COMPANY MILESTONES

2018

JAN  | Project Search 8 Immortals

The creative project, inspired by a grassroots Chinese legend, is a multidisciplinary and cross-boundary creation that looks at the changing environment and its impact on the everyday life. The aim is to gather artists, designers, architects, academics, and scientists to create related exploratory works across disciplines that could synergize into a meaningful cross-boundary project and throw meanings to our world in flux. 

2018

JUL  | Shaman/Peasants – Dance of the Barefoot Guardians

In collaboration with NTU CCA Singapore as part of Stagings, Arts Fission presents a dance performance inspired by the film and photographic works of acclaimed German Artist Ulrike Ottinger. China. The Arts – The People. Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s is the first large scale exhibition of the Artist in Asia presented by NTU CCA Singapore. 

SEP to OCT  | Moonstruck

Moonstruck is a whimsical dance-theatre piece conceived by professional contemporary dance group The Arts Fission Company. A cultural collision of the familiar Chinese legend of Chang Er 嫦娥 with the Apollo 11 moonlanding is sure to delight audience of all ages with a new riveting mid- autumn story. 

2017

MAR  |  Future Feed

Future Feed reflects the artists’ premonition of depleting arable lands that would ultimately lead to the loss of collective memories and broken human connections. The performance offers a spread of dance, live music, soundscape, film, and set design to contemplate on the issues of food source and consumption in our modern times. This multi-disciplinary performance was held at the Victoria Theatre.

FEB  |  Thousand Colours 

A second-time collaboration with ION Art presenting an 8-day public creative art event that features public art-making sessions, dance performances and open dance & art sessions for children at the ION Art Gallery.

2016

SEP  |  Mirror of Clandestine Blooms

A site-specific dance performance presented at ArtScience Museum in celebration of the opening of Journey to Infinity: Escher’s World of Wonder, as part of the museum’s monthly after-hours programme ArtScience Late. 

DEC  |  Fire Monkey 

A Singapore and Australia dance collaboration between The Arts Fission Company and choreographer Victoria Chiu presented by Multicultural Arts Victoria as part of Mapping Melbourne 2016. The site-specific performance staged at the iconic Arts Centre Melbourne Lawn, allows audiences to stroll through space to experience sonic encounters with live Chinese percussion music.

2016

JUN  |  The Arts Granary Exhibitions

There were two exhibitions held in June, Avatars and Cloud Babies at ION Art Gallery and The Magical Chatterbox at National Design Centre. These exhibitions showcased works done by our art class students from The Arts Granary. Also, the public was welcome to participate in art making sessions and make their own avatars and cloud babies during the exhibitions,

MAR  |  The Barefoot Dancers Initiative

Led by Angela Liong, the company dancers set off on a 10-day research trip to Sado Island and Niigata prefecture in Japan. With a film project in mind, the dancers were challenged to dance upon different terrains including rice terrace fields and rocky cliffs. Interviews and exchanges about our artistic reseach were made with the locals and an impromtu site specific performance was performed for them.

2015

DEC | The National Gallery Singapore’s Opening Celebrations

ARTS FISSION was commissioned to present two site-specific performances: In The Name of Red & The Scroll of Nanyang Ink at the transformed spaces of the former Supreme Court and City Hall.

JAN  |  Make It New – 20th Anniversary

of ARTS FISSION

A 10-day event featuring diverse programming that included two weekends of site-specific performances and exhibition in collaboration with the National Design Centre; public talk at the Library@Esplande; dance seminar co-organised with the Arts House; Screening of dance film and printing of a chapbook on Arts Fission’s creative purview.

2014

AUG  | Follies for the Birds

A Young People Environmental Dance-Theatre (YPED) production presented at the entire Fashion Gallery of the museum with children and professional dancers performing inside glass showcases as part of the Night Festival 2014 organised by the National Museum of Singapore.

2013

JUL | Dancing Dawn: The Temple Reimagined

A short dance film conceived and choreographed by artistic director Angela Liong in collaboration with film director Brian Gothong Tan and produced by Zhao Wei Films. The dance film was shot on location among the temple ruins at Mandalay, Myanmar.

JUN | The Rite of Spring : A People’s Stravinsky

To mark the centennial year of Stravinsky’s iconic work, The Rite of Spring : A People’s Stravinsky is the first collaboration between two Cultural Medallion recipients - Maestro Lim Yau and Choreographer Angela Liong. It incorporates the creative energies of the elderly, children, and volunteers from the community with professional dancers and musicians, making it an exciting inter-disciplinary and multi-generational artistic endeavor.

2011

2011 to 2014 | The Last Lumiere – Completion of the Locust Wrath climate change Tetralogy

The Last Lumiere (2011) is part II of the tetralogy with set installation by artist Delia Pavraki. Both part III The Locust Wrath (2013) and part IV To Beat the Butterfly’s Wings (2014) were presented as site-specific installation performance at different art gallery spaces.  The last two parts also featured creative material sourced from arts and science with sound designer PerMagnus Lindborg’s sonification soundscape based on climate data of Southeast Asia.

2009

2009 to 2011  |   Peony Season / Project Mobile Dance / Everyday Waltzes

Series of Arts Fission’s initial research projects on arts and wellness programs for active ageing. Peony Season was one of the first projects to receive support by the inaugural 2009 Community Participatory Grant under NAC.

NOV  | The Weather Stations

Part I of the Locust Wrath climate change tetralogy, the site-specific performance (with musicians from the Siong Leng Musical Society) on climate change was presented at the museum like retail space of the National Geographic Store at Vivocity Singapore.

OCT | Cultural Medallion Award 

Artistic Director Angela Liong was awarded the Cultural Medallion for Dance (the highest cultural accolade of Singapore) in a ceremony at the Istana. The award was presented by former President S R Nathan.

2007

2007 to 2009 | The Arts Granary

The Arts Granary Project was developed at Asian Civilizations Museum and initiated a 2-year arts residency program for children at ACM. The program aims to advocate the integration of creativity with cultural understanding through motivating art making activities.

DEC | The Locust Wrath – Second phase of the creative research on the theme of climate change and cultures

Led by artistic director Angela Liong and composer Joyce Beetuan Koh, the company dancers undertook the research and creative exploration to Central Java and joined the same group of male classical-Javanese dancers plus a classical Javanese opera singer Sruti. The Singapore research team was hosted by Indonesian contemporary performance pioneer, Sardono W Kusumo at his own arts center in the city of Solo.

2006

SEP to OCT | The Locust Wrath – Initial phase of creative exploration on the theme of climate change and cultures

Inaugural dance residency supported by Esplanade as part of the 2006 da:ns festival. Four male classical-Javanese dancers from Solo Indonesia flew in to Singapore and joined the Arts Fission Dancers. The residency also marked the very first collaboration with composer Joyce Beetuan Koh (whom would continue to collaborate with Arts Fission on many more projects till the present day).

2003

DEC | Shadowhouses (Laokoon)

Restaged of Shadowhouses and commissioned as the opening performance of the Laokoon Festival 2003 at Kampnagel Hamburg, the largest arts centre in Europe.

2002

JAN | Shadowhouses

A requiem performance to the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 with set design by artistic director Angela Liong.

2001

SEP | Tales with Wings

First Young People Dance-Theatre production on site at the Botanic Gardens.

JUN | Imagine Forest

Site-specific performance at the new ARTrium of the MITA building in collaboration with the T’ang Quartet commissioned by the Singapore Arts Festival.

2000

JUN | Urban Sanctuary

Site-specific performance at the gondola tracks of the 35th storey rooftop of the Centennial Tower under Pontiac Land.

1997

OCT | Flower Eaters IV: "Voyage to the Border"

Site-specific performance at the entire building, inside and outside of the newly relocated Alliance Francaise Singapore in Sarkies Road.

1996

JUL | Flower Eaters III: "The Double Chamber"

First regional invitation to perform at the Indonesian International Dance Festival 1996.

APR | Flower Eaters I: "Immortal Vermin"

A staging that boldly placed audience seats in the centre of the theatre where half of the audience were seated back to back facing opposite directions.  Art installations were placed in four corners of the Substation theatre with simultaneous performances that moved like a conveyer belt around the audience.  Exit doors of the blackbox were opened up thus creating intrusion of external performance space to the theatre. The performance initiated an unprecedented use of blackbox space that is to be adopted later by many performing artists in what is now known as Guinness Theatre of Substation.

1995

JUN | Mahabharata: A Grain of Rice

Inaugural multidisplinary performance commissioned by the Festival of Asian Performing Arts.

1994

MAY

Choreographer Angela Liong and Visual Artist S. Chandrasekaran co-founded and incorporated The ARTS FISSION Company.

Cultural institutions, corporations and organisations that ARTS FISSION has worked with:

ACRES

Performance and education partnership

Agency for Integrated Care (AIC)  

Commission of training manual

Asian Civilisations Museum

Arts residency

City Development Limited (CDL)

Fundraising event for Singapore Nature Society

Esplanade

Showcase at Asia Art Mart

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Gallery & Co.

Post-performance nightcap collaboration

ION Art

Children exhibition collaboration 

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Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) 

Singapore Season in UK

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Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV)

Festival organiser for Fire Monkey performance

National Design Centre

Venue partnership

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National Gallery Singapore

Opening celebrations

National Museum of Singapore

Night Festival

NParks

Botanic Gardens site-specific performances

REDAS

Anniversary event

Singapore International Foundation

Performance sponsorship and research project

Singapore Lyric Opera

Collaboration in The Diva and the Dancer

The Philharmonic Orchestra Singapore

The Rite of Spring, The Mazu Chronicle at the Esplanade Concert Hall

Tertiary institutions that ARTS FISSION has worked with:

LASALLE College of the Arts

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Temasek Polytechnic

Republic Polytechnic

National University of Singapore (NUS)  

Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

Singapore Management University 

Festivals that ARTS FISSION has participated in:

Festival of Asian Performing Arts 1995

Indonesian International Dance Festival 1996

Bangkok Contemporary Arts Festival 1999

Yogya 14th Arts Festival, Indonesia 2002

Asian Comments Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark 2002

Laokoon Festival, Hamburg, Germany 2003

6th Bangkok Fringe Festival, Thailand 2004

SIDance Seoul International Dance Festival, Seoul, South Korea 2004

Singapore Season, London, UK 2005

Singapore Arts Festival 1996, 2001, 2005

NUS Arts Festival 2006 

Art Summit Indonesia 2007
Singapore Night Festival 2014

Mapping Melbourne, Australia, Melbourne 2016