ARTERI only recently heard about the Melaka Art and Performance Festival  happening this weekend 27-29 November.  There is an international line up of 23 performers, a film programme, interactive art installations and workshops. So, bursting with excitement, we wanted to share the love with you all!

Here is what we got from their website:

FESTIVAL THEME

From the 15th to the 21st Century, we find an ongoing quest for meaning. In the passing of cultures and waves of history, the passage of commerce and art… What is unique to our time, what is contemporary, and how do all these things go hand in hand, clasped in the fold of time?

Old ruins and heritage sites are a part of our own lived history. They give us a sense of continuity with the old ways of trade and commerce, while giving us pause to reflect on modern times. Through performance, artists respond to these sites in ways that directly affect the audience – memories drawn out of the walls, and out of the body.

An overall theme for the Festival is the notion of a living eulogy, inspired by the little wooden tablets in the Cheng Hoon Teng temple, attached with photos commemorating loved ones who have passed on. The finale performance, Eulogy for the Living is a kind of devotional work for making our way in the world, an internal journey into the memory of body and soul. Here we transform and reconnect a deeper part of ourselves, within the fleeting transience of contemporary life. We the living both preserve the past and allow things to pass – we eulogise ourselves in each moment. Life goes on…

A Place of Cultural fusion – Past, Present and Future – Mapping the City… with its stories, through selected sites for audiences all over Melaka. A place for artists to experiment and present short Innovative Performances in all Artistic mediums, to encourage the life of the arts in Malaysia, Asia and Internationally.

The Arts are necessary to propel the new. MAP seeks to promote Melaka to the world as a Creative Hub for innovative arts – where heritage is respected and artistic and cultural fusion is encouraged. Not just as entertainment but through a vibrant development of community involvement that integrates – and maps – the arts within the life of Melaka.

MELAKA is fast developing commercially and there is a need to combine this with cultural and creative paths through a balance of spiritual and artistic maturity. Innovative focus and international collaborations will expose the community to a potentially vibrant new direction in the development of Melaka’s future within the Global MAP.  Traditional Arts will be showcased alongside contemporary expressions with innovative uses of new technology.

• World-class festival with International performances and arts practices that focus on Experimentation & Innovation.
• Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Performance Art and Multimedia
• Celebrating the wealth of Multiculturalism (Melaka’s Heritage)
• Inclusive of the present & future, not just the past
• Community focused
• Preservation of Ruins (Photographic documentation)

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Adam Forbes, Agung Gunawan, Amadeo Marquez-Perez, Anthony Pelchen, Brendan O’Connor, Carlos Marquez, Daniel Mounsey, Geraldine Morey, Janette Hoe, Ng Kim Peow, King Marong and Lamine Sonko, Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey, Michael Laratro, Martin Renaud, Matthew Gingold, Medea Redsea Luminea, Michael Hornblow, Naomi Ota, Owen Leong, Sarah Wendt, Sean O’Brian, Tony Yap and Goh Lee Kwang.

PROGRAMME

Check here for the full programme listings