the performance studies of opposition tactics in sg

current working paper~ a comparison of 2 different opposition performance art tactics in singapore

even though i'm feeling lousy right now for my lack of competence today, i shall jolt down some differences in these two 'tactics'.

the first 'tactic', i shall give it a nick name: the official performance.
the second 'tactic': the unofficial performance

i'm using the term performance very very loosely here.

what are the official and the unofficial performances?

+ official performances are performances that are made legit by the state. they can be performed by registered companies and earn a profit, they may be funded by the government, they can be part of the state councils, they are bounded by state rules and they are oblidged to pursue state goals (when told to). eg are: any artists and companies who are funded by the national art council - theatre companies, dance companies, the national art gallery, art studios that are funded by the council, in fact i think that almost all art companies are state funded in singapore. even if companies are not state funded, they will be corporate funded (or both) either ways, they are oblidged to follow the rules.

+ unofficial performances are performances that made by groups who are not bound to follow explicit rules of the state. eg are autonomous groups and individuals and non-government organizations. mostly non-profit performances.

i think that oppositional views are expressed in these 'official' and 'non-official' performances, but they are hidden and encoded. when i say oppositional views, i mean views that are oppose to the state's views or that are oppose to the dominant perspectives of the society.
for example criticisms of the government's paranoia of terrorism and problems of racism in the society is encoded into an 'educational' play that depicts and help audiences rehearse possible actions in a crisis. in another case, resistance against a local anime distributor is depicted in a photo shoot session of toy models staging a protest.

what are the difference in these performances?
- the 'official' performances are often advertised in the dominant channels - newspapers, radio stations, television etc. and the actors also get to be interviewed in these medias that are strongly state regulated. thus they may reach further and wider and to the people who need to know the most. however, word of 'unofficial' performances are often distributed by 'side' channels. channels that are not regulated of regulated in a lesser extent by the state. eg. internet, word of mouth, newsletters. thus only the people who are in the know, will know.

- i think opposition messages in official performance are more hidden than those of unofficial performance. just because official performance are more serverly state regulated than unofficial performance. however actors in both performances in singapore still do follow the laws of the country. thus it is probably easier to catch the codes in an unofficial performance rather that in the official performances.

- inspiration and spontanaity.
unofficial performance are made by the regular people who are motivated to perform their opposing views. other regular people can intervene or comment. it acts by and with the community. however the official performance is performed by a fix groups of actors and are most probably self-contained.

- the unofficial performance is not thought of as performed by professionals. they are mostly not considered to be 'art'. they are seen more as events or activities. they may not be viewed seriously by the society, or they may be viewed with contempt. the official performance are mostly thought of as being professional and of high art.

- to add if i think of more.

in thinking of these 2 tactics and the ways that their views are disseminated through performance studies.

- looking at it as play. unofficial performance being the nature of a darker play than the official performance. ie one more dangerous than the other

- the archive and the repertoire. (dian taylor) while both have traits of the archive and the repertoire, the official performance leans more towards the archive while the unofficial, the repertoire.

- liminal and liminoid. they are both liminoids, taking over rituals. or like-rtuals but not rituals. the performances are in between moments that are neither real nor fake, hence possibilities are greater during this period of time. however the actors themself put a cap on these possibilities.
are there more possibilities in official performance or non official?