I’ve never spent more than six months in a year in Singapore since 1997. There may be lots of opportunities here but in many ways, it can be deeply conservative. I find that frustrating and depressing.
The fun culture dissipates after a year or two. Expats living here may find that very convenient, however. It takes 20 minutes to the airport compared to the two hours in other countries.
The cage that Singaporeans live in is so minimalized today. When I was growing up, I had to fight much harder to move the border. Today, everyone is simply living within a 100 square meter radius.
The desire to go abroad is much less intense now. We have so much going on here; that’s why we no longer have that desire to do something or go anywhere else. I’d like Singapore to be a desire machine again.
We certainly fight less compared to say, the Mainland Chinese. They consistently fight and struggle to better their lives. Singaporeans are not very good when they’re traumatized. They need changes that are definite and gradual.
I had a midlife crisis when I was 29. I went to New York to do my Masters. And in 2010, I felt like I had hit my retirement crisis, which is why I went back to do my PhD.
New York is my mecca. I like to get lost in all that anonymity.
The arts are part of every New Yorkers’ daily life. It’s like doing laundry to them.
That said, I didn’t have lots of time to catch many performances over the last few years because I was caught up reading books for school. We had to finish at least one book per day.
When I’m overseas, I plug myself into different communities, be it working with younger, hungrier artists or simply living at the edge of societies where a lot of people cannot afford a lot of things.
I also go to Italy once a year to experience the life of an ordinary person; just watching people planting vegetables or go to the local bread shops. There’s so much more land and nature and you still see lots of old monuments as well as local heritage.
When I was offered the role to take on the Arts Festival here, I felt like I was being dragged back home. But I would regret it if I didn’t take it on.
In making art, you must not know how certain things will turn out. There are things that are unknowing. Even from rehearsals sometimes you’re not quite sure of what you want and in that sense, the inability to know is quite frightening for a country like Singapore. Which also explains why programming for the arts here has always been so bureaucratic and predictable.
I do not believe that an arts festival can be everything for everybody.
Singapore can never become a festival city because we are not small enough like say, Edinburgh. We are a huge country despite being a small island. It feels like we’re on expressways all the time travelling on intercity highways.
It’s important not to be sucked into power structures, be it for money, leadership or popularity. By being a little distant and by switching communities all the time when I travel, I tend to be a little distant from the desires of each community. And that keeps me a little sane.
I’m the type of person who tries to see the silver lining in everything. Even if it’s not there, you still have to see it.
