Chong Tze Chien: Your role as director has been increasingly "invisible"—there is no clear authorship. Granted that The Necessary Stage's works have always been collaborative and BrainStorm (what's that in your head?) is just an extension of this ideology, do you see yourself more as a conceptualist now as opposed to a director?

Alvin Tan: BrainStorm (what's in your head?) is another effort to maintain the plurality of The Necessary Stage. In order to nurture the notion of co-authorship and plural space, it is essential that exploration does not cease. Secondly, it is necessary for the people who occupy power positions to step aside as much as possible or where possible so as to free the space for others to occupy. I say as much as possible because I do not believe that giving up a leadership responsibility totally is the way to go.