Front Row

In conjunction with International Women's Day, Sheena Baharudin explores how poetry is used as a vehicle for activism, empowerment and social change.

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Komeil Zarin is an artist who came to Malaysia as a refugee from Iran. His art draws both from the world around him as well as a more introspective view of life. His upcoming exhibition, called “Here Beyond”, gives us a glimpse into how Komeil relates to the world. We speak with Komeil and his collaborator Allie Hill, about his artmaking process, and the experiences that shaped him as an artist.

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A double-bill play called “Are You Game, Sau(dara)?” is a collaboration between the Five Arts Centre in Malaysia and Centre 42 of Singapore. The show is a contemporary response to Malaysian playwright Leow Puay Tin’s play ‘Three Children ‘, written in 1988. We speak with the two directors of the production, Malaysian Faisyali Fadzly and Singaporean Soultari Amin Farid, about reinterpreting a classic play, and how they found contemporary link to it.

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German dance magazine, ‘Tanz’, announced ‘Formosa’ as the “Production of the Year” in its 2017/18 issue. The projection design, by Chou Tung-Yen, won him a Knight of Illumination (KOI) Award, organized by, London-based, Fifth Estate to celebrate international videos and lighting designers for works shown in the UK. Our producer caught up with the projection designer when he came to town earlier in January. They talked about new media in the theatre and about the projection design of ‘Formosa’ which will be staged at the Istana Budaya.

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An art exhibition called “Chia Yu Chian: Private Lives” explores the works of late Malaysian artist Chia Yu Chian - specifically his works from the late 1960s to his death in 1990 that focus on glimpses of people and moments around Kuala Lumpur city. We speak with the exhibition’s curators, Rahel Joseph and Simon Soon, about the significance of these works and how they fit within Yu Chian’s larger art legacy.

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The gallery, Artemis Art, kicks off its 2019 exhibition with a three-artist show titled ‘Collision Violence’. The three--Amirul Alwi, Tomi Heri and Radhinal Indra--have perspectives and experiences which violently collide when their visual manifestations are put together in the same space. The artists share their creative processes and some of the techniques they adopt and say what they see in each other’s works.

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On a Sunday afternoon, a little over 24-hours after she landed in Kuala Lumpur, Ana Woolf talked to our producer about the melding of her life and her work. She shared her understanding of what it means to her to be an artist and what she offers to those whose lives meet hers. In town to perform, share and teach she peeled back the covers to give us a look into her work performance, workshop and performance which is informed by the Argentinian military dictatorship from 1974 - 1983.

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Inspired by the critical essay “The Laugh of the Medusa” by Hélène Cixous, To Which My Brother Laughed is a devised work in response to the caning of the two women in Terengganu on Sept 3 2018. Sheena Baharudin welcomes two members from the production for a chat about their motivation, and how poetry found its way into the play.

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This year The Actors Studio celebrates its 30th anniversary and is reprising the play with which it launched itself back in 1989--Norm & Ahmed (1968) written by Australian playwright Alex Buzo. Here is a 50-year-old two-hander about racism and the many different cloaks it wears. Our guests point to the relevance of the play to “Malaysia Baru” and pose the question, “How are we different?” But before that interview, Faridah and Joe tell a little about the Actors Studio’s 30th Anniversary.

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Many of us would be familiar with the popular Malay legend of Puteri Gunung Ledang. Penang-based artist Foo May Lyn is presenting her own interpretation of this story, with an exhibition called 10,000 Mosquito Hearts, which re-examines the legend from multiple perspectives. We speak with May Lyn and OurArtProjects’ project manager Ellen Lee about the works being shown.

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