Slightly more than a year ago, when The Arts I was published, guest editor Tan Tarn How noted that he solicited critical reflections on the connections between the arts and culture on the one hand, and society and politics on the other hand in Singapore at the present and in the past. It had taken us longer than expected to present The Arts II, the continuation of Tarn How’s efforts, which included working closely with the authors to finesse their thoughts and writing. The delay however, has enabled us to invite Teo Soh Lung to publish the sketches that she did while in detention, and the notes that she has written in retrospect to accompany them, drawn from her recollections as narrated in her book Beyond the Blue Gate: Recollections of a Political Prisoner (2010). We’ve also managed to be somewhat up-to-date, with observations made by Richard Chua on the Singapore Biennale 2011.
Contents
Sketches from Prison
Teo Soh Lung
The Seventies: Transition from Cultural Desert to Global City
Robert Yeo
Reclaiming Literature for Singapore
Alvin Pang
Eulogy for Fang Xiu
Chng Seok Tin
Theatre and its Publics, and Everything Else
Richard Chua
of love, and sweets
John Low
Meaning/Making A Circuit Of Cheo Chai-Hiang’s The Story of Money
Isabel Ching
Learning to Adapt: Dave Chua and Koh Hong Teng’s Gone Case
Gwee Li Sui
Review: Singapura Uber Alles
Joseph Tham
In memoriam: Tan Jing Quee (1939-2011)
s/pores
Merger and Malaysia (1961)
Tan Jing Quee
Image: Teo Soh Lung, Lizard scratching its ear