The creative community begins the new year with “a poignant reflection of transience and impermanence in the face of rapid development”.
For two days from Jan 13 to 14 at Peace Centre, renowned figures from local subcultures will come together for Deep Cuts, the first Asian grassroots conference for the creative community in Singapore.
Over 40 voices from the music and nightlife, visual arts, street arts, and dance scenes, among others, will discuss the current realities and envisioned futures of the local grassroots community across more than 20 curated programmes.
Through panel discussions, presentations, workshops, roundtables and showcases, Deep Cuts will reflect on roots of identity, space, community and what lies ahead in the distinct formation of creative niches.
Add the fact that Peace Centre (a hallmark building that has stood by four decades of change) has been slated for demolition at the end of January 2024 makes it timely for people to shed light on Singapore’s evolving doorways of grassroots creativity and community building today.
Insightful and evocative
Go on Deep Dives, intimate keynotes with independent creatives and collectives that provide raw, unfiltered takes of particular topics, spaces or lines of work. Speakers include butoh practitioner and choreographer Xue, artist Minsoo Bae of Queer Life Drawing, and live visual arts performer Jaymi McManus of Mischief Makers, among others.
Panels and presentations by speakers such as Chris Shearmon (Wild Pearl), Wang Ruobing (Comma Arts Space), Kimberly Shen (Dblspace), and Dione Keh (The Glass Hut/Cun/Deep Cuts) provide enriching perspective on industry experience and time-tested paths towards forging a creative “signature” identity.
Photographer Marisse Caine and journalists Hidzir Junaini, Michelle Lhooq, and Robin Vochelet will share their experience documenting nightlife subcultures, while musicians Ahmadul Amin, Sean Sundaran, Cherry Chan, and JX Soo dive into cultivating musical appreciation in Singapore.
Closed-door workshops and roundtables include an introductory course to building safer nightlife spaces with nightlife researcher and Deep Cuts co-founder Anastasiya Varenytsya; an interactive and historical session hosted by radioriotgrrl, a movement and arts jam hosted by dancer Neo Jialing, and a “drawing with dirt” workshop run by artist Zhai Qiutong where participants will learn to create with natural materials.
Peace Centre residents, including community arts space Cun, street art collective DPLMT, and ongoing arts and documentation residency A Piece of Peace Centre, will also be a part of Deep Cuts programming.
Capping off Day One is an official party hosted by Life in Arpeggio founder Kevin Ho, featuring a hodge-podge of pioneering collectives and musicians in Singapore’s nightlife scene playing back-to-back all night long.
To support local creative grassroots communities, a portion of Deep Cuts ticket revenues will go back to speakers and collaborators for their respective contributions. Ticket prices start from $30 for a one-day conference pass, and $25 for pre-sales official party access. For more information, visit here.
Peace Centre is located at 1 Sophia Rd, Singapore 228161.
