Visitors enjoying the outdoor sights, installations and plant exhibits at the Kuala Lumpur Park Festival 2023 at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa in KL. Photo: Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR PARK FESTIVAL 2023
Venue: Taman Tasik Titiwangsa, KL
Date: ends March 12
Who doesn't like a day out in the park? Add culture and plants to the equation. Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has come through with a crowd-pleaser with the colourful Kuala Lumpur Park Festival 2023 at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa, which ends this weekend.
Thousands have been making their way to this outdoor event, which has offered visitors loads of sunshine and Insta opportunities.
The KL Park Festival 2023 – themed Malaysian Arts and Flora Garden – is showcasing a variety of official flowers and plants of towns and cities in Malaysia. Most of them are presented in the form of cultural and artistic designs.
There are about 1,000 parking lots available nearby Taman Tasik Titiwangsa, including at the Istana Budaya, National Art Gallery and Kuala Lumpur Health Clinic areas.
Shuttle services are available to take visitors to the event location, which is open daily from 9am to 10pm.
Sarah Radzi's 'Fever Dream' (acrylic, oil pastel and charcoal on canvas, 2023). Photo: Balai Seni Maybank
ART: 'RRRAWRRR! 2023: THE LABYRINTH OF TOUCH'
Venue: Balai Seni Maybank, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends March 24
Maybank’s annual "Emerging Women Artist" showcase this year explores the intimacy of touch as a perceptual experience.
Titled RRRAWRRR! 2023: The Labyrinth Of Touch features the work of 12 women artists, including Ain Rahman, Cheong See Min, Hana Zamri, Joanne Loo, Kimberley Boudville and Sarah Radzi.
Exploring themes such as touch and communication, memory, and identity, they offer a glimpse into what women artists bring to the table and offer new perspectives on the world around us."How powerful is touch? How do we forge connections through touch, how do we touch without touching, how do we reconcile our changing relationship with touch? These are among the questions these artists address in their work," reads the exhibition's curatorial notes.
At least half the works in this exhibition have been made with the intention for visitors to interact with them.
Additionally, with the help of the show's collaborator In Transit, the artists have had the chance to create audio descriptions that accompany each of their works (these can be accessed through QR codes).
The show is on at Balai Seni Maybank (Menara Maybank, Jalan Tun Perak in KL) till March 24. Opening hours: 10am to 5pm from Monday to Friday and Saturday (11am to 4pm). Free admission.
'TIKAR/MEJA' by contemporary artist Yee I-Lann features the humble table as a conversation starter. Photo: Flanegan Bainon
ART: YEE-I-LANN'S 'TIKAR/MEJA'
Venue: The Back Room, Zhongshan Building, KL
Date: ends March 12
It's the last few days to catch this community-driven show. TIKAR/MEJA, an exhibition by Yee I-Lann, showcases 30 woven mats woven by communities in Sabah, that depict tables. The works interrogate the symbolic prestige of the table by juxtaposing its inherited colonial power against the communal character of the tikar.
“These mats were largely made by women. In pre-colonial times, there was no word for table, because there were no tables in the Southeast Asian Archipelago. I see the woven mat as architectural, calling people to commune together, to share a platform. Throughout the region, all mother tongues have their own name for mat. I think of the mat as being fundamentally feminist and egalitarian. To decolonise is to see the table and to see the mat,” says Yee in a statement.
Complementing this exhibit, woven posters are on display outside the gallery and if you head downstairs to the Tommy Le Baker cafe in the building, a large karaoke mat is on show.
More info here.
Contemporary artist Haris Rashid celebrates a decade in art with his 'fluid' exhibition at Zhan Art Space in Petaling Jaya. Photo: Zhan Art Space
ART: HARIS RASHID'S 'FLUID'
Venue: Zhan Art Space, Petaling Jaya
Date: ends April 7
In Petaling Jaya, Zhan Art Space is shining the light on Haris Rashid's first decade as a contemporary artist with his latest exhibition titled fluid.
The show fluid is curated by fellow artist/curator Mona KV and showcases a wide range of artworks from Haris, reflecting the growth and evolution of the artist's visual language, notably his signature motifs of local tropical plants and Malaysian wildlife.
The exhibition features 45 unique artworks curated throughout the last decade with a recurring theme of water, a symbolic metaphor chosen to represent the ups and down of Haris’ journey as an artist and a human being.
More info here.
Kam Woei Yann's 'One Fine Morning' (acrylic on canvas, 2019), which is featured in the 'In Her Eyes' exhibition. Photo: The Star/Ong Soon Hin
ART: 'IN HER EYES' GROUP SHOW
Venue: KL East And Melawati Sales Gallery, KL
Date: ends April 3
To coincide with International Women's Day celebrations this month, the In Her Eyes exhibition at KL East And Melawati Sales Gallery, at Sime Darby Property at KL East, is showing works from 17 female artists from diverse backgrounds.
It is presented by A.P Art Gallery in partnership with Manggis Group. The participating artists, women who are in different stages of their lives, have responded positively to the curatorial brief to share their stories through art, on life, their fears and dreams, and everything in between.The artist line-up includes Anniketyni Madian, Kam Woei Yann, Alexdrina Chong (aka Alexoid Luce), Kimberley Boudville, Elly Nor Suria, Miriam Omar and others.
Curated by Nazura Rahime (who is also the director of A.P Art Gallery) and Nurul Fathma, they embraced a more inclusive approach in their search for artists, including younger individuals and those who pursue art-making on the side.
In Her Eyes is showing at KL East And Melawati Sales Gallery in Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur, till April 3. Opening hours: 10am to 5pm daily.
More info here.
A view of the installation 'Once Upon A Longtang' by artist Red Hong Yi at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. The show ends on March 22. Photo: The Star/Faihan Ghani
ART: RED HONG YI’S ‘ONCE UPON A LONGTANG’
Venue: National Art Gallery, KL
Date: ends March 22
The National Art Gallery has gone all old world Shanghai with multi-disciplinary artist Red Hong Yi’s latest site-specific exhibition Once Upon A Longtang, which has been attracting quite a buzz since it opened in January.It is the last few weeks to catch it, so be quick. The installation features a series of artworks “painted” with burnt Chinese calligraphy paper, and features scenes inspired by old alleyway houses – or “Longtang” houses in Shanghai.
“These houses are dear to me because my father and grandparents lived there, and I got to live there and reconnect with my roots in 2011-2013. These old houses are also quickly disappearing to make way for urban development,” says Red Hong Yi about the new installation.
Free admission.
More info here.
