Visual arts activities in Singapore began a few decades into its founding and had tended to be divided along ethnic and linguistic lines until after the war when a more multicultural consciousness emerged. Largely dominated by artists from China the scene had been nurtured by education and sustained by commerce since the end of the 19th century.

This is a revised version of a paper written jointly by Huang Jianli and Hong Lysa, “Imagining a Big Singapore: Positioning the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall” in Hong Lysa and Huang Jianli, The Scripting of a National History: Singapore and Its Pasts (Hong Kong: Jointly published by Hong Kong University Press and NUS Press, 2008), pp.181–204.

The chapter reflects on the author’s several encounters, and yet few theatre collaborations, with Singaporean artists over a span of thirty years, including Ong Keng Sen, Alvin Tan, Kuo Pao Kun, Kok Heng Leun, Lee Wen, Chng Seok Tin, and others. It then proceeds to describe the network of Asian People’s Theatre groups that Mok has helped building, and various collaborations that took place in the absence of Singaporean participants. The aim of these collaborations was the search for an “Asian theatre” and the construction of solidarity in the pursuit of peace and justice and structural changes in Asian societies. The mechanics of these cross-cultural collaborations with respect to participation, financing, devising, touring, etc., are also discussed. Their goals are, furthermore, examined as they reflect the participating artists’ universal desires.

Yeo Lanxi, who works for the disabled, shares her insights on art beyond disability, including what moves Cultural Medallion recipient Chng Seok Tin to create art, and the latter's thoughts about art and people with disabilities. Lanxi researches on and interviews disabled artists who practise at the pinnacle of their profession on a national level.

https://doi.org/10.4000/archipel.448

This visual study of Kumar, a drag comedian from Singapore, examines aspects of political semiotics on aging in Singapore. As a digital record of performing arts, the YouTube-video (Nur Fasihah 2012, http://buttonsinthebread.com/2012/06/29/happy-ever-laughter/) shows footage of Kumar poking fun at Toh Yi Drive residents’ initial reactions to a government-proposed nursing home construction in their estate. The thunderous laughter from the floor suggests that Kumar manages successfully his comedic connection with a primarily English-speaking audience. Based on the audio-visual segment, this discussion identifies the discursive variables underpinning the incisive twists in Kumar’s onstage comical repertoire.