicit dialogue is made explicit and turned into a performance?

The Death of Singapore Theatre as Scripted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore is a performance lecture, written by Alfian Sa’at, directed by Irfan Kasban, and performed by Farah Ong, that traces the history of how theatre has been regulated in Singapore, from the colonial period to post-Independence. It is a chronicle of how moral panics, culture wars, bureaucratic language and political elites have shaped the Singaporean censorship landscape.

Written as a direct address to an IMDA officer, the work reconfigures the moment of encounter between the artist and the censor as a moment of unbearable intimacy.

“You. I know you’re reading this. Who else can it be but you?”

Venue: T:>Works, 72-13, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road, Singapore 239007

Ticketed event

Sessions:

1st September 2022, Thursday - 8:00pm

2nd September 2022, Friday – 8:00pm

3rd September 2022, Saturday – 3:00pm

3rd September 2022, Saturday – 8:00pm

4th September 2022, Sunday – 3:00pm

4th September 2022, Sunday – 8:00pm

Frequencies

Frequencies, a group presentation curated by Bridget Tay, calls upon the interconnectivity of structure and construct with each of the artists’ works presenting itself as an endeavour to approach the construct of the body that projects perceptions of the cultural, political and sexual. Ideas that are evocative of bodies and their relationship to the environment float through the works as they intermingle and intersect with each other and the space.

In Arron Teo’s series of photo-documentations, LORONG 2230, he presents a set of images established within perimeters of time and space, documenting excerpts of activity that broaches the space between a start and the beginning of an end. The presence of figures registers itself as a negative, creating a physical boundary which contextualizes images in a spatial construct that loops itself in its own narrative.

Questioning perceptions as a form of accepted singularity, Joanne Lim’s body of work playfully questions the accepted state of surveillance, an interactive repositioning of the exchange of power involved in seeing and being seen. The viewer and performance subtly become an act of gentle resistance to the current state of affairs, resulting in an active levelling of interest.

Poetically, Smiha Kapoor’s body imagery in relation to landscape fundamentally subjugates a colonial and male gaze and articulates an act of rebellion. In her images, she transposes her body, curled in a foetal position, into various landscapes. She disrupts the objectification of the female body by placing its image within the recesses of the environment, To emphasize societal conditions within the female body, she jarringly recontextualizes and juxtaposes these images as an extension of power and a reclamation of the space they inhabit.

Venue: Figment Embassy House, 11 Lorong 24A Geylang, Singapore 398535

Dates:

16th to 18th September 2022 – 12:00pm to 7:00pm

23rd to 25th September 2022 – 12:00pm to 7:00pm

17th September 2022 – 2:00pm (Artist/Curator Tour)

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A Peek at Time - House - Day 1 of 3

A community is a familiar entity used to bring people together to advocate and support each other in the fight to overcome threats. Communities are an essential part of our society because we all depend on and interact with each other. But as time passes, communities evolve – for the better or worse. The evolution of a particular social community can be represented as a sequence of events (changes) following each other in the successive time frames within the temporal social network. As individuals, we are told that we are nothing without our roots, and so we need to find our roots, which we do in our community, among “our people.” It is important to remember your roots because this tells you where you came from and what your customs and traditions were.

A Peek at Time is a film program by Ghazi Alqudcy, made out of 3 screenings and accompanied by a Q&A session moderated by Wesley Leon Aroozoo. It lays out stories that tell of personal, societal, political and cultural journeys--of painful uprootings or feelings of loss through rootlessness. The audience will follow the journey of the characters or social actors as they navigate through time, hustling their way to find meaning in living within a community – or not. The 3 screenings will be guided by the following thematic approach: House, Land and People.

House

Enthusiasts

16mins / Colour / English / Colombia / 2020

Dir: Gonzalo Escobar Moora

A Letter from Quarantine to Ollie Dot Marshall who

will be 25 in the Year of 2043

12 mins / Colour / English / USA / 2021

Dir: Patrick Marshal

A Boring Film

16 mins / B&W / No Dialogue / Bangladesh / 2020

Dir: Mahde Hassan

Investigations of a Dog

25mins / B&W and Colour / Bosnian & English with

English Subtitles / Poland & Bosnia Herzegovina / 2017

Dir: Aleksandra Niemczyk

Woman at Home

12 mins / Colour / No Dialogue with English Text /

Singapore / 2017

Dir: Megan Wonowidjoyo

Iruthi Varai (Till the End)

9 mins / Colour / Tamil with English Subtitles / Malaysia /

2020

Dir: Vesant Nair

The Keegan House is Moving

12 mins / Colour / French & English with English Subtitles

/ France & Canada / 2016

Dir: Justine Harbonnier

Venue: Alliance Française Singapour, 1 Sarkies Road, Singapore 258130

Ticketed event

Date: 28th September 2022 – 8:00pm

Sillage

In the gallery of 72-13, Nurul Huda and Nicole Phua’s presentation entitled Sillage finds the artists delving into performative installations that expand into narratives connected to themselves and each other. Curated by Bridget Tay, Sillage explores presence and absence, while also investigating meanings, familiarity and patterns through activation and responses between the material, intangible and human.

In Nodes by Nurul Huda, the artist explores the collection and algorithm of data, activating contexts through a contradictory manual process that is reminiscent of bodily function and extrapolation of information.

Moving in tandem, Nicole Phua’s Nizalia expresses her journey of faith. Using repetitive and routinised moments and objects of symbolic meanings, she explores a state of mind in relation to the physical. Through her actions, she creates a meditative sense of tranquillity.

Venue: T:>Works, 72-13, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road, Singapore 239007

Dates: 1st to 4th September 2022 – 11:00am to 7:00pm

4th September 2022 – 5:00pm (Performance Activation)

4th September 2022 – 6:00pm (Artist/Curator Tour)

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Declutter Me!

Every object of possession has a story behind it. How did we obtain it? What does it mean? Why do we still keep it? Some serve as a reminder of the past or path that we have travelled. While others just serve a purpose.

Declutter Me! is a one-to-one performance with Grace Kalaiselvi where in a 20-minute session, the single audience member gets to choose 1 out of 3 boxes, each containing an object (or objects) from the artist. Based on the items in the box, a personal experience will be shared which will offer a better understanding of an Indian person, providing insights into their identity, culture and the myths that surround them. Declutter Me! hopes to initiate and provoke a two-way discovery between the performer and audience.

Platform: The Substation Whatsapp Account

Ticketed event

Sessions: Every Saturday and Sunday of September 2022.

3rd & 4th – 10th & 11th – 17th & 18th – 24th & 25th September

5:00pm to 5:20pm.

5:30pm to 5:50pm.

6:00pm to 6:20pm.

6:30pm to 6:50pm.

7:00pm to 7:20pm.

7:30pm to 7:50pm.

Descent

In 2012, the Blue Statesmen (comprising theatre artists Bryan Tan, Robin Loon, and Casey Lim) presented the play BluePrince, an homage to the founder of The Substation, Kuo Pao Kun, for SeptFest 2012. A decade later, the collective reunites to present a new performance video for SeptFest 2022, drawing on concepts and concerns in Kuo’s seminal play, Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral.

This work uses Kuo’s play as a platform for the contemplation of our society’s cultural values and contemporary beliefs. As a counterpoint, a young actress wanders through the city and performs a ritualistic summoning of the Chinese sea goddess, Mazu, invoking her blessings for the vulnerable individuals in our country – just as she once protected Zheng He and his armada during a storm at sea, or so folklore would have us believe.

Venue: Figment Embassy House, 11 Lorong 24A Geylang, Singapore 398535

Dates:

16th to 18th September 2022 – 12:00pm to 7:00pm

23rd to 25th September 2022 – 12:00pm to 7:00pm

The video will also be presented on The Substation Website & YouTube Channel

visit descent now

watch on youtube

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A Peek at Time - Land - Day 2 of 3

Land

Anak Seletar (Children of Seletar)

60 mins / Colour / Malay, Seletar, Tamil & Arabic with

English Subtitles / Malaysia / 2020

Dir: Firdaus Balam

Zapping Cuba

11 mins / Colour / Spanish & English with English

Subtitles / Mexico / 2016

Dir: Marta Hernaiz Pidal

Horta

16 mins / B&W and Colour / Spanish with English

Subtitles / Spain / 2016

Dir: Pilar Palomero

Away

10 mins / B&W / Mandarin & English with English

Subtitles / Singapore / 2018

Dir: Tang Kang Sheng

Ailleurs (Somewhere)

6 mins / Colour / No Dialogue / France / 2016

Dir: Melody Boulissiere (France)

Venue: Alliance Française Singapour, 1 Sarkies Road, Singapore 258130

Ticketed event

Date: 29th September 2022 – 8:00pm

Tensity

In the foyer of 72-13, Tensity is a solo presentation by Rofi, curated by Bridget Tay, which ponders over the symbolic relational dynamics between power and men within the world.

Using human figures as extensions in a thematic narrative, Rofi’s depiction of figures features bold colours, strokes and textures that capture tensions relating to issues in our current global socio-political climate. His works are presented in states of flux, with the figures transposing into metaphorical tension between power and its causes.

Venue: T:>Works, 72-13, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road, Singapore 239007

Dates: 1st to 4th September 2022 – 11:00am to 7:00pm

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Across Narrow Waters

At the confluence of two territorial waters, that which passes through such a liminal line must necessarily be a bridge that spans the breadth between two foreshores separated and yet so curiously intertwined.

Across Narrow Waters comprises a trio of artworks by Anthony Chin and Andrea Danker that concern themselves with the connections between Singapore and Malaysia. Curated by John Tung, the works unveil evolving circumstances between the two countries and their impact on lives. Delving into the infrastructural, systemic, and inter-personal connections that perforate this border, the concise presentation makes apparent how each of them is far from distinct and underscores their relationships with each other.

Yet beyond an examination of these connections alone, the artworks also intimate alternative means of evaluating distances both physical and immaterial. In providing a humane take on rationalizing these expanses of tangible, cognitive, and emotional spaces, the artists reiterate an enduring hope of being able to meet midway.

Venue: Supper House, 222 Tagore Lane, #04-03, Singapore 787603

Dates: 5th to 30th September 2022

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The One at Home

The One at Home is a14-day durational performance by Oliver Chong that takes place in a co-living space, and is live-streamed to audiences. A man enters a room that seems to be filled with the relics and detritus of another world. He spends his days here all by himself, excavating the past, practising for the present. At night, he performs for those who watch him. He remembers another time, another space. He searches for another artist, for another reason. Do you want to see him? Would you have him rehearse and re-enact your fever dreams and buried desires? This work presents a meditative study of the human body and soul in a state of quarantine and isolation, while trapped in a world of relentless virtual connection and viral infection.

Platform: The Substation Instagram account

@theoneathome.sg #theoneathomesg

Ticketed event

Sessions: IG Live Daily, 16th to 29th September 2022

9:00pm to 9:16pm;

10:00pm to 10:16pm