November is off to a great start with many new shows and festivals kicking off, including tentpole events like the Singapore Writers Festival and a show that will appeal to many: the Doraemon exhibition over at National Museum of Singapore. Details below.
Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has been a legend in music and film since the ’70s when he co-founded the influential Japanese electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra. Since then, he’s been hailed as one of the godfathers of electro, techno and hip-hop and the force behind the soundtracks of many iconic films such as The Last Emperor, for which he won an Oscar in 1988.
Sakamoto fans are in for a treat as the ArtScience Museum has curated a mini film festival dedicated to tracing his growth and evolution as a music genius (and even the occasional acting gig!) over four decades, from the early career iconic orchestrations of Merry Christmas Mr, Lawrence (1983, in which Sakamoto acted alongside David Bowie) to the idyllic, reserved maturity of Tony Takitani (2004) and leading into the intoxicating abstractions in Proxima (2019). Get your tickets here.
Nov 5 to Jan 1, 2023, ArtScience Museum’s in-house cinema
The National Museum of Singapore is about to get crowded with the opening of The Doraemon Exhibition, which is a Singapore offshoot of the eponymous exhibition which debuted in Japan in 2002. The blue robot feline was one of Japan’s earliest and most successful soft power exports since it made its television debut in its homeland in the ’70s – and it’s been continuously screened in Singapore since the ’80s.
At the current day exhibition, expect to see many interpretations of Doraemon through various leading contemporary Japanese artists and arts groups such as Takashi Murakami and Sebastian Matsuda (pictured) – as well as two Singapore artists, Jahan Loh and Leslie Kee, all responding to the theme of ‘Create Your Own Original Doraemon’.
The Singapore leg of the exhibition also features a selection of sketches by Mr Fujiko – the late creator of the Doraemon universe, which is being showcased for the first time outside of Japan. Additionally, there’s also a themed cafe on the grounds, where you can snap up exclusive merchandise and the character’s favourite snack – dorayaki (red bean pancake).
Get your tickets here.
Nov 5 to Feb 5, 2023, National Museum of Singapore
The Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) – the city’s premiere literary event – is back with its 25th edition and it’s packing a crowded itinerary of over 200 in-person and virtual activities, talks and workshops. This year’s edition seems particularly exciting; the SWF will be staging its first-ever outdoor Festival Village (at the Arts House and the fully-pedestrianised Anderson Bridge area of the Civic District), where attendees can get their fill of merrymaking with outdoor performances, interactive workshops, poetry readings, F&B offerings and more.
Headliners of the festival include heavyweights like English author Jeanette Winterson, American science fiction writer Ted Chiang whose short story Story of Your Life was the basis of the 2016 sci-fi film Arrival and the multi-award-winning American writer Claudia Rankine.
There are also many rising literary stars in attendance this year, such as Nigerian poet Caleb Femi (who has written and directed short films for brands such as Bottega Veneta and collaborated with Virgil Abloh on his final collection for Louis Vuitton), Vietnamese writer Dustin Thao (pictured), author of the ultra-buzzy romance novel You’ve Reached Sam; and New York Times bestselling author Chloe Gong, author of fantasy novel These Violent Delights.
As one of the few multilingual literary festivals in the world, the SWF places emphasis on spotlighting home-grown writers (both past and present) and Singapore literature in the four official languages. This year, programmes have been co-curated with the Chinese, Malay and Tamil language and literary communities, working closely with key members of the communities.
There’s also a selection of programmes that focus on spotlighting the literature, culture and the arts of the Southeast Asian region to facilitate greater cross-cultural understanding, accompanied by a curation of films by the Asian Film Archive.
Check out the extensive line-up here.
Nov 4 to Nov 20, The Arts House