I’ve emerged from the one-week bubble that was the Bangkok International Film Festival and it looks like I’ve missed some pretty exciting stuff: Singapore Arts Fest’s new director General Manager Low Kee Hong (Congratulations and do keep introducing more mind-bending performances please!) and the arts community’s reaction to the recent appointment of the Censorship Review Committee members – which doesn’t include a single one from a list that the group submitted before (Tsk tsk!) And then, of course, there’s Mother Nature getting all cranky. Didn’t feel the tremors in Bangkok but I’ve heard it was pretty strong in Singapore. Not to mention the more tragic results of the tsunami and typhoons. Quick plug here for all the Good Samaritans in the arts community: there are drop-off points for donations in cash and kind for the victims in the Philippines at Lucky Plaza. Thank you. *** So anyway, I’m back. And what better way to plunge right back into the thick of things than with a visual arts exhibition and theatre performance all rolled into one. These Children Are Dead is the second offering by Play Den Productions, after Salusuah – which will apparently have a run in Hong Kong too – and before two more works this year. Let’s start with coincidence. This Saturday, there’s a talk at the National Library on the Nanyang Style, where speakers will be talking about how the art movement has influenced their artistic practises. Among them: Ng Yi-Sheng will be talking about his musical Georgette (after Georgette Chen) and Ho Tzu Nyen on his TV docu series 4x4: Episodes on Singapore Art. It starts at 230pm at the Possibility Room at Level 5 but you’ll have to register here and look for SG101. It’s the second part of a series of talks on Nanyang Art, following one last Saturday. Why am I bringing this up? It’s because I was quite tickled by one line in the play. Referring to local art historians, Nora Samosir’s character (a curator named, er, Nora Samosir) quipped: “You can’t get them to shut up about Nanyang artists.” But in this particular show, the spotlight isn’t on Nanyang artists. Rather, you’re introduced to one Huang Wei, a “None-yang” artist. Guffaw. It’s an interesting set-up. There’s an exhibit of Huang’s paintings at one of the rooms in the Arts House. At some point, you’re ushered into the Play Den where Samosir holds a proper lecture (slide projector and all) on six of Huang’s paintings of children and the artist’s place in the Singapore art history. Here's one of his works that's exhibited at the "gallery".