Editorial

Slightly more than a year ago, when The Arts I was published, guest editor Tan Tarn How noted that he solicited critical reflections on the connections between the arts and culture on the one hand, and society and politics on the other hand in Singapore at the present and in the past. It had taken us longer than expected to present The Arts II, the continuation of Tarn How’s efforts, which included working closely with the authors to finesse their thoughts and writing. The delay however, has enabled us to invite Teo Soh Lung to publish the sketches that she did while in detention, and the notes that she has written in retrospect to accompany them, drawn from her recollections as narrated in her book Beyond the Blue Gate: Recollections of a Political Prisoner (2010). We’ve also managed to be somewhat up-to-date, with observations made by Richard Chua on the Singapore Biennale 2011.