A Note from the Co-Artistic Director: Coming Home

When I joined The Substation this year as Co-Artistic Director, I was excited and full of plans about how the Singapore arts scene could continue to experiment, develop, and amplify the voices of talented creatives. As an artist, I owe a great deal to this space and it would be an honour to do the same for young artists today.

Initially, we had great plans for the time after April, as we’d hoped to spend the first 3 months meeting artists and trying to understand their needs. Following the huge boom in the arts scene, there have been some major gaps that could be accommodated by our little space on 45 Armenian Street. In this space, one can take risks and push boundaries due to its history and size.

But all our plans came to a halt as the world is now faced with a serious pandemic. The plans of a grand opening in April had to be pushed to June, and we still don’t know whether that will be possible. For the first time, The Substation has to shut its doors to artists and the community. There was immense pressure to go digital, but how can digital art replace the magic of watching a show in an intimate black box? How about the fervent discussions that follow a show, and conversations which themselves ignite new ideas? No one knows how long this will be the reality we live in. Of course, we must adapt, thus we will go online too. We will be showing you a glimpse of the works that we plan to present at our ‘Coming Home' opening, followed by a web series titled 'Isolation'.

However, it goes without saying that after this crisis, we will be back in full swing.

love,
Raka Maitra

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Learn more about our #ComingHome programme here.