Version 2020 (2018)

In 1991, Wawasan 2020 was launched to transform Malaysia into a high-income, first world nation-state by 2020. In 2017, Transformasi Nasional 2050 was announced, with the aim of turning Malaysia into a Top 20 nation by 2050.

Caught between these visions and dis/continuities, five performers suggest alternative versions of Malaysia’s futures. By leaping between times (from 1991 to 2018), ‘Version 2020’ excavates and combines the personal and the documentary with the fictional and the speculative – presenting differing Malaysias through the lenses of the past and future.

‘Version 2020’ is part of ‘The Complete Futures of Malaysia’, a generative series of projects that will unfold over several years, and in multiple chapters and formats – via performances, exhibitions, and more. Past & future iterations include:

– ‘The Complete Futures of Malaysia (Chapter 1)’, an installation and three events at the ‘Escape from the SEA’ exhibition at APW Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, February to April 2017.

– ‘Coming Soon’, an installation at the ‘Mode of Liasons’ exhibition at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), March to July 2017.

– ‘The Complete Futures of Malaysia (Chapter 4)’, to be presented as a lecture by Mark Teh at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul, Korea on 24 and 25 March 2018.

‘Version 2020’ premiered at SPIELART Das Theaterfestival in München, Germany in October 2017, and has just completed a tour to Theatre Commons Tokyo in February 2018. The performance comes home to KL from 15 to 18 March 2018 at Kotak, Five Arts Centre, TTDI.