[15 January 2008]
Singapore artists and SMU students present original ideas and probing works at the SMU Arts Festival 2008

Singapore, 15 January 2008 – The Singapore Management University (SMU) is proud to present the fifth SMU Arts Festival from 18 January to 1 February 2008. Themed non/sense, the two-week Festival has lined up a series of events that make tongue-in-cheek, yet critical explorations into the interaction between the arts and the complex dimensions of the human senses. Some of Singapore 's most prolific artists have come together with SMU's arts talents in 20 shows, ranging from visual to screen art and performances . The guest-of-honour for the opening of the Festival on 18 January is Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts.

Since 2003, the SMU Arts Festival has been the key platform for the creative expressions of its students. The Festival also takes the opportunity of the university's privileged location in the city and the arts and cultural organisations and institutions in its vicinity to make its open and accessible campus grounds a natural focal point for people to come and enjoy the arts. The Festival is also helmed by SMU's arts and culture fraternity, who handle an entire gamut of on- and off-stage activity to put the entire festival together, from programming, rehearsals, artist liaison, to producing. Half the shows are also put up by students and groups from the fraternity alone, 3 shows are presented together with local artists and arts groups, while 7 are by invited artists. In total, this year's Festival involves 250 students and 14 student groups from SMU, 45 artists and 8 arts groups in Singapore.

For the 2008 Festival, the opening gala performance non|sense Overture , is a fascinating aural and visual work conceptualised by Dr Joyce Bee Tuan Koh, Head of Music at the School of the Arts, Singapore. Over 40 SMU students will perform in an ensemble that includes surdo drums, suona or pipe instruments, a steel installation by artist John Stewart Jackson, and production lighting and design by 2007 Young Artist Award recipient Tan Kai Syng. It will render a brand new sensory experience for audiences at the performance venue, SMU's University Square.

Local artists and arts groups Hossan Leong, John Sharpley and Zai Kuning, Budak Pantai, Las Reinas Gitanas, The Percussion Assembly, the Asociation of Capoeira Argola de Ouro and The Frequency Vibe will deliver performances on the SMU campus. SMU student groups Obligato, Piano Ensemble, Indian Cultural Society, Guitarissimo, Stageit, SoundFoundry, Chamber Choir, InDanCity, Samba Masala and Symphonia with its pulsating brass and woodwind Festival Closing Gala concert Ay Caramba!, complete the line up of scintillating events.

There will also be two visual art exhibitions that run until 29 February 2008. For the first time, the Festival has commissioned a major visual art exhibition of 12 site-specific works by 13 of Singapore's well-known artists, curated by Dr Eugene Tan from the 2006 Singapore Biennale and programme director for contemporary art at the Sotheby's Institute of Art, Singapore. Students from SMUSAIC and Artdicted@SMU present the Nonsense-tification exhibition, a series of interactive installations that make use of spaces on campus to encourage visitors to re-think how they perceive familiar experiences.

In the short history of SMU, the creativity of student life on campus is making its mark, with over 20 co-curricular arts groups in dance, theatre, music, literary and visual arts, and media broadcasting and publishing. A number of them are award-winning or actively participate in national and international events.

“Active engagement with the arts together with SMU's rigorous and innovative curriculum enables our students to develop as creative, visionary leaders. The SMU Arts Festival offers our students the privilege of working closely with established local artists and arts groups, thereby exposing our students to alternative perspectives. At the same time, through several arts initiatives, the university seeks to play a key role in Singapore's life by opening our campus to artists and to the larger community as well as to our students and staff,” said Professor Howard Hunter, President of SMU.

At SMU, creative thinking is included as a core subject in its undergraduate curriculum, where students can choose to adopt installation or performance arts practices to convey ideas. Since moving to Bras Basah in 2005, SMU has collaborated with institutions, artists and arts groups in its vicinity and supported national arts events such as the inaugural Singapore Biennale in 2006 and the Singapore Arts Show in 2005 and 2007. SMU launched its Visual Arts Initiative in 2006 to showcase and build a collection of Southeast Asian art. In 2007, it started the SMU*U-Square Concert series to present leading local artists and arts groups in performances in its outdoor University Square. For its contributions and support of the arts, SMU became the first autonomous university in Singapore to receive the Friend of the Arts award last year from the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts.