SINGAPORE, June 25 — The 2017 edition of the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) will be feted according to a theme of “Enchantment,” a concept inspired by the political theorist Jane Bennett. The pre-festival O.P.E.N takes place June 28 - July 30, followed by the main Sifa on August 5, which ends on September 9, 2017.

Director and Founder of the festival Ong Keng Sen chose the theme of “Enchantment” as a response to recent political, environmental and social evolutions — not in an ethereal, nostalgic sense, but through an active engagement with the world. Previous themes of the festival were “Legacy and the Expanded Classic,” “Post-Empires” and “Potentialities.”

The fourth edition of Sifa is unafraid to jump into the wide unknown, while also acknowledging the importance of microcosms, social and biological. Here are some of the highlights to look forward to.

Adaptation and experimentations

The Singaporean Mandarin novelist Yeng Pway Ngon will see his novel adapted for the stage for the first time in “Art Studio,” and the graphic novelist Sonny Liew will create a brand new graphic novel for the stage as part of “Being Graphic.”

Performers from the audience will take part in “Lizard on the Wall, the Film” by K. Rajogopal, and Spectres LIVE will see local musicians from the experimental music scene collaborate with the artist/sound designer Zai Tang.

SIAF, in collaboration with Van Cleef & Arpels, is also hosting the Asia-Pacific premiere of “Le Syndrome Ian,” the final segment of the award-winning choreographer Christian Rizzo’s “found dance” trilogy.

Return to roots

The content of the upcoming festival also has strong connections with nature, as well as a focus on heritage and local communities.

“Germinal” by French artists Halory Goerger and Antoine Defoort, for example, sees four actors start the world from scratch, using the stage as a metaphor for human civilisation.

The performance piece “Vegetative State” by Manuela Infante, inspired by Michael Marder and plant neurobiologists, looks at how, through re-evaluating our understanding of the vegetal kingdom, Man might find a new and better consciousness.

As part of the pre-festival O.P.E.N, “Make Food Not War” will feature a keynote address by the Lebanese activist Kamal Mouzawak about fostering local food communities and promoting culinary heritage. Other O.P.E.N events include O.P.E.N Kitchens, where local Singaporeans open their houses to visitors to share meals, as well as a selection of O.P.E.N films. — AFP-Relaxnews