C6 life happenings | THE STRAITS TIMES | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020 | Ong Sor Fern Senior Culture Correspondent recommends Picks NUS BABA HOUSE formal Qing dress, which denoted their (bought) positions (Left) Titled The NUS Baba House is a rather overlooked option on the in the court, and a Western-style four-poster bed, of Cross- museum scene, partly because one has to do appointment mounted on castors, in a bedroom upstairs. dressing Arts viewing. But this also means you get a nice docent-led tour Photographer and printmaker Chris Yap has also & Culture of a conservation shophouse which is also a teaching tool installed the latest iteration of his long-running (an actor), for the National University of Singapore students. exploration of Peranakan identities – of Cross-dressing & this work is This is evident in the front hall, where a square of blue Culture (an actor) – on the third level of the house. photographer paint stands out against the otherwise whitewashed walls. Drawing from the long tradition of male actors playing and This, I learn from my tour guide, is a test patch women in wayang Peranakan, the dressing table display printmaker to see how the paint reacts to moisture in the walls. includes material hand-dyed in bunga telang (butterfly Chris Yap’s Visitors who have been to Penang’s Blue Mansion will pea flower) usually used in cooking, handwritten notes latest at the note that this hue is noticeably lighter than the rich cobalt that include English and Japanese, and lines from the NUS Baba of the former, but it is true to the original shade the hall television series The Little Nyonya (2008) translated into House. PHOTOS: was painted in. Baba Malay. DING YI MUSIC Built around 1895, the house was occupied by the The work questions an array of issues, ranging from COMPANY, Peranakan-Chinese Wee family and then left uninhabited gender stereotypes to the appropriation NUS BABA for about 20 years until the university bought it in 2006. It of Peranakan culture in pop culture entertainment. HOUSE, has been carefully documented and is still being WHERE: 157 Neil Road WHEN: Tuesdays to Fridays, 10am; SUNDARAM progressively restored. Saturdays, 1 to 4pm MRT: Outram Park TAGORE GALLERY Some intriguing things to look out for include a pair of ADMISSION: By appointment only. Groups are limited to ancestral portraits of the Wee matriarch and patriarch in five people INFO: str.sg/J2Dq TUNE IN 2020 Women composers take the limelight in Ding Yi Music Company’s first concert of the season. This digital affair will feature new INHERENT BEAUTY: Karen Knorr’s surreal photographs Her models, draped in cloth and Brazilian photojournalist Sebastiao commissions written by 2019 Young PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO CHANGE insert exotic animals into covered in calligraphy, look straight Salgado – a lyrically lush, romantically Artist Award recipient Emily Koh (top), HOW WE SEE THE WORLD high-resolution images of the out of the images at the viewer, Edenic image of native Amazonians Dr Joyce Koh and Koh Cheng Jin. Sundaram Tagore Gallery’s latest architectural wonders of Mughal and returning the gaze in a contemporary titled Scene, taken at a stream near There will also be classics adapted show brings together six Rajput palaces in India. rebuttal of the Orientalist the Marubo Maronal village in by Ding Yi’s Composium 2018 winner photographers whose works range A peacock poised as elegantly as a perspective. Amazonas, Brazil. Chua Jon Lin (above), Liong Kit Yeng from photojournalism to fine art supermodel in The Queen’s Room Both these photographers build WHERE: Sundaram Tagore Gallery, and Wang Danhong. photography. The most mainstream (above) is ironic, since this dense images of the fantastic and the 01-05 Gillman Barracks, 5 Lock Road The concert is presented in name is probably photojournalist extravagant specimen is probably sensual that are compelling and MRT: Labrador Park collaboration with Esplanade – Steve McCurry, whose Afghan Girl male, challenging the traditionally thought-provoking. WHEN: Till Nov 21, Tuesdays to Theatres on the Bay. photograph turned him into a female-gendered space. The other male photographers Fridays: 10am to 6pm; WHERE: Sistic Live household name. Moroccan photographer Lalla including Robert Polidori and Edward Saturdays: 11am to 7pm WHEN: Till Nov 1 But it is the women photographers Essaydi’s works also explore Burtynsky rather fade in comparison. ADMISSION: Free ADMISSION: $12 who pack the biggest poetic punches. gendered spaces for Arab women. But there is one standout from INFO: str.sg/J2zG INFO: str.sg/J2zg ARTS photographic skills and ambitions. Singapore International Foundation. CONCERTS The photographers drew inspiration WHEN: Nov 13, 9.30am & 4pm; Wild Rice to reopen doors BOOKS President’s Young from their surroundings and issues Nov 14, 11.30am & 4 pm Performers Concert close to their hearts in this exhibition ADMISSION: Free All-Day Book Sale The marimba takes centre stage at centred on the ideas of home. INFO: bit.ly/2SSfJTG at Funan next month Organised by arts platform Grey this year’s President’s Young WHERE: Objectifs Lower Gallery & Projects, the book sale will raise Courtyard, 155 Middle Road Performers Concert, which has gone THEATRE funds to help sustain the free mental online. Singaporean percussionist MRT: Bras Basah WHEN: Till Nov 29, health counselling sessions it is Julia Tan will play the Marimba Tue - Sat: noon – 7pm, Sun: noon – The Present/Future Season: running for cultural workers affected Concerto by prominent French 4pm; closed on Mon & public holidays Journey To Nowhere ADMISSION: Free and slightly ironic choice” for this by the pandemic. Check out the art, composer-percussionist Emmanuel Based on the famous 16th-century Olivia Ho INFO: www.objectifs.com.sg occasion. philosophy, photography and design Sejourne. The Singapore Symphony epic novel by Wu Cheng’en, this is an Arts Correspondent books that are going for $4 or $8. He said: “The play is about what it Orchestra, led by associate conductor action-packed tale of the roguish The company is also accepting book means to dedicate your life to act- Joshua Tan, will also perform. Monkey King and his exploits in a donations today from 1 to 7pm. DANCE Local theatre company Wild Rice ing, the theatre and playing before WHERE: Sistic Live Stream journey to nowhere. Written and WHERE: Grey Projects, 6B Kim Tian WHEN: Viewable till Oct 24, 8pm Co-Beat! directed by Oliver Chong of will be reopening the doors of its a live audience. Road MRT: Tiong Bahru ADMISSION: Pay as you wish: $10, $20, SMU Eurhythmix, Singapore The Finger Players, it is one of Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre at Funan “Alfian, Alin, Siti and the company WHEN: Tomorrow, 11am - 6pm $30, $50 INFO: www.sistic.com.sg Management University’s hip-hop the four productions presented by mall on Nov 4, after a closure of are reworking it to think about what ADMISSION: Free dance club, takes a lighter look at the the company in collaboration with nearly eight months. it means now. We’ve gone through a INFO: www.greyprojects.org/events It returns with one-woman show very tough period, when actors have pandemic with a satirical response to the Nanyang Academy of Fine EXHIBITIONS human behaviour such as panic An Actress Prepares, starring Siti not been performing. How To Fall In Love With Classics Arts as part of the series, Khalijah Zainal, from Nov 4 to 22. “How does an actor prepare for buying, safe distancing, home-based The Present/Future Season. (Science Fiction): The Left Hand Thriving Singapore learning and Singaporeans’ obsession Written by Alfian Sa’at and directed each role and for a life in the theatre? Of Darkness By Ursula K. Le Guin This virtual exhibition showcases WHERE: Sistic Live Stream by Aidli “Alin” Mosbit, the play What does this mean in these tumul- with bubble tea. Part of A-Part, WHEN: Premieres on Oct 23, 8pm; The 1969 science-fiction novel is a more than 30 original pieces of digital SMU Arts Festival 2020. follows Siti’s journey through tuous times, when jobs are scarce viewable from Oct 24, noon till Oct 25, cosmic adventure that takes art, digitised paintings and WHEN: Till Oct 30 ADMISSION: Free theatre. and the future is so uncertain? It will 11.59pm ADMISSION: $10 humankind to the frozen planet of photography works. Launched by INFO: smu.sg/artsfest Priority booking for Wild Rice be a special show.” Winter. An envoy finds his mission media agency CreativesAtWork and INFO: www.sistic.com.sg/ events/sltfp1120 Angels, the company’s donors, be- Wild Rice follows Singapore tricky and perilous when he is baffled organised by ALH Studio, it brings Real Showcase Series gan yesterday while public sales Repertory Theatre, which will be that the planet’s natives are together 14 local artists and – Solara & Luna will open on Monday. reopening its venue, the KC Arts ambisexual and have no fixed sex. practitioners. Supported by the The series provides all-round support OTHER ARTS EVENTS Seating will be limited to 50 peo- Centre – Home of SRT, next month Poet, graphic artist and literary critic National Arts Council’s Digital to local dance artists, allowing them to ple for each show due to Covid-19 with Tuesdays With Morrie, star- Gwee Li Sui will expand on the idea of Presentation Grant for the Arts, as part realise their creativity in a small Silver Linings safety restrictions. ring Ramesh Panicker and Ben- radical difference in an intimate of the #SGCultureAnywhere campaign. theatre. Solara & Luna, choreographed This comprises two digital projects The show will proceed depending jamin Chow. The show previews on relationship, which has become one WHEN: Till end Dec by emerging dance artists Kong Wing featuring music, visual arts and on safety advisories for the resump- Nov 1 and premieres on Nov 4.