About Liu Xiaoyi

The Artistic Director of Emergency Stairs in Singapore, Xiaoyi is considered one of the most promising leaders at the forefront of the experimental theatre scene and cultural exchange network in Asia. Xiaoyi has remained steadfast in his pursuit of the development and transcendence of theatrical forms, while actively promoting cross-cultural and transnational dialogues. Outside of his creative endeavors, he is also a dynamic curator, educator, and cultural critic. 

Major awards Xiaoyi has received include Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal (2010), the Young Artist Award (2016) by the National Arts Council of Singapore, Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2022), Patron of Heritage and the Arts Award (2023) by Nanyang Technological University, Golden Point Award (2017, 2019, and 2023), Global Outstanding Young Leaders Award by Asia Week (Yazhou Zhoukan) (2024). 

Presently, Xiaoyi serves as the resident artist in Linjiang New District in Jiangsu Province, China, while holding the position of Senior Research Fellow and International Exchange Advisor at NAFA, within the University of the Arts Singapore.

Experimental Arts

A multi-talented artist, Xiaoyi has been involved in over 80 theatre productions since 2001. On stage, he is considered one of the most acclaimed male actors in Singapore’s theatre scene; as a playwright, he has written over 40 plays and is one of Singapore’s most prolific playwrights. 

As a director, the cornerstones of Xiaoyi’s oft lauded but controversial work are unsurprisingly experimentation, introspection, and poetry. Between 2017 and 2019, he created three new works under his Postdramatic Series at the Esplanade that challenged the often-sacred theatre traditions here by introducing a new exploratory theatre format to the discomfort of his audiences. Xiaoyi’s work often polarizes, drawing both praise and debate. An example of his much-discussed works, Journey to Nowhere was a creative response to the then-newly unveiled government’s cultural policy paper – Our SG Arts Plan 2018-2022.

Starting with Einstein in the Car Park in 2018, Xiaoyi began to explore the relationship between art and science. In 2019, he started a new project, No More Theatre, to develop collaboration between digital technology and arts, including his “Writing with AI” research project, which made him perhaps one of the first artists to explore this area. 

International Exchanges

A strong proponent of artistic exchanges across art forms, Xiaoyi has been actively promoting dialogues and creation across cultural and geographical lines for many years, particularly the exchange between tradition and contemporary art forms. As the Artistic Director, Xiaoyi has curated the Southernmost Project, an annual, first-of-its-kind “arts festival for the future” in Singapore since 2017. The intercultural festival has regularly brought prominent artists across the region to Singapore for exchange with the local artistic community. This inadvertently supports a new network of artists across diverse art forms in Asia. 

Xiaoyi is often invited to prominent cultural exchanges as a speaker, a curator and/or as an artist in Asia and Europe. To date, his body of works has been staged in many cities including Singapore, Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, Yokohama, Yogyakarta, Bali, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, London, Zurich, Brussels, Toronto and more.

Xiaoyi has also served as a adviser, speaker, or curator for numerous international arts festivals, including the SummerWorks Festival (Canada), the Contemporary Asian Performance and Performance Art Season (Germany), the Tokyo Festival Farm (Japan), the Chengdu-Chongqing International Theatre Festival (China), and the Shenzhen Greater Bay Area Youth Theatre Festival (China), among others.

Cultural Critique

Outside of his creative endeavors, Xiaoyi is also a dynamic cultural critic. His cultural commentaries focus on intercultural exchanges in Asia and the development of artistic institutions, published in leading journals in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China. In 2019, Xiaoyi conducted a series of field research in six Southeast Asian countries, culminating in a research report on the strategic development of cultural exchange networks. This report explores how cultural exchanges can bring about strategic changes for artistic institutions and artists. 

In response to the dearth of critical writing in Singapore, he founded the first Chinese theatre review platform, the Re-Viewers and has served as both its editor since its inception. 

Talents Incubation

An educator at heart, Xiaoyi keeps a keen eye on the development of art talents in Singapore, the Asia Pacific region and more. Over the years, he has started and helmed several talent development platforms in Singapore- the Practice Lab (The Theatre Practice) and Emergency Shelter.

In 2020, he introduced the concept and discourse of “self-institutionalization” and established an international platform for young cultural leaders, the Emergency Academy. The Academy is designed as an incubation programme for promising young cultural leaders and has attracted a total of 36 artists from 14 cities in its two editions.

Other platforms initiated and curated by Xiaoyi include The Peripheral Experiment, independent arts festival (2014-present) and Young artists incubation platform Emergency Camp (2014-present), among others.