Double the cultural experience: the Borneo Native Festival is being held at Central Market in KL in conjunction with Sabah's Kaamatan and Sarawak's Gawai harvest festivals respectively. Photo: Central Market KL
BORNEO NATIVE FESTIVAL
Venue: Central Market, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends May 21
If you want to experience culture, community, festivity, music and food, then the Borneo Native Festival, which is happening this weekend at Central Market in KL is the place to be.
The festival, now in its second edition, is being held in conjunction with Sabah's Kaamatan and Sarawak's Gawai festivals respectively. There is bound to be a joyous harvest festival mood for all Malaysians and visitors to enjoy.
Shopping is also on the cards! The indoor area of Central Market will be transformed into a craft bazaar with all things traditional and contemporary Borneo, while workshops, forums, film screenings, food demos and fun competitions are set to take place throughout the festival, including a sape competition - judged by sape pop star Alena Murang and Anderson Kalang – today (May 20) at noon.
The colourful Borneo Native Festival parade is also set to take place today at 4pm, with the route taken being Dataran Merdeka to Central Market, so get yourself a good spot to watch this cultural walk.
Tomorrow's programme highlights include a beauty pageant (noon onwards) and a dance competition.
The Borneo Native Festival is a free admission walk-in event.
More info here.
At Ilham Gallery, Mark Teh will share a short lecture performance titled 'Field Work: Performing Politics On The Padang' today (May 20). Photo: Handout
FIELD WORK: PERFORMING POLITICS ON THE PADANG
Venue: Ilham Gallery, KL
Date: May 20, 3pm
Five Arts Centre member and director Mark Teh will share a short lecture performance titled Field Work: Performing Politics On The Padang in this (free admission, walk-in) session. Over the duration of 30 minutes, he will revisit performances and protests he witnessed between 1998 to the present, on the peripheries and Padang of Dataran Merdeka.
Weaving together the personal and the political, it meanders around Reformasi, Bersih and Occupy Dataran, as well as Merdeka Day parades, Emily of Emerald Hill, and The Actors Studio – the original, underground one. There's also material about the typology of colonial padangs (fields), and the trials of teenage dating at the Dataran.
Teh is a performance maker, researcher, and curator based in Kuala Lumpur. His diverse, collaborative projects take on documentary, speculative and generative forms, and address the entanglements of history, memory and counter-mapping. His practice is situated primarily in performance, but also operates via exhibitions, education, social interventions, curating and writing.
Recent projects include directing the award-winning documentary theatre performance A Notional History.
More info here.
An artwork from Abdul Mansoor Ibrahim's personal collection titled 'Loneliness In Mystery' (1979), which is part of the Chetak 17 exhibition. Photo: Chetak 17
EXHIBITION: ABDUL MANSOOR IBRAHIM TRIBUTE
Venue: Chetak 17 studio, KL
Date: ends June 3
Chetak 17, a print studio and gallery, will be paying tribute to printmaker/sculptor Abdul Mansoor Ibrahim, in its new exhibition, which is showing now.
This exhibition series, presented by Chetak 17, salutes senior printmaker artists and revisits their contributions to the Malaysian art scene. It also gives the new generation a chance to discover a pioneer's works.
This exhibition will focus on Abdul Mansoor’s exclusive prints spanning the 1980s to the 2000s. The programme is supported by National Art Gallery.
Abdul Mansoor was granted a French Government Cultural Exchange scholarship, learning the French language for a year at Centre Audiovisual de Royan CAREL pour l’etude des Langues in 1976, before being admitted into the well-established, classical and historical school, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Art (Paris). Between 1977 and 1980, he became one of the young disciples of renowned printmaker Sir Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 (now known as Atelier Contrepoint).
He is also known for his skill in the art of printing and themes from landscape and nature. His works include drawings, prints using end grain wood engraving, viscosity print, and etching that highlight the dying art of printmaking.
More info here.
A video still from Chodzko's 'Jengkuan', a 2023 work in his exhibition 'but as we looked it began to change' at Wei-Ling Contemporary in KL. Photo:
EXHIBITION: ADAM CHODZKO'S 'BUT AS WE LOOKED IT BEGAN TO CHANGE'
Venue: Wei-Ling Contemporary, KL
Date: ends May 27
Wei-Ling Contemporary in KL is showing but as we looked it began to change, an innovative and collaborative project by acclaimed British artist Adam Chodzko, supported by The British Council's Connections Through Culture Programme.
Chodzko, a London-based artist with a career spanning over three decades, explores conscious and unconscious behaviour, social relations, and collective imagination in his diverse range of works.
This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to experience Chodzko's selected recent and new works, including videos, drawings, and process-based sculpture. Through these artworks, Chodzko invites viewers to delve into the realm of nocturnal consciousness activated during sleep, engaging in a fascinating experiment.
Drawing inspiration from the rich cultural practices of the Senoi Orang Asli people, known for their profound connection to the dream state, Chodzko's new project also transcends boundaries and fosters collaboration. This showcase not only explores the uncharted territory of dreaming in the Western world but also celebrates the transformative power of shared experiences.
More info here.
A visitor views an artwork at Nadirah Zakaroya's exhibition 'Feeling Feelings Makes Me, Me' at Temu House in Petaling Jaya. Photo: The Star/Azlina Abdullah
EXHIBITION: NADIRAH ZAKARIYA: 'FEELING FEELINGS MAKE ME, ME'
Venue: Temu House, Section 16, Petaling Jaya
Date: ends May 28
Photography exhibition Feeling Feelings Makes Me, Me by Nadirah Zakariya at Temu House in Petaling Jaya is her biggest local show to date, giving art lovers an overview of her scope of creative works and mediums used.
Nadirah who has vitiligo, which causes a loss of skin pigmentation, is also been using her art to share her experiences and educate people about the condition. The exhibition, featuring nearly 40 artworks including framed photography prints, lightboxes and a video piece, comfortably fills up this gallery space at this suburban Petaling Jaya home.
“It is through photography that I process my feelings. That has always been the main medium. It allows me to feel what I need to feel, and so the output, although intuitive and organic, is reflective of the process of me trying to figure out or work through what I’m feeling," says Nadirah.
More info here.
Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín's 'Abuela' (Grandmother) (thread and maguey fibre, 2018). Photo: The Back Room
EXHIBITION: INSISTENCIA/RESISTENCIA
Venue: The Back Room, Zhongshan building, KL
Date: ends June 4
The Back Room's latest exhibition Insistencia/Resistencia carries a rich Central American flavour as it highlights three contemporary artists from Guatemala. This is a unique showcase featuring, for the first time in Kuala Lumpur, works by three renowned Guatemalan contemporary artists: Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín, Esvin Alarcón Lam, and Marilyn Boror Bor.
Insistencia/Resistencia showcases art practices that intersect with craft and design, while delving into both contemporary and indigenous cosmologies that speak to pressing issues of cultural identity, displacement, and belonging in the context of Guatemala. Each artist brings a unique perspective to the show by exploring the issues of cultural inheritance, as well as the role of art in addressing social change.
These artists derive inspiration from their personal experiences and the broader societal and cultural concerns that drive their artistic endeavours, in a nation grappling with entrenched racism. Through their work, they illustrate how visual art has the ability to generate evocative and imaginative expressions that encourage dialogue and narrow the gap between Guatemala's Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
More info here.
