Selection Panel

Melati Suryodarmo studied arts at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunscheweig, Germany with a Meisterschüler qualification in Performance Art. Her art practice is informed by butoh, dance, culture studies and history, amongst others. Her work is the result of ongoing research in the movements of the body and its relationship to the self and the world, which are enshrined in photography, translated into choreographed dances, enacted in video or executed in live performance arts.

Along with her art practices, she has been working as the director of Studio Plesungan, an artist’s run space where she curated programmes such as the annual Performance Art Laboratory, the performance art festival Undisclosed Territory, Dance Laboratory Projects, and other art education programmes to empower sustainability in the art ecosystem.

Suryodarmo has presented her work at institutions all over the world, including The National Art Centre Tokyo, Japan; National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea, South Korea and Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland, amongst many others. She has also participated in many international performance arts and dance festivals.

Tang Fu Kuen is currently Artistic Director of Taipei Arts Festival, Taiwan. He was an independent dramaturg, curator and producer active in contemporary performance and visual fields in Europe and Asia. He curated Ming Wong’s solo exhibition for the Singapore Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale, which was awarded Special Jury Mention. The platforms he has worked for include Singapore Arts Festival; Indonesian Dance Festival; In-Transit Festival, Berlin, Germany; Exodos Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia; December Dance, Brugge, Belgium; Colombo Dance Platform, Sri Lanka; and Bangkok Fringe Festival, Thailand. He also worked in immaterial conservation in UNESCO, Paris, France, and SEAMEO-SPAFA, Bangkok, Thailand.

Anna Wagner is a dramaturg and curator living and working in Frankfurt, Germany. After completing theatre studies in Berlin and Paris, Wagner worked as an assistant curator for dance at the theater Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) in Berlin and was the head of the dance department at Theater Freiburg. Since 2014 she has worked as a dramaturg at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt, Germany. She is part of Mousonturm’s curatorial team and has supported various artists such as Eisa Jocson, Paula Rosolen, and Jetse Batelaan as a production dramaturg. She has also worked as a mentor for young dance makers all over the world as part of Colombo Dance Platform 2014. She is also the co-founder and co-curator of the festival Tanzfestival Rhein-Main and has curated various international programmes including Leaving the comfort zone, Asia-Pacific Weeks Berlin (2011), and Indonesia LAB (2015). She is interested in expanding the notion of performing by questioning the separation between audience and artists, as well as high and popular forms. With this purpose she has initiated various special projects like Oper Offenbach (2018), Offenbacher Seefestspiele (2017) and The Greatest Show on Earth – A Performance-Circus for the 21st Century (2016).

Faith Tan has over 18 years of programming, producing, management and international networking experience in the performing arts. She was Head of Programme Development at Dance House Helsinki, Finland in 2020, where she co-initiated a commission programme for new dance productions by Finnish dancemakers. She is currently the Head of Dance and International Development, in Singapore’s national arts centre, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. Under her direction, the Esplanade’s da:ns festival and series in Singapore co-produced productions by world renowned artists, commissioned and championed new work from significant Asian dancemakers, supported the practice of dramaturgs for dance, presented a large public participatory programme, as well as an artist lab and seminar workshops. Tan’s work at Esplanade included overseeing the Theatre department between 2017–2019, and programming music for the Mosaic Music Festival from 2005–2012. She is a founding member of the Asian Network for Dance (AND+) and serves on panels for grants from the National Arts Council in Singapore. Faith holds a Masters degree in Arts and Cultural Management.

Jia Jia Hoon joined the National Arts Council in 2005. Over the years, her portfolio included policymaking and implementing programmes for the music and traditional arts sectors. She had also worked on various initiatives to strengthen the capabilities of the arts sector, including a fundraising training programme (in partnership with LASALLE College of the Arts), the Singapore Regional Fellowship (in partnership with ISPA) and the Arts Resource Hub. In 2014, she obtained a MA in Culture, Policy and Management from City, University of London, graduating with the Head of Department Prize for the highest overall mark.