By Lainie Yeoh Majlis Himpunan Warga Seni PH (Pakatan Harapan), Auditorium MATIC, 15 May 3pm Despite the name (Assembly of Artists PH), this is not officially sanctioned by Pakatan Harapan, nor does it seem to be organised by Pakatan Harapan supporters (although political allegiances in the arts have been tenuous lately, so who knows). This […]
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (14 May – 20 May 2018) Read More »
Hasanul Isyraf Idris is a Malaysian artist who works with a variety of different materials to present his often intricate and surreal ideas, inspired by his home country’s colourful history. Hasanul Isyraf Idris’s fourth solo feature with Richard Koh Fine Art took place last week, showing at VOLTA art fair, New York. Titled Environment of
How one artist is exploring his roots through vibrant, surreal artworks (via SEA Globe) Read More »
By Lainie Yeoh GE14 Results Night at Merdekarya 9 May, 5pm until all GE14 results are announced Things get inevitably political this week as Malaysia holds its 14th General Election. Merdekarya will be making an event out of it, with live crowdsourced GE14 results and election-night shenanigans. There’ll be a big screen scoreboard, and
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (7–13 May 2018) Read More »
Oleh Fasyali Fadzly (1075 patah kata, 9-minit bacaan) Saya mengambil masa yang lama untuk menyiapkan tulisan mengenai teater Version 2020 yang diarahkan oleh Mark Teh. Ia sebuah teater yang memerlukan pengamatan yang tajam, pengetahuan yang luas dan pemahaman terhadap konteks keseluruhan pementasan ini. Kajian teater ini turut mengambil masa yang lama dan penuh kritikal –
By Lainie Yeoh If Walls Could Talk at The Gaslight KL, 8pm 30 April Fondly known as Walls, this poetry open mic show is a must-try event in KL. Many wonderful poetry acts have been discovered in Walls, and the energy from the audience is always warm and generous. Each volume has a feature act —
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (30 April – 6 May 2018) Read More »
A Malaysian artist and prominent opposition activist was jailed for a month on Tuesday for publishing a caricature of Prime Minister Najib Razak looking like a clown, a ruling likely to exacerbate concern about free speech. Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy recently announced plans to amend a law to stamp out fake news, the latest step
Malaysian court jails, fines artist for clown caricature of PM (via Reuters) Read More »
1969’s Woodstock is probably one of the most iconic and influential music festivals to ever take place, with its 32 acts and 400,000 attendees making it not just the zenith of the whole counterculture movement that was such a big part of 1960s America, but also one of the most iconic events in the history of popular music.
There’s no denying that at some point, all of us have dreamed of having an entire cinema all to ourselves, along with the freedom to scream, shout and blabber all we want without anyone telling us to tone it down. It’s great to know that AMENIC Film Space is that dream now made real. Founded in late
How does contemporary art in Singapore and Malaysia reflect an alternative to the dominant narrative of history? June Yap’s book produces a concept of ‘Malayan’ history from the 1950s till 2010s through a selection of contemporary art from the region. In re-defining history through these works, Yap is reformulating the vocation of an art historian,
It is unlikely that, while writing her novel Once We Were There, Bernice Chauly foresaw the events currently taking place in Malaysia’s political landscape. Yet, the timing of the book’s publication now, set in Kuala Lumpur at the height of the 1990s Reformasi era, seems uncanny. Early December last year, Malaysia’s main opposition party, the
Writing the Reformasi: Bernice Chauly’s “Once We Were There” Read More »
Bold and unrelenting, Shuttle Life 《分贝人生》is an emotionally-charged social drama about Malaysia’s urban poor, offering a poignant insight into privilege and powerlessness in modern Kuala Lumpur. Featuring strong performances and gritty cinematography, the film marks an award-winning feature debut for director Tang Seng Kiat, clinching Best Film, Best Actor and Best Cinematography in the Asian
“Shuttle Life 《分贝人生》”: Grief and Powerlessness in Modern Malaysia Read More »
Since he broke into the literary scene in his teens, Malaysian writer and academic, Dr Faizal Musa, better know by his pen name, Faisal Tehrani, has written several best selling and critically acclaimed novels and short stories. His articles on issues of culture, human rights and religion have also appeared in periodicals, newspapers and blogs.
Faisal Tehrani: From Poster Boy to Pariah Read More »
“Artists in Malaysia must speak out and challenge any effort by the authorities to control and dictate the direction of their work, said arts activist Raja Ahmad Aminullah. Raja Ahmad said the recent seizure of works during the Biennale Kuala Lumpur (KLB) 2017 exhibition shocked him, adding that he was disappointed at the lack of
Artists must challenge censorship [Malaysia] Read More »
Penangites of a certain age still have fond memories of the Blue Bus that ran up and down the island until the 1980s. The company’s garage, built in 1947, sported a sleek Art Deco façade, still visible today. But years of neglect took their toll and even the purchase of the property by a group
All Aboard: Artists and Locals Come Together at Penang’s Hin Bus Depot Read More »
“When contacted, the director, Karthik Shamalan, said, “At first when we received the email from Yellow Fever Indie Film, we were very surprised. We didn’t believe it until we saw the official announcement on their website!” He added, “We are very happy to win this award. This acknowledgement is a push to help us create
What happens when you are an artist who has been given, say, five days, to make and present a new work for a site-specific event in a place that you have never seen before, in Japan? You will be required to install your work anew each day, between 3 and 6.30pm. When it “starts to
Tikam-Tikam Japan: chi too’s conceptual balloons in Sapporo Read More »
Pada 15 – 18 Disember tahun lalu, Swordfish+Concubine karya Kee Thuan Chye telah dipentaskan di dalam bahasa Mandarin di Pentas 2, KLPAC. Tidak sampai setahun, naskhah ini dipentaskan sekali lagi di KLPAC. Kali ini di Pentas 1, ruang yang lebih besar, dan diarah dan diterbitkan sendiri oleh Kee Thuan Chye dengan barisan pelakon yang baharu
“Swordfish+Concubine”: Sebuah Teater Epik yang Dramatik Read More »
“PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil has bemoaned the lack of funding support for the arts, saying the impending closure of the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac) is a result of it. Fahmi, who used to be active in theatre, said the situation should be a wake-up call for the government to show that it
Govt urged to help KLPac avoid shutdown [Malaysia] Read More »
“This year is the the 50th anniversary of Asean (Association Of Southeast Asian Nations). To commemorate this, the Asean-China Film Festival has been announced to establish a long-term exchange and cooperation platform for the Asean film industry, in line with China’s Belt and Road initiative. The inaugural Asean-China Film Festival will be held in Malaysia next month from
First Asean-China Film Festival to take place in Malaysia in December [SEA] Read More »
The Asia Europe Foundation’s Culture360 and ArtsEquator present a series of 5 co-commissioned articles that look at arts groups, artists and performances in Southeast Asia that are comprised of or address artists with disabilities. In this article, Bilqis Hijjas speaks with Low Mee Li, who has been leading the dance troupe of the Beautiful Gate Foundation for
Beautiful Gate Performing Arts Troupe, Malaysia Read More »
“After a successful season of performances at the Heritage Celebrations, George Town Festival and Butterworth Fringe Festival in Penang, Ombak Potehi is set to perform in Tokyo from November 2 to 8, 2017. An outreach program of Ombak-Ombak ARTStudio, Ombak Potehi comprises young artists who have learned the art form from the masters and have
Ombak Potehi Performs in Tokyo [Malaysia] Read More »
The Human Voice at Loft 29 on the closing weekend of George Town Festival marks the first collaboration between veteran actress Susan Lankester and Joe Sidek, the festival’s founder and driving force, here in his directorial debut. In his stage notes to La voix humaine (The Human Voice), written in 1927 and first performed in
“The Human Voice”: Regrets? A Few. But Then Again, Too Few to Mention Read More »
Langkau sebuah joget sinkretik, joget fizikal, atau malah joget pascamoden (jika boleh kita gelarkan) yang berlingkar tentang sebuah mesin basuh yang bertanya. Ceritanya metafiksyen yang straight-forward dan salah satu poin reviu ini adalah untuk articulate ia tentang apa. Kerana dari judul, sinopsis dan teaser rata-rata ia tidak mendedahkan dengan jelas sebenarnya Langkau ini fasal apa.
“Langkau”: Atau Kisah Mesin Basuh Yang Bertanya Read More »
“From 1–3 September 2017, the Chinese Malaysian dance community in Kuala Lumpur witnessed a historic event at Damansara Performing Arts Centre: the Malaysian premiere of ‘Boy Story’. Dancers Loo Jay Jen, Ong Yong Lock, Aman Yap Choong Boon, Ix Wong Thien Pau, Goh Boon Ann and Chou Shu Yi performed the work choreographed by Yuri
Does politics age as well as dance? [Malaysia] Read More »
By Ann Lee (1470 words, 10-minute read) Terbalik… mesti kena mata was billed as an “experimental workshop” performance that attempted to “displace the normal hierarchy found in performance-making” by having the lighting designer, Mac Chan, as the principal artist. Co-directors, Marion D’Cruz and Ivy Josiah, marking their first collaboration in these roles, adhered to the
Lighten Up: “Terbalik… Mesti Kena Mata” by Five Arts Centre Read More »
“Fresh off the (vacation) boat and ready to sail into George Town Festival 2017 (GTF 2017), Rebecca Duckett has been working around the clock with her artsy and nature-inspired pieces. She is one of several women artists from Korea, Taiwan, the USA and Malaysia who are participating in the International Women’s Arts Festival, which this
Art with hope and a conscience: Rebecca Duckett [Malaysia] Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (1030 words, 8-minute read) The inaugural Rainforest Fringe Festival (RFF), a prelude to the renowned annual Rainforest World Music Festival, ran from 7 to 16 July 2017 in Kuching, capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The RFF is the brainchild of Joe Sidek, who’s also the artistic director of the Georgetown
Rainforest Fringe Festival 2017: Where the Wild Things Are Read More »
I Ia bermula dengan saya tiba lambat ke Meeting of Writers/Critics/Reviewers in Performing Arts di Cafe White Sands, DPAC, Damansara. Di sekeliling meja sudah ada 13 orang membincangkan tentang perbezaan di antara ulasan vs kritikan dan kepentingannya sebagai bahan dokumentasi. Richard Chua dari Theatrex Asia mengendalikan sesi ini. Ini merupakan pertemuan pertama yang tercetus dari
Kata Terkesat Dilempar Estragon: Kritik! Read More »
“Ahead of Ilu Leto’s appearance at this month’s Rainforest World Music Festival, Southeast Asia Globe grabbed a quick word with co-founder Alena Murang. Tell us a little about your band… We formed in 2017, so we’re quite new. There are only a few professional female sape players around – three of us are based in Kuala Lumpur
The all-female band breaking taboos in Malaysian music [Malaysia] Read More »
By Carmen Nge (1110 words, 10-minute read) The dust appears to have settled on the recent controversy surrounding the removal of Malaysian art collective Pangrok Sulap’s artwork Sabah Tanah Air-Ku from the art exhibition, “Escape from the SEA”. Organized by the Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur (JFKL), “Escape from the SEA” was a group exhibition featuring
No Escape from the C: Reflections on Censorship and Curation in the Pangrok Sulap case Read More »
