by Tan Zi Hao

It was all very scattered and uncertain but the good intentions were there from the beginning. Artist Chu Yuan sent me an e-mail asking me to get involve in Entry Points, the inaugural 1948 Artspace project in Serdang.

by Chi Too

There’s nothing like directing your first French film, which is the epitome of “serious” art house filmmaking. Produced specially for ARTERI, Chi Too’s Regardant La Peinture Secher (Watching Paint Dry) is humourously dedicated to the love of paint.

by Sharon Chin

Greetings from Sapporo! It’s one week into my 2-month residency at S-AiR, although it feels like months have passed. It’s amazing how much living you can fit into a few days when you’re away from your usual surroundings. The city is beautiful – full of parks, flowers, trees and big sidewalks where you can bike around without fear of being run over. The pace here is slow and gentle, although the wind is much less so – it feels like it’s blowing down from directly from the icy mountaintops!

by Zedeck Siew

In the spirit of sharing:

If you are an observer in any capacity of the videogame industry, 2008’s Braid was hailed as a significant milestone for the games-are-art argument. It’s easy to see why: painterly visuals and ingenious, spare gameplay mechanics — which tie into the game’s primary meditation: time, or our longing to reverse past wrongs.

by Eva McGovern

I was forwarded this link to a new work by Thai artist Wit Pimkanchanapong and Duckunit studio. I was so hypnotised by it that I had to share it with you all. It’s called My-ya-rab which is a type of sensitive plant or Mimosa in Thai and is a large scale kinetic sculpture currently installed at Bangkok Art & Cultural centre.

by Sharon Chin & Zedeck Siew

Messrs Fahmi Chin, Sharon Siew, and Zedeck Fadzil respectfully present Assembly Yr Own Story, a romp of Literary Genius and Artistic Magic. Mix and Match from 28 Hand-Crafted pages of Thematically Linked text and illustration to Construct Your Own Narrative! It’s got Extraterrestrial Encounters, Wildly Uninhibited Passion, and Socially Engaged Iconography! Simply Amazing!

by S.M.K. Seri Kembangan Fighters

Finally, our fight caught the media’s attention, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Wee Ka Siong has come to see us, our actions can be viewed in YouTube. Cool. We are the SMKSK rockstars. The ‘victim’ is a science stream student, we are the filthy-faulty-frantic delinquents from the art stream.

by Zedeck Siew

Finding myself at a loss one afternoon during the Umno general assembly, I decided to take a stroll through PWTC. I passed the entrance to Merdeka Hall, where speeches and sycophancy continued, rounded the corner – and, lo and behold, discovered a painting exhibition.

by Tan Zi Hao

I’ve been in Serdang since I was a toddler.

Serdang didn’t spare much democracy in aesthetic sensation. The basic spatial structure was either moulded by the past colonist or the insensitive modern developers. It is called forced architectural identity, also a malady of creativity. But it hasn’t been an issue; artists Perng Fey and Wing are both creative persons from Serdang. This was pretty new to me two years ago, I was delighted.

by ARTERI x The Fairly Current Show

It seems that the by-election fever has not subsided! With five by-elections done and one more (possibly?) to come, it’s pretty safe to say that some kind of a democracy is definitely in action in this country. Looks like we all have to work overtime, phantom voters notwithstanding.

by Sharon Chin

When I was young, I was babysat by my grandma, together with my cousin sister. She would spend the day with us, teaching us how to be proper ladies. I wasn’t any good at being a lady, but the nice thing about days with Po-po was that we always got a present that was some kind of stationary. She would buy two different things, and then we had to choose. One time, the choice was between this awesome pencil case (like seriously, it was blingin’) and a small box of Luna Staedtler colour pencils. It was the one with a boat on the cover and 12 barely 10cm-long pencils inside. My cousin got the pencil case (much to her delight), which left the colour pencils to me. It was my first box, and I loved them. These pencils have a very rough texture, but their pigment is intense. They are great for frottage, which is a technique where you put a piece of paper over something and rub a a pencil/crayon over it. I used to do with coins so that I had my own multi-coloured paper money.

by Sharon Chin

I’m too misanthropic to believe that Earth Hour was much more than a massive, feel-good PR stunt. But as our house dutifully doused the lights during that stipulated hour on 28 March, I found that being plunged into a physical darkness was more welcome than I’d ever anticipated.

It inspired a series of posts on, above and/or around the idea of ‘darkness’. Thoughts on Darkness by various contributors will be released daily. As an introduction, I reproduce here an excerpt of a gmail chat I had with an artist friend in Yangon, Myanmar.

by ARTERI

20 slides x 20 seconds. Photos from Pecha Kucha Vol.6 at Urbanattic, Capsquare.

by Sharon Chin

Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 6 last Tuesday (31 Mar 09) was great. The fun vibe and enthusiastic crowd were especially welcome coming straight from the relative sombreness of Galeri Petronas’ Art Appreciation Series. Of course, the two events are not to be compared, since Pecha Kucha was held at cute new hotspot Urbanattic, and featured two words so dear to people’s hearts: free beer.

by Sharon Chin

In the spirit of stretching out April Fools as long as it can and will go, I thought I’d put together a quiz called ‘But… Is It Art?’

For people who haven’t sat through a course of post-modernism 101, alot of contemporary art can be a big question mark. I wish we could show people walking through a gallery , with thought bubbles above their heads showing what they’re thinking. Think of it as Art (instead of Night) Vision goggles. Patents pending.

Installation practice can be particularly puzzling. Especially exhibitions of ready-made objects arranged artfully in white spaces, or featuring materials sourced from everyday – also known to the layman as ‘trash’. The whole looking experience can become a game of ‘Where’s Wally?’, i.e. ‘spot-the-art’. I remember thinking this during Not That Balai’s ‘Bangun/Abandon’ project in an abandoned bungalow last year. As I wandered the derelict compound, I had a great time trying to figure out if that pile of scrap in a corner was on purpose or not.