Arts Picks: City Reading@SG festival, Teng Ensemble concert and Chieu Shuey Fook exhibition
Popular Taiwanese novelist Chiung Yao's personal belongings, including handwritten manuscripts, will be showcased at The Arts House as part of the City Reading@SG festival. PHOTO: PROSPECT ARTISTS
City Reading@SG
Fans of legendary Taiwanese novelist Chiung Yao will want to make a beeline to The Arts House's Gallery II this weekend. Some of her personal belongings, including handwritten manuscripts, sp ectacles and favourite mug, are on display alongside film and television stills of the hit productions based on her most famous works.
The exhibition, which aims to recreate the vibes of her personal study, is named for her novel, Where The Seagulls Fly. Two chapters of the book are set in Singapore, which she visited in 1971. The display is co-curated by her granddaughter, illustrator Chen Kejia, and City Reading@SG.
Org anised by Singapore Press Holdings' Chinese Media Group, City Reading@SG will offer a packed pro gramme of talks and activities taking place over six days and across three venues.
While the focus of this third edition of the annual literary festival is mainly Chinese-language literature, there are also multilingual talks. City Reading@SG traces its roots to the Singapore Book Fair, which started 37 years ago.
Japan's Ambassador to Singapore Hiroshi Ishikawa , who co-edited The Land Of The Rising Sun And The Lion City with Professor Tommy Koh, will speak on June 29, 10.30am. Diplomat and academic Kishore Mahbubani will talk about his latest book, Living The Asian Century, on July 2, 4.30pm.
Both talks are ticketed at $5 each, and include a $5 Popular book voucher, but admission to the exhibition is free.
Where: Various locations
MRT: City Hall
When: June 27 to July 2, various times
Admission: Free and ticketed
Info: str.sg/76W2
Stories From An Island City – Celebrating 60 Years Of Singapore
The Teng Ensemble will reimagine its album Stories From An Island City for its upcoming concert.
PHOTO: TENG ENSEMBLE
Get ready for the trickle of SG60 arts events to grow into a flood as the calendar creeps closer to August. The Teng Ensemble, known for its contemporary experiments with Chinese classical music, is one of the first out of the gates with this concert.
Stories From An Island City will be a reimagining of the group's 2016 concert, directed by Singaporean singer-songwriter Dick Lee, which was also released as an album.
The music, written by New York-based composer Chow JunYi in collaboration with Singapore music arranger Huang Peh Linde, is a tribute to Singapore's multicultural identity and heritage. It weaves in musical motifs from familiar tunes such as Chan Mali Chan, Dayung Sampan and Munnaeru Vaalibaa.
This staging will feature guest performers from Bhaskar's Arts Academy, percussionist Lalit Kumar, Nadi Singapura, accordionist Syafiqah 'Adha Sallehin and Voices of Singapore. Also playing will be young Chinese classical musicians, beneficiaries of the Mapletree-Teng scholarship programme.
Where: VivoCity, Amphitheatre, Level 3 Sky Park, 1 Harbourfront Walk
MRT: HarbourFront
When: June 27 to 29, 7.30pm
Admission: $4 to $15 from Eventbrite
Info: str.sg/ge6v
TKS: My Second Home
A retrospective of late artist Chieu Shuey Fook's work at Telok Kurau Studios Art Gallery.
ST PHOTO: ONG SOR FERN
The family of artist Chieu Shuey Fook has organised a posthumous retrospective of his work at Telok Kurau Studios Art Gallery. He died on July 12, 2024, aged 90.
The second-generation artist, who was taught by Nanyang pioneer Cheong Soo Pieng at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, was something of a magpie, like his teacher, who was famed for his adventurous experiments in various media.
Chieu, too, worked in multiple media, from batik and metal relief to paper and ceramics. So, the exhibition looks a little frenetic, with pieces crammed cheek by jowl on the walls and smaller pieces laid out willy-nilly on pedestals and tables.
There are no labels at all, so one is hard-pressed to know when and where each piece was created. Art collectors looking to pick up pieces, though, will find a generous array here amid the manic clutter.
Chieu's early batik experiments are beautiful, including a striking rendition of the old National Theatre and a kampung scene with a bare tree and geometric attap hut against a looming moon that carries an almost Japanese sensibility in its graphic minimalism.
Take time to flip through the sketches loaded in plastic folders, and you will come across some detailed street scenes, ranging from the predictable Singapore River views to elegantly regal trees in urban settings.
Where: Telok Kurau Studios Art Gallery, 91, Lorong J Telok Kurau
MRT: Eunos
When: Till June 29, 11am to 6pm (weekdays), 10am to 8pm (weekends)
Admission: Free
Info: str.sg/ufwv
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