Alena Murang's first solo concert 'Sky Songs' at PJPAC on June 17 offers a mix of rearranged folk songs and original compositions, all inspired by the elements of the sky. Photo: Kanid Studio
CONCERT: ALENA MURANG'S SKY SONGS
Venue: PJPac, 1 Utama, Selangor
Date: June 17, 8.30pm
Sarawakian sape musician and cultural activist Alena Murang’s Sky Songs material offers new contemporary sounds and twists to traditional Dayak music, and she's ready to hit the PJPAC main stage this weekend.
In Sarawak, Dayak traditional music began as an oral tradition, passed on from generation to generation ... but the communities there have kept in touch with their traditions, and Alena – born to a Kelabit father and an English-Italian mother – is using music, storytelling and art to introduce Dayak culture to masses.
She has played plenty of festivals abroad, and this PJPAC show is the first time she is presenting a full-length show in Malaysia. ‘Sky Songs’, titled after Alena’s second album, is inspired by the elements of the sky – the thunder, rain, the sun, the morning mist, the stars, the moon – and contemplates how all of nature interacts.
The album will be the backbone of the concert. Performing with her in the band are Sara Heng on electric guzheng, Joshua Maran on drums, Jonathan Wong Ketshin on the guitar, Simmy on the keyboard and tin whistle, and Fook on bass guitar.
The performance will be accompanied by digital visuals by OtherHalf studio, a specialist in immersive art experiences.
More info here.
Ilham Fadhli, aka Kojek, standing in front of his 2022 artwork 'Hotel Fugitif (Kelab Layar Fatal)' at Galeri Puteh in KL. Photo: Galeri Puteh
EXHIBITION: ILHAM FADHLI'S 'HOTEL FUGITIF'
VENUE: Galeri Puteh, KL Eco City, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends July 2
It's been more than 12 years since contemporary artist Ilham Fadhli, better known as Kojek in the art scene, has graced a gallery in KL with a solo exhibition. He has been contributing to group shows, but when there is a Kojek solo exhibition in town, the art scene is more than ready to pay attention.
Kojek's Hotel Fugitif exhibition, featuring more than 50 artworks, at Galeri Puteh in KL invites visitors to slow down and realise the common bonds that connect us all. The images of his darkly painted canvases, addressing how the global refugee crisis is impacting his artistic practice, isn't something you can shake off once you exit the gallery.
Hotel Fugitif offers a visual art discourse and encourages conversation surrounding this global issue, with each canvas from Kojek evoking humanity and compassion as a universal language, while engaging with issues of migration caused by war, political and cultural displacement.
Kojek began to paint this series of artworks in 2018, and he continued through the difficult pandemic years, with his last few pieces finished a few months ago. The entire series is now available for public viewing at Galeri Puteh.
The artist will also launch the Hotel Fugitif exhibition tomorrow (June 17) from 3pm onward. The event is open to the masses.
More info here.
A rehearsal scene with refugee students for 'Beyond Moving With Artisans'. Photo: Lau Beh Chin
DANCE: BEYOND MOVING WITH ARTISANS
Venue: GMBB, KL
Date: June 17 and 18, 3pm
Coffee, anyone? As part of the MyDance Festival 2023, 'Dancing with the Community – Beyond Moving With Artisans' brings you on a walking journey through the creative community mall of GMBB, merging dance with an exploration of coffee culture.
Highlighting the tradition of Hainanese roast coffee, 'Beyond Moving With Artisans' will have professional dancers perform alongside young people from the Chin refugee community and special needs people. It features the story of Luan Fong Kopitiam, a traditional coffee shop from Butterworth; and Jiak Kopi, located in GMBB. The show will be approximately 120 minutes long and actively involves the audience, requiring movement throughout the space.
'Beyond Moving with Artisans' is a creative project by the MyDance committee member Lau Beh Chin, in collaboration with independent filmmaker Ridhwan Saidi, and other performers, including Lee Bee Hui, Winnie Tay and Wong Chi Ying. It is an extension of the project 'Moving with Artisans' which was based on the oral history of five traditional jobs and skills on the verge of extinction in Butterworth, Penang.
More info here.
FILM: THE WEEKEND JAPANESE FILM SHOW
Venue: GSC NuSentral, KL
Date: June 17, 10.30am and 1pm
This is a free screening, but registration is required.
Directed by Toshiyuki Teruya, Born Bone Born is a heartfelt film revolving around a family struggling with the recent loss of their mother. The Shinjo family, residing in a secluded village in Okinawa, has gathered to commemorate the anniversary of Emiko's passing.
Central to this tradition is the ritual bone washing, a solemn practice involving the exhumation and cleansing of the deceased's remains. Through this poignant ceremony, the family hopes to bid a proper farewell and confront their profound grief.
As the family navigates the challenges of their circumstances, they must also confront personal trials. For instance, Tsuyoshi, the eldest son, returns to fulfill his duty of washing his mother's bones, but he finds his father has secretly resumed his drinking habits.
As the "senkotsu" ceremony unfolds, the family members are forced to confront their inner struggles and find a way to come together. The movie screening is in Japanese, with English subtitles.
More info here.
A visitor takes a closer look at photographer Eric Peris' rose series at the 'The Archive Project: Eric Peris' exhibition at the National Art Gallery in KL. Photo: The Star/Daryl Goh
EXHIBITION: 'THE ARCHIVE PROJECT: ERIC PERIS'
Venue: National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends May 2024
The National Art Gallery (NAG) presents a walk-through of veteran Malaysian photographer Eric Peris' visual world, a place where history meets art, where the past comes alive through captivating narratives.
The year-long “The Archive Project: Eric Peris" exhibition draws on archival material and its transformative potential in preserving the icons of Malaysian art. It is the culmination of NAG's documentation efforts in 2022, focusing on the extraordinary life and artistic journey of Peris, who bridged the fields of fine art and journalistic photography.
The (free admission, walk-in) show features over 100 archival documents, newspapers, brochures, and artworks from the artist himself and the NAG collection. Each exhibit offers an insight into Peris' creative process, his influences, and the impact of his work on Malaysian photography.
Visitors will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in his captivating story and witness the evolution of his artistic vision throughout the decades.
More info here.
A general view of the exhibition 'Holes', which focuses on installation art, at The Back Room gallery in KL. Photo: Kenta Chai
EXHIBITION: ‘HOLES: THREE INSTALLATIONS’
Venue: The Zhongshan building, KL
Date: ends July 2
The Back Room's new exhibition Holes features three installations by Alvin Lau, Tep York, and W. Rajaie.
The compact show presents the diverse styles of creative thinking and approaches of three young contemporaries, all of different backgrounds but based in Kuala Lumpur.
The entire exhibition takes place “off the wall”, with the three installations being crafted specifically for the site of The Back Room and taking a more conceptual, experimental approach in their execution.
Lau presents a mixed media photography piece on plywood that continues his recent forays into three-dimensional styles of showing photography; Tep York presents a readymade CCTV and TV installation that injects a street sensibility into the gallery space; while the ever-enigmatic W. Rajaie presents a long congak board crafted out of cow dung.
"The title of the exhibition, Holes, is suggestive of underground networks and also of hidden movement. It considers different styles of installation and conceptual art and their implications within the space of the contemporary art gallery, hopefully paving a way for more serious consideration of installation art in Malaysia. And it is also a celebration of ingenuity and the drive to create, which can spring from all sorts of unexpected places," reads the exhibition notes.
More info here.
'Orientalist Paintings: Mirror Or Mirage?' is one of the largest exhibitions ever undertaken at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, and the show - featuring more than 100 paintings - is spread out over two galleries. Photo: The Star/Azlina Abdullah
EXHIBITION: ORIENTALIST PAINTINGS: MIRROR OR MIRAGE?
Venue: Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, KL
Date: ends Oct 15
If you're looking for a history-filled day out at the art gallery, then this is an exhibition not to be missed.
The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) in Kuala Lumpur is exhibiting over 100 paintings of Orientalist art from its vast collection, making it the biggest exhibition in Asia to feature paintings and artefacts that capture the essence of the Orient in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Highlights of IAMM's Orientalist Paintings: Mirror Or Mirage? exhibition, which runs untill Oct 15, include renowned works by some of the most celebrated painters of the era, including Jean-Leon Gerome, Eugene Delacroix, John Frederick Lewis and the remarkable but rarely seen Ottoman polymath Osman Hamdi Bey.
The paintings are mainly from the 19th century, a time when it became possible for artists to travel to the "Orient", as the Middle East and North Africa were then called. The exhibition takes a thematic look at that vast region in a time of transition. The display is divided into eight sections that follow the artists’ different creative callings.
Orientalist Paintings: Mirror Or Mirage? is one of the largest exhibitions ever undertaken at the IAMM, and the show is spread out over two galleries.
More info here.
