Seelan Palay was detained by police in front of Singapore’s Parliament House on 1 October 2017 during his performance of a political piece.

Two performances – Ming Poon’s ‘Undressing Room’ and Thea Fitz-James’ ‘Naked Ldies’ – were cut from the 2017 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival after the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) assessed they exceeded the R18 age rating, according to the festival’s statement released on 5 December 2016. Festival organisers added that …

A brief peck between two male actors in the musical Les Miserables staged at Singapore’s Esplanade Theatre was cut from the production after the state’s Media Development Authority (MDA) said it violated the show’s ratings and received public complaints, reported Channel News Asia on 11 June 2016. Authorities said in …

The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in Singapore removed two sex toys from artist Loo Zihan’s art installation entitled ‘Queer Objects: An Archive for the Future’, reported The Straits Times on 16 February 2016. The artist said that originally four items were going to be removed from his 81-object installation, but …

The Media Development Authority (MDA), Singapore’s governmental media regulatory board, banned Madonna from performing her song ‘Holy Water’ in her 28 February 2016 show at the country’s National Stadium, reported The Straits Times on 7 January 2016. The MDA rated the concert R18, meaning only those 18 years of age …

The chairman of the National Arts Council in Singapore weighed in on an ongoing debate in the country over whether state funding for the arts should be used to enforce censorship. In her speech at the opening of the Singapore International Film Festival on 26 November 2015, Professor Chan Heng …

Over 20,000 “concerned citizens, parents and individuals” in Singapore have signed a petition to stop Adam Lambert from performing at the Countdown 2016 New Year’s Eve concert due to his “promotion of LGBT rights,” reported The Independent. The group petitioned both the government and concert organisers, MediaCorp, and said, “a simple online …

According to Global Voices and Focus Taiwan, the Taiwanese pop songstress Jolin Tsai’s song and her musicvideo ‘We’re All Different, Yet The Same’ has been banned from broadcast in Singapore. The Singapore government’s Media Development Authority has confirmed that it advised local broadcasters in Singapore not to air the music …

The Indonesian artist FX Harsono received an inaugural Freedom of Art award in Singapore on 20 January 2015. It was presented to him by the U.S. ambassador to Singapore and the director of Art Stage Singapore. The Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art honours an artist or curator from Southeast …

“It is like they are taking someone from within the group to be the policeman” “Singaporeans should reject the self-licensing/self-classification/self-­censorship scheme proposed by the Media Development Authority,” artists say in video produced by Arts Engage. » Find out more on  www.artsengagesg.org » Artists’ Responses Against MDA’s Self-Censorship Scheme‎