NATALIE HENNEDIGE

Festival Director, Singapore International Festival of Arts, Arts House Ltd

Creation begins with an empty stage. Virtually, you can also define an empty stage as a portal for inspired artistic creation. For me it was about essentializing a new imagination for the Singapore International Festival of Arts’ online presence such that when the pandemic abates, the vitality of this online space is still desired and relevant. Moving forward, we need to mine the digital space creatively because the possibilities are almost as vast as the physical universe. It’s important to also remember that the most enduring artistic creation is both timeless and of the moment, at once. Art carries a kind of prophetic quality. It can embody and tell us things about the past, present and future. Arts & culture institutions need to be bold and progressive entities enabling diverse, committed, passionate artists and creatives to unleash creative potential whether their medium is the human body or robotics. Some artists have dedicated a lifetime to honing their vocal instrument, others have been experimenting in computational art, gaming technology and artificial intelligence for years, way before the pandemic. It’s about creating platforms for creative energies to meet and break new ground in the polydynamic and universal language of art.