A new collaborative performance by LIM FEI SHEN, MAXINE HEPPNER and MUHAMAD
HANAFI.

The Substation Gallery
28 - 30 September 2001, 8pm
Tickets at $12 and $10 (conc.) available from The Substation Box Office.

The Window Project occurred to dance artists Lim Fei Shen and Maxine Heppner a
few years ago. They were inspired by the original window'd Substation Gallery,
Armenian Street beyond, and the many many varied windows of the Singaporean
environment. The newly renovated gallery space is now windowless but this has
merely continued to inspire them. 

A collaboration across borders, since April 2001, Fei Shen (of Singapore) and
Maxine (of Canada) have been working together with visual artist Muhamad Hanafi
(of Indonesia). During the perfomance even the installation that Hanafi is
creating for the performance will include on-the-spot creation. For several
days before the performance the public will be able to watch their process as
they do the final development work onsite in the gallery space.

In recent studio work together, the artists interpreted shared questions
through their specialities of movement, sound and plastic arts. What do people
see through those windows? From inside the house looking out? From the street
looking in? They considered the window as a metaphor, for instance 'window to
my heart', a 'window to the world', or 'our eyes are the windows to our souls'.
From there their enquiry has extended even to consider the nature of spiritual
ventilation, of being safe and closed in, shut out and isolated.

These explorations have led to a series of surreal, raw, and sometimes humorous
dance, visual and sound images that are being woven into a story of a
middle-aged woman's journey. to places framed in her memory, times full of open
hopes and thoughts. and her recognition that she still has valid desires and
dreams.

PERFORMERS' BIOGRAPHIES

Lim Fei Shen, Cultural Medallion recipient, is one of Singapore's pioneers in
modern dance. Her works focus upon the development of unique cross cultural
dance forms which draw from traditional Asian sources. She trained at the
Folkwang Hochschule in Germany under Kurt Jooss, and received her Masters of
Fine Arts from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Formerly
Artistic Director for the People's Association Dance Company, her works have
been performed widely in Southeast Asia and Canada. Her recent works have
included multi-disciplinary approaches, including the "resounding success" (The
Straits Times) of Homecoming - A Journey into the Space Within at the Tan Swie
Hian Museum in 1994, My Body, My Choice with composer John Sharpley for the
Singapore Arts Festival 1995, and Earth and Matter, a collaboration with artist
Baet Yoke Kuan in 1999.

Maxine Heppner, from Canada, is an international choreographer, performer,
director and teacher of contemporary dance and interdisciplinary theatre. She
is the director of Across Oceans: Collaborations in Contemporary Dance, and the
Canadian International At Home Festival. Maxine has received numerous awards,
grants and commissions for her works, including the Dora Mavor Moore/Toronto
Theatre Alliance awards. For the last 12 years of her 23-year career, she has
been "bi-hemispheric", working with contemporary artists in both North America
and Asia including San Francisco's Shadowlight Productions, Toronto's
Dancemakers, Canadian Children's Dance Theatre, Gamelan Toronto, City
Contemporary Dance Company in Hong Kong, Dance Dimension Project (now EcNad) in
Singapore, the Ballet Sumber Cipta and Bali Arts Festival in Indonesia. 

Muhamad Hanafi was born in Purwerejo in 1960. He studied at Sekolah seni rupa
Indonesia, Yogyakarta (1976-1979). He has held many solo exhibitions in
Indonesia since 1992, and taken part in many group shows. His work has also
been exhibited in Spain, where he went on a residency in Barcelona. His awards
include being named in the Top Ten Painters of the YSRI-Phillip Morris
Indonesia Art Award 1997. Apart from exhibitions, Hanafi also actively
collaborates with performers, choreographers, musicians and dancers, on
projects in Indonesia.

The Window Project is part of Septfest 2001.