[event] Etiquette II // 3rd Aug-28th Aug 2011 @ The Substation

Etiquette, an annual event in its second installment, is a multidisciplinary showcase of art, writing and film, created by, and about women. Addressing gender as a subject of discourse, it uses art as a tool to create spaces within which critical and creative conversations can take place. Featuring an all-female crew of over 30 artists, writers, filmmakers and curators, this year’s event gets down and dirty with pertinent women’s issues that people would rather not discuss at the dinner-table.

Art
Wednesday 3 – Sunday 28 August
The Substation Gallery
Admission: Free

Reception: Wednesday 3 August, 7pm

Documented surgery set to music, photographic setups of family tension, secrets whispered in a back room. Showcasing the work of 12 artists and contemporary craft collective Popin, expect the poignant and poetic as well as the creative and critical with this multidisciplinary exhibition that features established names such as The Substation’s Associate Artist, Hazel Lim, and internationally exhibited, Lynn Lu, together with emerging talents such as photographer Geraldine Kang. Curated by Tania De Rozario & Zarina Muhammad.

Words – Women Out Loud
Thursday 4 August 2011, 7:45-10pm
The Substation Theatre
Admission: Entry by donation

Be a part of the inaugural Women Out Loud, and listen to poetry, prose, and dialogue from nine writers for whom the personal need not necessarily be private. Including readings from award-winning novelist, short-story writer and playwright Ovidia Yu as well as published author-artist Dana Lam, listen your way through an emotional night of first love, supermarket rage, mother-daughter tension and clinical regret in this line-up of words created not for the faint-of-heart. Curated by Tania De Rozario & Zarina Muhammad.

Film
Friday 5 – Saturday 6 August, 7-10pm
The Substation Theatre
Admission: $25 per night or $45 for both nights, available from the box office
Contact Mish’aal at 6337 7800 / boxoffice@substation.org

"Action" has always been a word voiced traditionally in the history of cinema, by a man behind the camera. Action in general, is an activity, an effort, a deed, a step – an initiation. Etiquette’s inaugural film event showcases ten Singaporean and Singapore-based female filmmakers under one roof over one weekend, in celebration of the just-do-it spirit in the film industry. The Saturday night screening will be followed by a Q&A with all participating filmmakers. Curated by Mardhiah Osman & Mabelyn Ow.

Friday 5 August

1. Dirty Bitch | Sun Koh | 10 mins (R21)

2. Substitute | A.D. Chan | 20:32 mins (M18)

3. Come | Kirsten Tan | 22 mins (M18)

4. Overhead Clouds | Yeo Lee Nah | 5 mins (PG)

5. Shout | Lillian Wang | 18 mins (PG)

6. Still Life | Lillian Wang | 9 mins (TBA)

7. Smell of Rain (feature) | Gloria Chee | 93 mins (PG)

Total screening time is 178 mins. No discussion on Friday.

Saturday, 6 August

1. She Shapes a Nation | Dana Lam | 21 mins (PG)

2. Bullet Proof Vest | May Lin Au Yong | 5:34 mins (TBA)

3. Under the Storybook Sky | May Lin Au Yong | 14 mins (PG)

4. Rahim | Murni Mastan | 21 mins (PG)

5. Durai & Saro | Prema Menon | 30 mins (PG)

6. Pink Paddlers | Jasmine Ng | 63 mins (PG)

Supported by Objectifs. All profits from ticket sales will be donated to Associate of Women for Action and Research (AWARE).

Satellite Events:

POPIN Workshops
Saturday 27 – Sunday 28 August, 8-10pm
The Substation Gallery
Admission: by donation

Contemporary craft collective POPIN addresses the undeniable anxiety that accompanies women who feel the need to ensure that their menstrual cycles remain both verbally and physically hidden. Inviting audiences to participate in the creation of a sewn-installation made from materials derived from tampons and sanitary pads, members of the public are drawn into conversations about menstruation, while sitting around the table and contributing to the organic growth of an artwork.

A Short History of Modesty in Southeast Asia: From the Control of Womens’ Selves to their Bodies
by Dr Farish Ahmad Noor
Saturday 6 August, 3-5pm
The Substation Theatre
Admission: by donation

Feminist theory has, since its inception, made inquiries into the relationship between women’s bodies and selves. In this talk, author and political scientist Dr. Farish Noor will present his research on the historical narrative of women’s bodies and roles as well as the social construct of gender-appropriate behaviour through two particular garments made for women over the course of history.

[review] mr sterile Assembly - Transit

If there was any one band you could not pigeonhole, it's this one. Most favorably dubbed "outsider punk," mr sterile Assembly (also simply known as the Assembly) has grown since the last time we saw them in Singapore in '07. With Transit, a fifth release just in time for their tenth anniversary, the idealism of drum and bass duo Kieran Monaghan and Chrissie Butler shines through. A collaborative project, Transit is not your ordinary album pressed on CD, listened to x number of times, and then all but forgotten. It is instead a multidisciplinary endeavour of sorts, with each song accompanied by an art piece, which culminated into an exhibition which we here in Singapore regret not being able to physically see.

The title of the album is brilliantly apt. As the tracks flit from jazz to math rock to ska to folk, one imagines themselves being transported from one place to another, and the transitions feel almost seamless. Interspersed with spoken word, shrill/soothing vocals, offbeat signatures, and groovy basslines, this almost sounds too chaotic to even be listenable. But the Assembly somehow manage to execute the album with precision, with their punk roots undeniably creeping in at different points throughout.

And what is music without words, without lyrics? Amidst the discordance lie some of the most incisive writing, as we're taken on another journey yet again -- this time through anti-war sentiments, Hone Tuwhare's poems, New Zealand's nuclear-free legislation, and even an ode to a migrant worker in Singapore. And as if everything else weren't enough, the Assembly have included lyrics to their songs as hyperlinks on their website, for those of us so inclined to delve into the nuances of their artistic offering.

This literary cacophony will be touring SE Asia starting from 15th July, with 2 dates (28th and 29th July) in Singapore. What else can we say? You can't not witness them in their full, live, performative glory.