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Visual Arts

The 8th Annual BOH Cameronian Arts Awards — Results!

By Kakiseni dance BEST GROUP PERFORMANCE Prize of RM1,000 ASWARA Dancers for “Tapak 4” in Jamu 2009 – 2; choreographed by Shafirul Azmi Suhaimi, presented by ASWARA BEST SET DESIGN Prize of RM1,000 Looi Chin Yu & Kechara Organisation for The Legend of the Conchshell; choreographed by Lee Swee Keong, Chan Soo Leng, Woon Fook […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • April 18, 2010

Abdul Multhalib Musa: Travelling with Moving

By Eva McGovern Stillness. Stasis. Movement. Action. Sitting in traffic on the way to Wei Ling Gallery to see Abdul Multhalib Musa’s recent solo show Twist, I didn’t have a book, newspaper, I-pod or other useful strategy to pass the time en route. I glanced at my taxi driver who was reading an article on […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • July 18, 2008

Big Art and Little People

By Rachel Jenagaratnam Some confessions ought to start this piece off nicely: First, when asked to review Multhalib Musa’s recent exhibition at Wei-Ling Gallery, I had absolutely no idea who the artist was. The exhibition’s Chubby Checkeresque title, Twist, suggested milkshakes and black-and-white linoleum flooring, but these American dreams came to a halt when I […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • July 17, 2008

The 60 Second Plug: “The Annexe Collision Weekend”

By Yasmin Zetti Martin Pang Khee Teik, writer, photographer, program director at The Annexe, and former editor of Kakiseni takes time out from his decadent life to give us Kakisenians some friendly advice, pass on some birthday greetings, and talk about the ‘do’ this coming weekend at The Annexe. Caution, reading ahead means you risk […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • May 2, 2008

Mega Art on Discount

By Daniel Chong If you were told that a grandmaster of 20th century modern art from France is exhibiting in Malaysia, would you believe it? It’s true! And you read it here first! But which art icon would show in Malaysia and where? Most certainly not at our Balai Seni Lukis Negara! That’s a space […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • February 6, 2008

A Space For The Other

By Veronica Shunmugam The regular gallery visitor setting foot in Galeri Petronas today will be, first of all, roused into curiosity by the colour of its now jet black walls. It’s never been anything but white, made pearly by genteel lighting. Then again, it’s never quite had a show like “The Independence Project”, now six […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • January 29, 2008

The Year The Arts Showed The Way (Part II)

By Veronica Shunmugam In last week’s part of what the arts meant to 2007, I looked at what the arts community offered in terms of nation building, promoting heritage and arts-culture exchange. In the second part of this overview, I’d like to highlight arts outreach, arts for health, how options for arts training as well […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • January 18, 2008

Size Does Matter

By Andrew Hwang Two thousand and seven, for a businessman and arts collector like myself, was noteworthy arts-wise because of two interesting, uncommon and comparable art exhibitions — “Art For Grabs” organized by The Annexe, Central Market, and “Art Around RM1,000” organised by Valentine Willie Fine Arts (VWFA). The Annexe programme director Pang Khee Teik, […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • December 31, 2007

Tembak: Low Yi Chin & Chong Kim Chiew’s “A White House and A Temporary Road”

By Zedeck Siew A red Chinese box-altar stands on one of The Annexe Gallery’s upper levels; its idol, a cross-legged figure with a white beard, looks over a space in which two-by-fours, of varying sizes and each encrusted with a layer of fresh asphalt, lay scattered. Some distinguish themselves: “Platform” has a panel raised as […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • November 11, 2007

Malaysia at First Sight

By Gina Fairley “Selamat Datang ke Malaysia” is a cultural expo of sorts … on one hand playing off the clichés and truisms in how we are asked to present and think of ourselves, and on the other dismantling the structure of such prescriptions to reveal the fault-lines in such a presentation.” Valentine Willie Fine […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • August 20, 2007

Sit Down and Talk

By Adeline Ooi Held once every five years in Kassel, Germany, documenta – the Hundred Day Museum is a post-war effort originally conceived by artist and art educator Arnold Bode to reconcile German public life and culture — after the period of Nazi dictatorship — with international modernity, and confront Germans with their failed Enlightenment. […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • July 27, 2007

The Politics of Muslim Clothing in Indonesia

By Nuraini Juliastuti Jilbab versus Schools This article is about the dynamics of jilbab conflicting with the social, political, and cultural issues in Indonesia. The polemics of jilbab dates back to the 1930s; a 17 year old school girl disagreed with the rule urging adult women to wear head covers in order to preserve their […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • July 18, 2007

Between Revolution Stronghold and Laboratory of the West: Political Positions in Indonesian Fine Art in the 1950s

By Antariksa Yogyakarta was Java’s principal art centre during the 1950s. According to Claire Holt’s “Art in Indonesia” (1968), there were a total of 74 registered art-related organisations in the city in 1955. Of that number, 14 were general groups; there were 17 dedicated to dance, 16 to music, 12 to theatre, and 7 to […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • July 18, 2007

Philippine Art Across the Islands: Mindanao

By Chris Rollo When the Zamboanga del Norte Federation of Visual Artists (ZANFEVA), a confederation of four art groups in Dipolog City and Sindangan with a combined membership of more than 50 artists, opened its inaugural exhibit in October 2006 at the Provincial Art Gallery located at the second floor of the province’s Convention and […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • July 18, 2007

Tembak: Wed 28, Feb – Wed 7, Mar 2007

By Kakiseni Kg Berembang Mon 5, Mar 2007 Kg Berembang was a place I knew about only because its children had been staging, with the efforts of a group of volunteers, wayang kulit performances to tell the history of their village. I was also vaguely aware that the community was having problems with the Majlis […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • March 9, 2007

The 60 Second Plug: Ahmad Fuad’s “Dislocated”

By Juliet Jacobs Tell us a bit about yourself. I was born 38 years ago in Baling, Kedah. I graduated with a Fine Arts degree from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in 1991, and I’ve been exhibiting since then. I now live and work in Melaka and Kuala Lumpur. I am also involved in Matahati, an […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • January 29, 2007

Street Smart Heritage

By Zedeck Siew The entrance to Khoo Kongsi, perhaps one of Penang’s most iconic locations, is a porte cochère that precedes facing rows of empty shophouses; buntings line this street tonight, announcing ‘DiGi’s “Amazing Malaysians” and “Madame Heritage Heboh”. Up ahead, a banner saying Anak-anak Kota spans the wall that is the back-end of an […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • September 6, 2006

Jeri Azhari, 1955-2006

By Nur Hanim Khairuddin Ahmad Azhari bin Mohd Nor atau lebih sinonim dengan panggilan Jeri telah berhijrah ke alam serba baru pada bening subuh 19 Julai 2006, hanya kira-kira dua setengah minggu usainya majlis pelancaran pameran solo (ke-8) beliau di Balai Seni Lukis Negara. Beliau dikebumikan di Sungai Siput, di tanah kelahirannya, negeri Perak Darul […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • August 9, 2006

Mall Art

By Zhin Teng I am not a good window shopper. And I do not regard mall-ing as a very culturally enriching experience save only on two conditions: Books Kinokuniya and my mission of the day — the search, the aim, the inquisition — the art gallery as a newcomer to the mall experience. As the […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • April 5, 2006

The Pied Piper of Penang

By J-Teoh The first question Janet Pillai asks me when she sees me is: “Have you finished your folio yet?” Even now, she is moving very fast around the music practice area of Universiti Sains Malaysia ABM-AMBRO, sternly asking the same of every young-ish looking person (and unsuspecting members of the press). “Haveyoufinishedyourfolioyet? Haveyoufinishedyourfolioyet? No, […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • March 30, 2006