IndigNation 2010

=Introduction=

LATEST: IndigNation would like to acknowledge the sponsorship of Fridae, 72-13 and Sagami, and the use of Oogachaga’s sound system and Free Community Church’s projector. We are now on FACEBOOK and look forward to seeing you all at Singapore Pride 2011!!! ?????

(Singapore Pride continues to rely on volunteers to manage our events. Please contact us at pluadmin at gmail dot com if you would like to join the team.)

=Programme=

1 Aug 2010 IndigNation Opening Act: Rooftop Access at My Art Space, 21 Tanjong Pagar Rd, #04-01, 7-9pm (Due to space constraint, this is an ‘invitation only’ event.)

1-15 Aug 2010 SGRainbow: I Wish A Wish

5-15 Aug 2010 "February 25, 1986. Philippines” at Utterly Art, 229A South Bridge Road

7 Aug 2010 Come make friends! at The Mind Cafe, 68 Boat Quay, 7-10pm

8 Aug 2010 Two Queens Pre-holiday Party at Play / Featuring DJ Amy van de Beuven

9 Aug 2010 Pink Picnic at Botanic Gardens

10-12 Aug 2010 IndigNation Pride Film Festival at Sinema Old School, 11B Mt Sophia (All screenings are rated R21)

12 Aug 2010 Fridae Forum: Conversations about HIV acceptance in Singapore’s LGBT community, 7-9pm at 72-13

13 Aug 2010 Sisters In Solidarity, 7-9pm at 72-13

14 Aug 2010 Pink Dot Townhall, 3-5pm at 72-13

14 Aug 2010 Believe by OC Women and Sayoni, 6-9pm at 72-13, $10 (recommended donation)

15 Aug 2010 VolunQueers Out & About Guided Tour: Sentosa Reef & Cliff Walk, 8am at Seah Im Food Centre (next to Harbour Front MRT)

15 Aug 2010 Rascals Symposium: Religions and Sexualities, 4-6pm at 72-13 (private event; registration required)

15 Aug 2010 ContraDiction 6, 7-9pm at 72-13 (R18 homosexual themes)

=Advertisements and Reviews=

IndigNation Opening Act
Rooftop Access at My Art Space, 21 Tanjong Pagar Rd, #04-01, 7-9pm (Due to space constraint, this is an ‘invitation only’ event.)

Rooftop Access is a showcase of contemporary artworks done by 8 of Singapore’s brightest LGBT artists, who will represent themes closely related to the LGBT community. Via photography, installation, paintings and mixed media works, Kelvin Atmadibrata, Marla Bendini, Jeremy Chu, Aiman Hakim, Tricia Leong, Andrew Robert Ng, Peenut, Ezzam Rahman, Tara Tan and Samuel Woo will share with us their artistic vision for the community. Joining them are 4 renown Malaysian artists Jerome Kugan, Boh Jun Kit, Pang Kee Teik and Shieko, who will be sharing with us their artistic perspectives from across the causeway. So, come under one roof to support the creations of our young talents! The exhibition runs till 10 August and is opened daily from 10am to 10pm.

SGRainbow: I Wish A Wish
After the crowning of a new Ambassador last July, SGRainbow presents to you I Wish A Wish, a youth-initiated campaign in collaboration with Unique Vandalism. This campaign empowers youths by letting them voice out their views and thoughts as being part of the GLBT community. Who knows, your wish might come true. So, find out more about the campaign HERE.

February 25, 1986. Philippines
at Utterly Art, 229A South Bridge Road

New York-based Filipino painter Dominic Mañgila presents a group of paintings that depict events that had led to Ferdinand Marcos leaving the Malacanang Palace and conceding to Corazon Aquino as the President of the Philippines on February 25, 1986.

Mañgila’s artistic process involves the construction of Philippine history paintings through an amalgamation of research and collection of historical records; juxtaposition, alteration and appropriation of photographic images that represent an historic event; and internalization of a witness’ assumed and imagined interiority of mind and invasion of the witness’ privacy of experience.

Come make friends!
at The Mind Cafe, 68 Boat Quay, 7-10pm

For the first time IndigNation is bringing more fun and interaction into our festival. If you like playing board games and want to meet like-minded GLBTS (S=straight) people, come along to this event at The Mind Cafe. Get to know one another and develop long lasting friendships within the community. There is a limited capacity of 25 persons and cost $25 per pax for a sumptuous dinner and interactive games. Email pluadmin at gmail.com to reserve your place now! Don’t miss this opportunity to widen your circle of friends!

Two Queens Pre-holiday Party
at Play / Featuring DJ Amy van de Beuven

The Pink Picnic
at Botanica Gardens

Partake in our annual and non-official ritual of gathering all things pink and litter them onto the strawberry fields as you wait for the F16s to swoosh across the sky. Bring a pink brolly to show your pride!

IndigNation Pride Film Festival
at Sinema Old School, 11B Mt Sophia (All screenings are rated R21)

Yossi and Jagger ???? ??’??? Dir: Eytan Fox | Israel | Romance | 2002 | 67 minutes | Hebrew (with English subtitles) 10 Aug: 7.00pm (Post-film discussion with Ms Idit Abu, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Israel) 12 Aug: 9.00pm (To be screened with ”Devotee” (43min) by Remi Lange)

The film “Yossi and Jagger” is proudly sponsored by the Embassy of Israel in Singapore.

Drifting Flowers ???? Dir: Zero Chou | Taiwan | Drama | 2008 | 97 minutes | Mandarin/Hokkien (with English subtitles) 11 Aug: 7.00pm 12 Aug: 7.00pm

Film review in Mandarin | Interview with Zero Chou |

IndigNational Queer Shorts

10 Aug: 9.00pm 11 Aug: 9.00pm

Threshold Dir: Loo Zihan | Singapore | Drama | 2009 | 19 minutes | English |

Transproofed Dir: Andrea James | USA | Comedy | 2009 | 14 minutes | English |

Brothers Dir: K. Rajagopal | Singapore | Drama |1997 | 22 minutes | English |

5 Films in an Anthology of a Film a Month Dir: David Shiyang Liu | Australia | Experimental | 2009 | 22 minutes | English |

Anniversary Dir: Royston Tan | Singapore | Drama | 2009 | 20 minutes | English |

Tickets at $10 will be on sale from Friday 30 July at tix.sinema.sg. The programme may be subjected to changes.

Fridae Forum: Conversations about HIV acceptance in Singapore’s LGBT community
7-9pm at 72-13

Living Together is a community movement founded on the simple premise, “we’re already living together”. Regardless of whether you are HIV negative, positive, or unknown HIV status, we already live amongst one another, a part of our shared community. HIV touches all of us, whether personally, or as friends, family and lovers, so why should we talk about “breaking down barriers” when there are none? With Living Together, we believe in the power of positivity. We are building a social movement to promote Living Together as a reality as we move forward.

Sisters In Solidarity
7-9pm at 72-13

Futility of stealth, confidence in the real world… what if my parents knew… Is this cocktail of HRT going to kill me? I am beautiful but I am not ‘passable’. Strength in all the adversity: empower yourself…

A sharing session for transgendered, transsexual, crossdresser, intersexed, sistas … community. This is not a talk. Feel free to just drop in and listen but we would love for you to come forth and share your experiences and knowledge. Sisters sitting in a circle, Sisters in Solidarity. Please direct enquiries to endtransgenderdiscrimination at gmail.com.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the book launch by Alfian Sa’at is postponed. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Pink Dot Townhall
3-5pm at 72-13

Pink Dot started out as a grassroots initiative at a town hall meeting, where a group of people gathered to discuss the possibility of organising a Hong Lim Park event in support of LGBT Singaporeans. What transpired were 2 consecutive years of social campaigns that have reached thousands of Singaporeans, straight and gay.

This year at IndigNation, we want to know how successful have the campaigns been. What else can be done to make the event more meaningful and what do we hope to see in Pink Dot 2011? We invite you to put on your pink-tinted glasses for an afternoon of crystal ball gazing at the Pink Dot Town Hall.

BE(e): Believe | Beloved | Beyond
by OC Women and Sayoni, 6-9pm at 72-13, $10 (recommended donation)

OC Women, in conjunction with Sayoni, presents a three-part series for queer women/women who love women:

The bumblebee was never designed for flight. But miraculously, against all odds it does fly! Queer women today face many unique challenges in their lives – despite all odds, how do we overcome them and live happy, independent and free? Come and fly with us, and hear from other women. Exchange experiences on how to cope with challenges in our lives, our relationships, and plan for the future.

Believe – Being and Believing in our selves, is the first in the BE(e) trilogy; Beloved takes place on 9 October and Beyond is on 4 December. BE(e) Special: sign up for all three sessions as a package, for a special rate of $25!

VolunQueers Out & About
Guided Tour: Sentosa Reef & Cliff Walk, 8am at Seah Im Food Centre (next to Harbour Front MRT)

What are gastropods and sargassum? Where can you see wild carnivorous pitcher plants in Singapore? What else is there at Sentosa apart from cable cars a casino? Following on from last year’s “I’m a VolunQueer!” forum and the fully-booked nature walk at Sungai Buloh Wetland Reserve, Bian Tan, an experienced volunteer nature guide, will conduct a guided walk of the last remaining natural coastline on Sentosa, that includes a coral reef, coastal forest and colourful sandstone cliffs. Prepare to see amazing biodiversity given this location is at the doorstep of the third busiest port in the world!

The group will leave the food centre promptly at 8.30am, & is unable to wait for late-comers. The reasonably low tide is at 8.45am and the beach is quite narrow, so our window of opportunity is rather limited. Or else we risk getting caught by the incoming tide. So please come earlier and have breakfast at the food centre, which serves excellent local food. The whole tour will take approximately 2 – 3 hrs, depending on how much ground the tide allows us to cover. The tour is conducted free of charge, but the bus to Sentosa will cost $2 one-way per person. You are advised to wear comfortable walking shoes or sandals with closed toes for exploring the tide pools (and in case we have to, or want to, negotiate stretches of rocks). Yes, you will want to get your shoes wet to see the interesting creatures! Remember to bring snacks & drinking water, as well as sunscreen, hat and a camera.

The group size is limited to 18 people, so please register your interest by sending an email to biantan at yahoo.com before 8 August. For more information about Singapore’s wild shores, including Sentosa, visit wildsingapore.com.

Rascals Symposium: Religions and Sexualities
4-6pm at 72-13 (private event; registration required)

2009 Rascal Special Award recipient, Jun Zubillaga-Pow, will discuss the work of Andrew K.T. Yip (United Kingdom) and S.T. Ponni (India).

In this closed-door discussion, he will present some selective reflections from empirical research in the United Kingdom and India, on two areas: (i) the lives of Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists LGBTS and their attitudes towards sexuality, and (ii) the intersection of Transgenderism in Hinduism with respect to a personal identity via institutional norms and values in India.

A sociological approach is used to understand how LGBTS obtain and exchange information on issues concerning their everyday lives in this digital revolution world. On the whole, this talk speculates the survival topology of LGBT people in a neo-con climate.

ContraDiction 6
7-9pm at 72-13 (R18 homosexual themes)

Our annual queer literary reading is back! Curated and hosted by Ng Yi-Sheng, this year’s edition will feature writers such as poet Joel Tan, fiction writer O Thiam Chin, songwriter Amanda Tee and (hetero) guest stars Bani Haykal and Michaela Therese.

=See also=

IndigNation: Singapore's first gay pride month

IndigNation 2006

IndigNation 2007

IndigNation 2008

IndigNation 2009

IndigNation 2011

IndigNation 2012

=External links=

The IndigNation website

=Acknowledgements=

This article was compiled by Roy Tan