Getting schooled on the arts (via The Star)
From surprise visits to schools, replacing white shoes with black, and referencing the Finnish education system as a possible one to emulate, the new Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik has made waves with his fresh approach. Expectations are running high…
Book Review: “Writing the Modern: Selected Texts on Art & Art History in Singapore, Malaysia & Southeast Asia”
By Carmen Nge (1300 words, five-minute read) In the vast firmament of Singaporean-Malaysian art history, no star illuminates as radiantly as T.K. Sabapathy. An art historian by training, Sabapathy initially began his career in the early 1970s by reviewing art…
Book Review: “Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre”
By Felipe Cervera (1600 words, eight-minute read) Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre, edited by Charlene Rajendran, Ken Takiguchi and Carmen Nge, is a long overdue resource that sheds light on important aspects of the cultural, artistic, and…
“One Two Jaga”: Keberanian Baharu Sinema Malaysia
Oleh Daniyal Kadir (1260 patah kata, 5-miinit bacaan) Penyampaian kritikan sosial atau politik dalam filem-filem Malaysia jarang berlaku melalui suasana yang berani dan mendatangkan ghairah. Malah mengkritik melalui karya secara berdepan seperti sukar untuk dilakukan. Terdapat banyak hal yang menyumbang…
Johor Arts Festival 2018: Top 8 Picks
The 15th Johor Arts Festival kicked off on 1 September, and runs until 23 September 2018. One of Malaysia’s longest-running festivals, it features a variety of performances, exhibitions, workshops, talks, and activities, ranging between the traditional and contemporary; the loud…
Ombak Potehi’s “Kisah Pulau Pinang: The Penang Story”: A Slice of Malayan History
By Akanksha Raja (620 words, four-minute read) Ombak Potehi is Ombak Ombak Art Studio’s glove puppet theatre group established in 2015, consisting of young people – all under 30 – producing and performing puppet theatre, having been trained by experts…
AExGTF Chats: Prof Tan Sooi Beng of Ombak Potehi at George Town Festival
Potehi puppet theatre is a traditional Hokkien art form brought to Southeast Asia by immigrants from southern China several centuries ago. Despite originally being performed in Hokkien, potehi came to be performed in the different languages of the region, and…
Three Short Films about Women at SeaShorts 2018, George Town
By Alfonse Chiu (1216 words, five-minute read) The SeaShorts Film Festival ran for its second edition as the official pre-festival to the annual George Town Festival from 1st to 5th August in a radical geographical shift away from the Kuala…
In George Town, a Proxy War for the Nation
By Kathy Rowland (1165 words, 5-minute read) Coloured ink on paper. Only a society that polices gender and sexuality can turn ordinary photos into weapons of mass gay conversion. Over the past eight iterations, the George Town Festival (GTF) has…
“Between Tiny Cities (រវាងទីក្រុងតូច)”: De-cyphering Conversation
By Nah Dominic (1080 words, five-minute read) A white circle 10 metres in diameter greets us on entering the flexible performance space in Loft 29. I stand next to B-boy Erak Mith of Tiny Toones (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). He is…
AExGTF Chats: “Between Tiny Cities (រវាងទីក្រុងតូច)” at George Town Festival
Between Tiny Cities (រវាងទីក្រុងតូច), a two-hander dance performance dovetailing b-boy vocabulary with contemporary dance, was the result of a three-year cultural exchange between Tiny Toones in Cambodia and Darwin City Rockers in Australia. It was presented at George Town Festival…
Photo project examines how food challenges the notion of poverty (via SEA Globe)
Since 2010, photographer Stefen Chow and his economist partner Lin Huiyi have been challenging perceptions of what it means to be poor across the globe. Their award-winning project The Poverty Line, which will exhibit at this month’s George Town Festival in Malaysia, compares 29…
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (23 July – 29 July 2018)
Caravaggio Art Talk 3, at Balai Seni Negara, 25 July, 11am In conjunction with the Caravaggio Opera Omnia exhibition, art expert Sabiana Paoli will be providing audience members insights to Caravaggio’s most significant works made in Rome, Malta, Naples and Sicily….
The World Cup, The Japanese Occupation and Our Painful Inheritance
This article is republished from the Singapore International Film Festival editorial. It is part of New Waves 2018, an annual series of screenings and dialogues with regional filmmakers. For this third edition of the New Waves series, SGIFF invites participants…
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (16 – 22 July 2018)
Hua (華) Settler Imaginary in Borneo, at Malaysia Design Archive, 19 July 8pm Academic Dr Zhou Hau Liew presents ‘Preliminary Thoughts on the Hua Settler Imaginary in Borneo: Cultural Mapping, Revolutionary Communism, and the Ideas of Chineseness’. This talk rethinks…
Masalah Sastera Di Malaysia Baharu
Oleh Faisal Tehrani (1, 175 patah kata, 9-minit bacaan) Click here to read this article in English. Klik di sini untuk baca rencana ini dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Saya harus berjujur, kita ada masalah dengan sastera kita, dan saya jujur sahaja; saya tidak tahu apakah…
The Problem with Literature in New Malaysia
By Faisal Tehrani (1, 350 words, 7-minute read) Click here to read this article in Bahasa Melayu. Klik di sini untuk baca rencana ini dalam Bahasa Melayu. I have to be honest: we have a problem with our literature, and frankly, I…
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (9 – 15 July 2018)
Sesi Diskusi Buku KAOS NOL, Lit Books, 11 July 7pm This book club meets every two weeks to discuss books that focus on theatre and the performing arts. This time, the group will be examining In Praise of Shadows (1933)…
What the Arts in Malaysia Needs: More Transparency, Less Intermediaries
By Kathy Rowland (2145 words, 8 minute read) 2 July 2018 – The receding brown moon on millions of Malaysians’ fingernails are a biological marker of the eight weeks since the end of the Najib administration. These past 55 days…
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (2–8 July 2018)
Damansara International Arts Festival (DIAF), DPAC, 3–15 July In conjunction with the fifth anniversary of performing arts space DPAC, DIAF features two weeks of music, puppetry, dance, theatre and more. Many shows feature international performers. I recommend Malaysia’s Adab Berguru…
George Town marks UNESCO anniversary amid debate (via Nikkei Asian Review)
GEORGE TOWN, Malaysia — On any given weekend, a 15-meter-long queue of international tourists materializes at the upper corner of Armenian Street, an atmospheric road packed with tourist shops and cafes at the heart of George Town, capital of Malaysia’s…
27 Artists Grapple with the Fractious Politics of Malaysia (via Hyperallergic)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Petani Semasa is a significant exhibition on contemporary art about the Patani region of Southern Thailand, that privileges local artists. Currently on display at the Ilham gallery in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the works are deeply complicated, and largely unsettling. Featuring 27 artists, the show never…
Sarawak’s second Rainforest Fringe Festival aims to put indigenous traditions on the map (via South China Morning Post)
The Rainforest Fringe Festival started in 2017 to spotlight Sawarak’s distinct jungle heritage. The second edition this year (July 6 to 15) promises to unveil an even wider spectrum of both traditional and contemporary expressions. Presented in the heart of…
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (25 June – 1 July 2018)
Malam Sayu Berpuisi, at klpac, 27 June, 8:30pm A night performance held outdoors on klpac’s grounds, by the banyan tree. Poets will be accompanied with improvised music by duo Feel Tu Penting. Poets for the night feature a mix of…
Rainforest Fringe Festival 2018: Top 8 Picks
By Nur Athirah Abdullah The Rainforest Fringe Festival 2018 (RFF 2018) is less than a month away! Not to be mistaken for the Rainforest World Music Festival, one of the region’s best world music festivals, the Fringe is a cool…
Big Brother is watching you: the exhibition aiming to tackle surveillance and censorship (via SEA Globe)
Surveillance and censorship are becoming part and parcel of daily life around the world, and yet many citizens seem content to turn a blind eye to it. A new exhibition at Wei-Ling Gallery in Kuala Lumpur called Seen is addressing that issue….
ILHAM Gallery is a trailblazer in the Malaysian art scene (via Luxuo)
ILHAM Gallery sits like a secret jewel box in the black-ice exterior of Menara ILHAM, where it has played host to celebrated artists and conceptual experimenters since it opened its doors in August 2015. Today, it is working at the…
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (18 – 24 June 2018)
Live Fact Presents: Protomartyr, at Live Fact, 20 June, 8pm American rock band Protomartyr is performing in Live Fact this Wednesday. The band features Joe Casey on vocals, Greg Ahee on guitar, Alex Leonard on drums and Scott Davidson on…
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (11 – 17 June 2018)
Feedback Open Mic: feat Jumero & Josiah Tay, at The Bee, 12 June, 8pm Jumero’s hippie and happy beach music is always a great choice for a pick-me-up. They’ll be featured alongside Josiah Tay, who does covers of songs you…
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (4–10 June 2018)
Zalila Lee at Merdekarya, 6 June, 9pm Singer-songwriter Zalila Lee returns to Merdekarya. This performer is a versatile talent, but for her solo performances, you can generally expect folk-blues with a boom voice and soul cutting lyrics. The show starts…