Four visual artists from Malaysia and Indonesia - Caryn Koh, Dedy Sufriadi, Indra Dodi, and Syahbandi Samat - come together to explore the stories that can be created by exploring the human facade in an exhibition called “Masks and Stories”. Dedy, whose works inspired the theme, and the show’s curator, talk to us about art, human personas, and social interactions.

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“Company” is one of Stephen Sondheim’s best-known musicals, one of that feels fresh and relevant more than 40 years after it first premiered on Broadway. The show is making its Malaysian debut through a staging by PAN Productions, and some of the folks behind it talk to us about bringing the iconic musical to life.

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In an increasingly connected and globalised worlds, discussions on boundaries and borders are more relevant than ever. Artist Phuan Thai Meng examines these issues within a Malaysian context in his exhibition “Imagined Homeland”, asking questions like: what does the notion of “home” mean? Thai Meng talks to us about the inspirations behind his works.

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Malaysian singer-songwriter Mia Palencia has settled in Tasmania, Australia, for eight years, and has been bringing her unique approach to singing and songwriting to the music community there. Mia returns to Malaysia with the Derwent Valley Concert Band to present a series of concerts that feature both Australian and Malaysian flavours, including some of her own compositions. We speak to Mia and the band’s conductor Lyall Mcdermott about the concerts and their collaboration.

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Kumar Nagalingam is a trainer, author, and former law lecturer - but since the age of 13, he’s also been an artist. After nearly four decades of painting, Kumar has decided to show his works for the first time in an exhibition called “Beyond the Canvas”, which traces his artistic journey from the 1980s to present day. We speak to Kumar about his art and his aspirations. 

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Our guests explain why they think that it is significant that emerging talent remain unnoticed in our current visual art landscape. They tell about their upcoming exhibition, titled ‘In Defense of Poetry’, in which the collective asserts it brings a “renewed form of artistic action.” A peek into the opening gambit which will be held on “a rooftop of a furniture warehouse that will soon be torn down.” The exhibition incorporates visual arts, performance art, the spoken word and music.

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Over the years, Five Arts Centre has presented a number of theatrical works that engaged with contemporary and political issues. Now, with Malaysia under a new government for the first time since Independence, political changes and upheavals seem to be happening rapidly - from the release and pardon of former Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to former PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak facing trial on corruption charges. How are previous political works of theatre reframed by such events? Mark Teh and June Tan of the Five Arts Centre talk to us about why such a process can be useful.

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Most of us have heard the story of how Hansel and Gretel get lost in the woods and entrapped by a witch who lives in a gingerbread house. The Kuala Lumpur City Opera is revisiting the fairy tale in opera form, by staging Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel - A Fairy Tale Opera”. We follow the trail of breadcrumbs with the folks behind the staging, to talk about bringing the opera to life.

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A.R. Rahman is one of India’s best-known music composers, winning multiple Academy Awards and putting Indian film music on the international stage. For his longtime fans, though, Rahman’s early songs from the 90s and 2000s still hold a special place. An upcoming concert called “Retro Rahman” wants to recapture some of that magic by bringing together singers from India who sang many of Rahman’s early hits. We speak to Unnikrishnan, acclaimed Indian classical vocalist and playback singer, about his music and his collaborations with A.R. Rahman.

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Our guests are here participating in the Damansara International Arts Festival 2018 (DIAF’18). They tell about their research into the performing arts and their focus on ‘spatial dramaturgy’. They also share on their devised performance created in collaboration with local performers like Jo Kukathas, Ling Tang, Kathyn Tan and several others. And from the Malaysians, the stories most important to them. In the interview they showed the link between their approach to theatre and the production that will be staged.

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