Well, live now to Singapore where we're joined by Audrey Wong, artistic co-director of the Substation arts centre. Audrey Wong, why strike?

Audrey Wong: Well, I wouldn't say that it's a strike.

Iain Simpson: You're not going to do any work.

Audrey Wong: Well, we're not. We're declaring a day off, basically. I won't say that it's entirely a protest action. It's not an antagonistic kind of action rather it's, in a way, an artist declaration. You know, that the artist is important in Singapore society. What we're trying to do is really to address certain deep-seated attitudes towards artists in Singapore. You know, the sense that artists are not important, that the work they do isn't valued and we really like to draw attention to the work of artists.

Iain Simpson: With respect, how are you going to draw attention to your work by not doing it for a day?

Audrey Wong: You often don't know something's gone until it's gone. You know, you don't know what's absent till it's absent.

Iain Simpson: Okay, so you hope that people will miss you enough to take note of what you're saying.

Audrey Wong: Well, hopefully. And hopefully we would also like the public, you know our audiences, to also try to take part in their own small way, try not to engage with art however they interpret that, for that day and to just and think about what that would mean and what art means in their lives.

Iain Simpson: Now, a lot of this goes back to the controversy over the play Talaq. Now, just remind us, what was that about? What was the play about and why was it controversial?

Audrey Wong: Well, basically, the play was about the experiences of some Tamil Muslim women, of marital violence and it was performed in Tamil previously but this time it was supposed to be performed in Malay and English, and they were not given a public entertainment licence to perform the play. And what also happened was that, the other company wanted to do a dress rehearsal in the theatre nevertheless and to videotape that for their own purposes, their own documentation but they were not permitted to do so.

Iain Simpson: Right, and you feel that sort of epitomises, what kind of an attitude.

Audrey Wong: Basically, most of us feel that the situation was mishandled in certain ways, that perhaps there were some actions taken were pretty rash. And also what happened after that, there didn't seem to be very much attempt by the authorities or the Arts Council to actually try to bridge the gap or to address the deeper problems.

Iain Simpson: Now, how much support do you have for this 'no art' day. Will this be a total 'no art' day in Singapore or is the community riven.

Audrey Wong: Well, that it's almost impossible to get consensus in the community, you know, artists, we are all individualists but so what's happening is it's not like a concerted action. We are calling on artists to act as individuals so to do that own sort of 'no art' day, to interpret it in their own ways. So we have some individual artists, you know visual artists including some who are studying overseas and we've also got a few theatre companies and arts companies, like the necessary stage, theatre works and also the Substation.

Iain Simpson: Okay, well, thanks very much indeed, Audrey. We look forward to see what happens on 'no art' day on December, the 29th.